Writing is a Sport

Life gets hectic. Things happen, and suddenly I realize that I barely have any time to breathe, let alone write.

You'd think that if you took a break from writing, you could just jump back into it at any time you wanted to and voila! You'd still have the same skills you had before. The truth? That doesn't happen. If you're involved with a sport, you know that even during your off-season, you have to stay on top of practicing, or else when the season comes back again, you won't be able to throw those game-winning pitches like you used to. The same applies to writing.

It's not that you've forgotten all of your skills. If I don't play basketball for ten years, it doesn't mean that next time I try to play I'll have forgotten what a basketball is. What it means is that my body's muscle memory and my own memories of the game will have faded a bit and I won't remember all of the little tricks that I had before.

If you take a break from writing, even if it's not by choice, your writing skills will suffer. Now, depending on how long this break is will determine just how much of a blow your skills will take.

Think of it this way. If you leave out a loaf of bread on your countertop and leave for the summer, this bread will stay fresh for a few days, but as the days and weeks pass, it will turn into a nasty, moldy lump of something that barely resembles fluffy, warm bread. Your writing skills are the bread. If you leave them alone, untouched in your brain and don't put them into practice, they will turn to mold. I learned that the hard way.

So if you're getting really good at things like character development and cliff-hangers, make sure you preserve those skills! The last thing you want is to have your novel turn into a mush-fest halfway through because you took a break midway through.

That is all.

Cheers,
Sea