When I started writing, I would get stuck, burnt out, or whatever, and then I would self-justify that I had “writer’s block.” That reasoning convinced me that taking a break was a good thing. But it tended to turn into something other than a break, more like a long-term distraction from my writing goals.

It took a long time to realize this.

After much advice, coaching, and numerous forum posts on various sites, groups, Reddit, etc., I discovered, at least for me, that taking a break doesn’t mean stopping writing altogether. It means I need to temporarily change what or how often I write. I started by changing the frequency of my writing.

Maybe I write one good sentence a day– even if it’s got nothing to do with a current work in progress. I write a sentence about anything.

Maybe I write a paragraph a week.

Maybe I will write a short story, edit it, save it, and then just forget about it.

Sometimes, I may change the frequency from once a day to once a week, or a few times I’ve even decreased the frequency to once a month (but not longer than that.)

Maybe I will read a book that’s been on my “to-read” list for some time. But instead of just using that as a distraction, I will think about my writing while I read someone else’s. I will relate the current book I am reading to a work in progress. I will try to think about how I can write, fix, edit, and change my story based on my experiences from the book and what I learned from the author.

For me, being a writer means learning to create mental muscle memory for writing similar to regular muscle memory.

“Muscle memory is the ability to repeat a specific muscular movement with improved efficiency and accuracy that is acquired through practice and repetition”¹

I relate this concept to the mental exercise of writing, so I had to find more ways to train this mental muscle memory for my writing skills.

I learned to write microfiction and flash fiction to exercise my writing chops.

Sometimes, I pretend to be someone else and write in a different persona to explore things I would never have considered writing and to flex my writing muscles. In this method, I am not changing the frequency but the topic and genre.

In summary:

With all that I have learned in over twelve years of writing, “taking a break” means setting aside a primary work and, instead of halting, try writing differently. Change the frequency or change the content, but never stop writing.

I find this is what works for me.

This may not work for everyone.

It’s not easy to find what works for you.

But it’s worth exploring the options.

My last words on this topic to anyone who wants to be published: Keep your eyes on the prize. You can’t edit/share/sell what you have not written.

Footnote

¹ “Muscle Memory.” 2024. In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muscle%20memory.