Sometimes a writer has to ‘fill up’. It can be forced on them through a writer’s block, or it can be taken gently through a time between deadlines.
I’ve been on vacation this past week. I forced myself to finish my manuscript so that I could mail it from the States where it would be cheaper, right at the beginning of the holiday. Then I was free, and surprisingly, I didn’t feel like writing until today, a week later.
This need to ‘fill up’ is hard to describe for those whose work or recreation doesn’t include any creativity. I’m not being pretentious here. As a soldier in the military for many years, my job wasn’t creative. A fellow soldier said once that we could train apes to do our job. It didn’t require creativity, that’s all, and unless we had a hobby that did, ‘filling up’ time was a hard concept to grasp.
It’s kind of like a holiday for the brain. We all need a holiday but this is something more. It’s a pushing away of any creative thoughts. It’s denying the urge to write. It’s absorbing the world around you without analyzing what’s going on. Some writers don’t experience this need, and that’s great. They have the creative stamina to keep working. But I do, occasionally.
And I’m glad it’s happening somewhere sunny and warm.
