What Sustains Me (Holly Schindler)

Here's the thing:

You can't write 5,000-word days every day.

You can't read and edit 100 pages of your work every day. 

Some days, you need to read other books. 

Some days, you need to daydream.

Some days (unfortunately) you need to do laundry.

Some of my most productive days are brainstorming days. Days in which I do nothing but scribble in my notebook. One possibility after another. Days when I admit what the problems are in my current WIP and imagine different approaches for fixing it. 

But what truly sustains me, these days, are outside interests. I'm allowing myself to draw and paint and write music--things that fell by the wayside a bit in my 5,000-word days. All the outside interests don't wear me out--they energize me. I think there's something about working your brain in a completely different way...plus giving a project time to cool...it just seems to make the writing time go a little smoother. 

I think, really, it's all about infusing joy into your life. If you come into your writing with joy already in your heart, it makes the writing sing.

~

Holly Schindler is an award-winning author of books for readers of all ages. Check out her debut YA, A Blue So Dark--the ebook is now $.99.