Once you start writing keep going with no breaks!

Sit and write and don't even stand up or go for a pee until you're done writing an entire novel in one sitting!

Just kidding. But seriously now, I want to make a point about taking breaks.

I just re-wrote the last half of chapter 1 in my current WIP. And now I'm staring at the blank screen of what will be chapter 2. I had previously written all the way through 2 chapters, but that was a month ago and I stopped writing. When I came back to my manuscript I hated the direction the story was taking because I also realised I was brainstorming it while not actually writing.

Sometimes I forget my own writing rules. That's why I blog post about it. To remind myself.

But the way I roll is by the seat of my pants. When I plot, outline, and/or brainstorm, whilst not actually writing, my manuscript suffers and so do my stress levels. Writing is fun for me and I do it in the moment. We live in the moment, and the best writers create that way too.

So when I stopped writing my WIP and went off to brainstorm it, coming back to it later meant I wasn't in the zone. I would have had to carry on outlining and plotting, and that just does my head in. So now I've rewritten up to get me back into a natural flow of writing. I won't know what twists and turns will happen until the end of the manuscript now!

And back to it I go...

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