Give Yourself A Break
If you are a regular reader of Pub Crawl, my guess is that you are very busy person. Our readers span from full time authors, to authors maintaining day jobs, publishing industry professionals, writers at the start of their career and more. No matter which group you fall under, one thing is clear. We all have a lot on our daily, weekly, monthly, and lifelong to-do lists.
I'm here today to remind all of our readers that every now and then you need to take a break and spend some time simply relaxing.
I recently took an eight day vacation with my husband to celebrate our anniversary. I was out of the office for an entire week and didn't check my work e-mail until the 7th day. My phone was off the entire trip. It was pretty magical.
My subway ride to and from work every day is when I do the majority of my submission reading. Before I wrote this post on Monday night, I got home and edited for another hour before I let myself catch up on this season of Food Network Star. (I don't even have the Food Network! Cooking shows are my ultimate chill-out reward.)
When I was on my vacation, I spent a lot of time at the beach, but I also had the chance to read some books outside of my specific area that I edit and acquire. I was finally able to read Daryl Gregory's latest science fiction novel, AFTERPARTY. I don't have any science fiction on my list at the moment, so this was a nice break from the YA and all of the wonderful horror I've been editing recently. I also read FROM SCRATCH: INSIDE THE FOOD NETWORK, a great non-fiction book about the formation of the Food Network. (Yes, the Food Network is an important aspect of my life.)
In addition to reading some awesome books, I finally started watching Band of Brothers. Now that I'm home, I'm not sure when I'll finish it, but it was a nice addition to my vacation relaxation time, even if it could get intense at times. And like many people the second weekend of June, I started the second season of Orange is the New Black.
And to be honest, I caught up on a lot of sleep.
When I came back to work last week, I was refreshed and excited to get back to work on my list and had a renewed sense of energy. I know not everyone can take a week off of work, but I do believe that finding those quiet moments each week to have for yourself, not related to your work, is important to keeping your creative endeavors fresh. I have a regular Saturday morning routine that is all about giving me some time for myself. It involves watching a lot of Chopped. (I promise, I am not a paid Food Network shill. I just love competitive cooking shows.)
We all spend so much time devoted to our careers that it's important to find time for ourselves, as well.
What are some of the ways you give yourself a break?