Too much of a good thing

So apparently Stephenie Meyer is burnt out on Twilight. I know this because my cousin, who wanted to name her puppy Edward until the monicker was vetoed by her boyfriend, is all distraught over it. Which is completely understandable, if you ask me, because even though I didn't particularly take to the Twilight series, I know all too well what it feels like to have a series you really, really like be cut short prematurely. I was, after all, a Veronica Mars fan.

But I also understand what Kim, my cousin, doesn't yet, and that is what happens when people who are burnt out on something don't take time off to rejuvenate themselves. Because as hard as it is to come to terms with the fact that you may never get to know the end of the story, having it left unfinished (for now) is so much better than suffering through a phoned-in effort by someone who's so over it, they don't know why they even started writing it in the first place.

And besides, it's not like she doesn't have the option to come back to it in a year or five.

So kudos to you, Stephenie Meyer, for recognizing you needed time off from Edward and Bella. If only Joss Whedon had been so perceptive during the last three seasons of Buffy.

In other news, I'm freaking in love with my new Macbook, which is almost exactly the same as my old Macbook, but much faster and brighter and newer. We've already worked out most of our kinks (my volume key, for example, isn't anywhere near where it used to be, so now every time I go to press mute, I end up activating my external hard drive), and now it's onto the fun stuff . . . like finishing that damn novella.

And here's the part where I can say for absolute certainty that taking time off is not a bad thing. Because when the old Macbook went kaput, I was at that stage in writing the first draft where nothing made sense and I just wanted it done already so I could stop looking at it. Which sounds bad, I know, but when you think about it, it takes about a thousand times longer to write a book than to read one, so it kind of makes sense. I don't think anyone could read the same book a thousand times in a row and not grow bored with it eventually.

But now, with 4 weeks off (yes, it took 4 weeks for my Macbook to get to me; I had it sent via courier snail, apparently), I'm looking forward to getting back into the story, this time with a better picture of what it's about, how it ends, and what needs to be fixed up in editing.

I also realized during my time away from the Internet that I enjoy writing much more when I'm not reading about the publishing industry and how we writers are all doomed because books are dead, but that's another post for another day.

So if you're a writer and you're feeling burnt out on your project, let it be known that it's OK to take a day off every now and then. It's even OK to put what you're writing now on hold and start something else, if that's what you like. Otherwise you may turn out to be one of those people who resent what they do because they can't remember why they do it.

And no one wants to hang around people like that.