Revise and Revive: How Taking a Break Can Boost Your Revision Energy

I’m on deadline right now. It’s a self-set deadline, but I take all my deadlines seriously. Knowing my word count, I knew I would have to complete 2,500 words a day to meet my goal. Not a problem. I got this, right? 

75,000 words into a 95,000-word project, and my speed started to slow down. This mostly happened when I got an unexpected elbow surgery, where typing for long periods became difficult. I tried not to beat myself up, but once I took a little break, it was hard to get back into it, even when my elbow no longer hurt. I kept sitting down and typing, but it felt forced and awful. Nothing like the story I was thrilled about weeks ago. 

So what did I do? 

Some folks muscle through situations like this, but I didn’t. I took another break. 

Even though my physical state was better, I realized my mental state still needed to recover, which is why I gave myself permission to work on an outline for a brand-new WIP. I may never pursue it, but I’ve wanted to write in it for a long time. And I had a blast! 

I spent two days writing anything and everything that I wanted to in my WIP. I have a full outline now, character spreadsheets, and a really strong Scrivener setup, so that if I wanted to, I could just jump right in. 

Then, I went back to my revision. 

Not only did I make more progress than ever before, I was actually revising faster, and I felt good about it, too. 

Sometimes breaks–physical, mental, and creative–will actually help you write better and revise faster than before. The simple act of breaking away to be creative is so rejuvenating. 

Give yourself permission to revive while you revise. 

Your work will thank you for it. 

~SAT