Let’s be honest sometimes when we are writing life gets in the way. I would love to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week but if I did that I would waste away from lack of junk food and television. Besides the kids might complain if the electricity went off because I was so busy writing that I forgot to pay the bills.

The truth is there are some times when writing has to take a back seat. Case in point…next week I have to have surgery and I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that the surgeon isn’t going to allow me to take my tablet into the operating room. I am going to have to take a few down days and you know what…..that’s okay.

I know a lot of writers who write themselves into illness. They get so busy writing that they forget to take care of themselves. While this isn’t the case with my surgery, I have had years when I have been sicker than most other years and I know it is because I haven’t taken care of myself. For instance, two years ago I had the flu so bad they thought about putting me in the hospital. I know why it got so bad…when I first got it I refused to lay down and take it easy. I kept pushing until my body said, “Okay, lay down now….all systems stop”. What sucked was that in doing that I ended up losing more time than I would have if I had just taken a couple of days to allow my body to heal.

I learned my lesson that year but you don’t have to learn the hard way. I am here to tell you that if your body is trying to tell you to slow down…do it. In the end it will be better than pushing yourself until you can’t stand. It’s okay to love what you do but don’t push yourself so hard that you can’t actually do it anymore. Take time for yourself and make sure that you are around to write another day.

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