A Change is as Good as a Rest

Okay, the above title is not always true. Sometimes a change can be very detrimental. Like, if you go from an employed state to unemployed. Still, I think the inherent meaning of the saying has a lot of truth.

In essence, sometimes when you are stuck in a rut, doing something different can help you to move forward and start getting things done again.

That is actually both the benefit and the disadvantage to having multiple projects on the go all the time. The benefit: when you get stuck on a piece of the project, you can move on to a different project. The disadvantage is, you can avoid the problem you have been dealing with.

Take my WIP, Mik Murdoch and the Power Within. I am at a point in the story where everything is going wrong for Mik. Not through any direct action on his part. It’s just that, despite his best efforts, things are going awry.

I know what I have to do to move the story past that point. The trouble is, the writing has gotten hard. Hard writing is not as fun as easy writing. And since I have several projects going, it’s easy to avoid the hard stuff for something easier.

That means, I’ve stopped making progress on the story.

To exacerbate the situation, vacation is looming for me which means I have to be proactive with my podcast. Just because I’m away from home doesn’t mean I can miss dropping scheduled episodes of Get Published. So, I’ve been scurrying around trying to get all the work done prior to leaving. Which also means I’ve been doing less writing.

I do think the vacation is going to be the change I need to kick things back into gear. The podcasting will be done (for a month anyway), so I won’t have to think about that. I will be away from the distractions of home (i.e. mowing the lawn, putting up curtains, maintaining the house, sittting in the shade drinking beer) so that will be out of my way too.

No, I can relax and slog through the difficult writing I have been avoiding. There won’t be any other projects in the way to stop me.

And when I get back I will be working at a new job with a new team. That means new challenges to get my mind purcolating. That’s a change that will really help too, I think.