The Storyteller Squad
CreativityMotivationWriting

#Monday Motivation: It’s Okay to Rest

Victoria Kimble
December 9, 2019
4 comments
2 min read

We always write these blog posts with our readers in mind, but sometimes we’re writing them to remind ourselves of some things too. I’m grateful for you, Dear Reader, but today this post is for me as much as it is for you.

I just wanted to remind you that it’s okay to rest. That might be a funny thing to write on a day we’ve set aside to pump you up and get you going on your writing, but resting is an important part too.

I’ve spent days and months of my writing career feeling like a failure because I wasn’t DOING more. If I had time to sit and breathe, surely I should be spending that time writing or editing or querying or networking or reading craft books…

All that is enough to make anyone quit. Here’s what we have to remember about being a writer. When you write, you are creating. And humans can’t create something out of nothing, which means we have to figure out what it is that helps us build up our creative supplies.

I’m taking my cue from nature today. God, in His infinite wisdom, created seasons for us. There is definitely a time in summer where creation is producing. It’s where we get our fruits and vegetables and flowers and baby creatures. But before that season of producing, there is a season of waiting as things mature. And after the season of producing there is a time when everything dies down. And after that time of dying down, there is a season of rest and stillness, as everything goes on hold for the winter. During the winter, creation is getting the rest it needs to build up energy to launch forth into another season of creating.

We writers should embrace the winters of our career. Take heart; they won’t last forever. They’ll morph into a new season, just like the rest of nature. So if you’re in a winter, where you aren’t producing, embrace the rest. Snuggle under a blanket and do the things that inspire the stories you love to write. Then you’ll be ready for the intense, work-heavy season of producing that’s coming.

Do you let yourself rest or do you feel like you have to be constantly producing? What would you do in a season of rest to recharge? Comment to be entered to win this month’s prize!

Victoria Kimble

Victoria is a wife, a mom to three girls, a full-fledged homebody, a so-so housekeeper, a mediocre musician and has dreamed of writing her whole life. She lives at the foot of the Rockies in Littleton, Colorado and she will never take that for granted. She has spent most of her life living in Colorado, with a brief six-year hiatus to live in Nebraska to attend college and get married. She is mostly a stay-at-home mom, but dabbles in a variety of other odd jobs, such as doing admin work and crocheting beard hats in the winter. She loves meat and potatoes, superhero TV shows and movies, and when the weather stays between 70 and 80 degrees. She could probably love the beach if she ever spent any time there.

Victoria spent her childhood reading and making friends with the characters in her favorite books. She never grew out of that. After many years of wondering, she decided it was time to write the stories she had always dreamed of writing. She hopes that her stories model an active Christian lifestyle, while feeding the insatiable sense of wonder and adventure that everyone has deep inside.

View all posts

4 comments

  • I write so little that I feel like I may never have a summer, but I enjoy building up creative ideas from activities around me.

  • Great post. I am the worst about feeling guilty when I’m not producing in writing or housework or whatever. But lately my body has been demanding that I rest and I think that’s a good thing. God can still work on things even when I take a break.

  • This is a great reminder. Several times when I have pushed, pushed, pushed because I had to, I had to, I had to get everything done, my body rebelled and sat me down hard. Boom. Collapse. Thou shalt not move any further. But if I take proper rest, not only does my body appreciate it but my mind works a whole lot better too. God created a day of rest because we need it.

You may also like