Your phone needs to recharge every night. Your laptop needs to recharge. Everything needs to recharge. Are you giving yourself space, time and effort to recharge?
I'm an introvert on the Myers-Briggs. I've got to have time by myself to recharge. My philosophy is sort of that humans are weak, frail, imperfect, and generally kind of bad, but every day I meet somebody who's good, and that inspires me.
The DNA of the novel - which, if I begin to write nonfiction, I will write about this - is that: the title of the novel is the whole novel. The first line of the novel is the whole novel. The point of view is the whole novel. Every subplot is the whole novel. The verb tense is the whole novel.
Everybody needs some time to rejuvenate, refresh, recharge and begin again. Seeing babies face is the best way to relax, refresh, rejuvenate and recharge.
For me, making schedules are critical to make sure we attend to all the needs of the kids and our family. After adding everyone's schedule on the calendar, I make sure that every day I have some sacred time for myself so I can recharge.
The real difference between those who want to write and those that do, is that those that do get up every day and do it.
I always wanted to write. While I was on a long surf trip, supporting myself with various day jobs, I was working hard on a novel. My third novel, in fact.
I write all the time because I'm lonely. When you're acting, you're working every day all day. But then you have long amounts of time off.
Every time that I write a novel I am convinced for at least two years that it is the last one, because a novel is like a child. It takes two years after its birth. You have to take care of it. It starts walking, and then speaking.
I exercise a lot. I enjoy exercising. I switch back and forth with cardio and strength training every other day, and I try to do something active every single day. Other than that, I try to make sure I have enough quiet time to myself to recharge every week as well.
Discover the time of day when you write best, and write then. For me it's about 7 am to noon. For other people it's overnight. Try not to do anything other than write between those times.
It's very important to take care of yourself. Everyone's lives are so busy. Take at least an hour a day to recharge and do whatever makes you better. For grown-ups, whether it's a spa, sitting in a park with a book, or coffee, take time for yourself.
People ask me, 'Why don't you take time off?' but the working class doesn't take time off. They're out there working every day. That's what I do, too. I want them to know there is hope, and I'm out there just like they are.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to think that what you need to write a novel is imagination, creativity and a facility with words. Yes, you need all those things, but a novel is a highly complex organism that needs to be dealt with in quite a logical manner.
I've learned from the past that it's important to recharge and get time in-between jobs, and if I can't get time in-between jobs then when I know I've got some time coming up at the end of a job, really try and take advantage of that. And do very mundane things at home and putter in the garden and spend time with family and make music and, you know, play with the dogs. Just get back to being me.
For me, I need to fully immerse myself in a script to the point where I'm literally locking myself away for weeks at a time and I just write it. So I can write twelve to fifteen hours in a day, with breaks in between, obviously, but I need to just sort of live within the world of the script.