Taking a break from your writing career doesn't mean its broken

I've barely written for the last 3 years, and I haven't blogged in a long time either.  Yet here I am, thinking about what I want to say, carefully choosing my words and remembering how much I enjoy the social media aspect of being a writer.

I was first published way back in 2007, and have been published seven times since.  These days only two of my books are available in e-book form - feel free to check them out!  I'm immensely proud of both of them.

Writing is one of those things that never leaves you.  You can take 3 years off, 10 years... whatever... it doesn't matter it is always there.  The trick is knowing when to stop and when to start, and that question is not nearly as easy as it sounds.

My decision to stop writing was a consciously made one, and the whys-and-wherefores of it would fill a blog post on their own.  Simply put, I burnt out. Big time.  That said, it never occurred to me that I would never write again.  I just knew that for a time writing was not going to be a part of my life.

Then in the middle of last year, the urge to write started to nag.  But I didn't listen, made many excuses, put it off, didn't feel like it, promised myself I'd start tomorrow... this went on for weeks and weeks until a couple of things came together.

First I read The Alchemist - a stunning tale about finding your life's purpose.

Then I had a delightful morning tea with Alyssa Montgomery ... and this led to an invitation to join Breathless in the Bush - putting me right back amongst a group of passionate and knowledgeable writers.

And finally it was the discovery of a woman called Mel Robbins.

Mel's TED talk resonated with me in so many ways, and I immediately grabbed the audio version of her book The Five Second Rule (which I highly recommend, Mel is a talker, not a writer and the audio version of her book works a lot better than the written version).  Well, that book changed EVERYTHING.  Using her techniques I sat down, stopped making excuses, and figured out a plan of what I wanted to do, and how to do it.

Easy huh?

Nope.  Not at all.  I'm still lazy, easily distracted, procrastinating, often napping... but, I'm doing something, every day, towards my writing goals.  I want to write. I want to. I haven't wanted to for the longest time but now the joy is back and I want to.

Taking a break from your writing career, no matter how long or short, doesn't mean its over or broken.  Writing (or music, or quilting, or bog snorkelling... ) is part of who you are, and you can't flick it on and off, it's always there.  But its ok to rest for as long as you need.  It's ok.

Love
Tory x

Writing is My Therapy

By Karen M. Davis

Some people like to run, walk, meditate, have a massage, talk with friends over a glass of wine, or do countless other things  to clear their heads. These are all a form of therapy, coping with the stresses and worries of everyday life. My way of dealing with stress, anxiety, pressure or whatever you like to call it, is to write.

Writing therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses the act of writing and processing the written word as therapy. Writing therapy posits that writing one's feelings gradually eases feelings of emotional trauma. (Wikipedia.)

I know many writers who have loved to write for as long as they can remember. I am not one of them. I only discovered my passion for writing by circumstance, really.

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After twenty years in the New South Wales police force, I was diagnosed with chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - something I still have to manage as best I can - and I was forced to leave the career that I loved for my own health. It was not a good time to say the least. A psychologist suggested - as did my mother - that I write about the traumas I had witnessed and experienced as therapy. I couldn't see the point in this at first but it was pointed out to me that it was a recognised  "form of therapy," so I decided to give it a go. What did I have to lose?

At first, just thinking about the horrific things I'd seen was bad enough. Writing about them was even harder. But what I found by putting pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard - was that telling my stories and expressing my emotions in words was in fact a form of release. As they say I was literally getting things that were weighing me down off my chest, dark memories out of my head and onto the computer screen. This allowed me to see things from another perspective. It also distanced me from the situations I had encountered. I can't explain it exactly but I certainly know it helped. It also reminded me of the positives of my job; the good things, the funny times.

          

Eventually my real life stories grew into a book of memoirs which I entitled "Cop This." By this time I had developed a love of writing, which gave me a new purpose, a different direction and a fresh and exciting passion. 

Turning  my experiences into fiction enables me to tell my stories from afar, so to speak, from the safety of my study. When writing I'm completely in the moment. I'm back in the police world I know so well, with my old workmates ( my characters) in the parts of Sydney I love and have worked (my settings.) The plots are inspired by my memories as my fictional world consumes me and comes together like just another day at the office. Well most of the time...

           

What is your form of therapy?

I love to love listening to audio books - these are my new discovery as it allows me to do two things at once.

I love to laugh at funny baby videos.

Image courtesy of jpeg youtube.com

I would love to learn a different language.