Take a Writer's Break

This morning I'm writing from a top room in the Eagle's Nest at Heavenly Valley, Lake Tahoe. A gift from family, my husband and some of our children nestled into this mountain retreat before Christmas. From where I write, I can see one of the Heavenly Valley ski slopes.

Patches of snow dapple the surrounding mountains and craggy rocks nestle in between willowy pine trees. One would expect feet of snow a week before Christmas but this is an odd winter indeed. The snow makers buzz up and down the hill to prepare fresh powder for eager skiers.

I awoke with words floating through my mind, "Take a writer's break." The statement provoked some thoughts about the benefit of a writer's break.

Call them writers' retreats, vacation excursions, or getaways, a writer's break is when you leave your hectic life and go to an alternate location to write freely, enjoy beauty, and gain fresh perspective. There is something transformative about exiting obligations, with all of the demands and schedules that blur your view. What once seemed so important melts away like crusted snow floating in a mountain stream.

Whenever I go on a writer's break, I look back at the world I left behind and wonder how I let it bind me up and render me ineffective. I gain a new resolve to sort through life's demands and dump some of them.

Although writer's breaks are beneficial, they don't just happen. We have to schedule them, save for them, and fiercely protect them. In order to do this, we must take an inventory of our money wasters, those indulgences we allow to punch holes in our pockets. Then we tighten our financial belt and save those funds for our retreat. We clear the calendar, find a place, and plan the trip. Sure, all of this adds stress, but it is well worth the effort.

I guarantee that you won't be disappointed if you take a writer's break. In fact, your little world that swirls around you as if it is "the whole world," will stop and wonder, How did she pull that off?

 

 

 

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