Time for a TIMEOUT

A few days ago, a NaNo friend of mine was struggling a bit & I mentioned it (see: An Interlude for Talking Pep & Tips). Well recently, she had a bit more trouble:

Me: How's things?
Her: Not so good...and then again, not so bad.
Me: ok, well not so bad is...well, not so bad. Lol. What about the not so good bit? What's up?
Her: You know the way they tell potential parents that bonding can sometimes take a while and often takes place the first time they see the baby?
Me: LOL, yeah?
Her: Well, I've seen my baby and it still feels like a strange being from another planet.
Me: Oh honey....give the kid some time. Creation takes some growing room & a li'l mental readjustment. LOL, sorry...I don't mean to make light, but that's a really great analogy.
Her: I guess the biggest prolem I have is that I keep comparing this brat to the others I had before. They were so well behaved. This one is a monster
Me: Well, everybody has that one kid that makes your parents snicker & go 'ha! Retribution is mine!!' ya know? lol. Try seeing the good side to the 'kid'. Headstrong? That just means they have a story to tell you. Dragging it's little feet? More time for deeper exposition on things. Etc, etc.
Her: That's what been keeping me going. Even for all the complaining I am doing I haven't quit yet so somethign IS going right. I've even managed to keep to my minimum daily word count of 2K. I'm not writing today.... I'm making a day of being at 18,124
Me: that's ok. Sometimes a little time off is necessary.

Sometimes, even a parent needs a time out. It gives you a moment to step away from your current frustrations & gain some much needed perspective. After that, you can come back refreshed & less inclined to throttle the little darling into submission. And take it easy, on both of you. There's nothing you can write that's so bad that it can't be worked out in rewrites, which can be just as cathartic & infinitely cheaper than family counseling.

Just remember, don't step away for too long. It's much easier to fall out of a writing routine than it is to get back into one. Besides, you wouldn't want the kid to go around destroying the furniture while you weren't looking, would you? So once in a while, take a day, refresh, gain perspective, rest. And then, get back to work. These kids don't raise themselves ;)

"The pride of men, of parents as well, makes us believe that anything we create we can control. Whether from clay or metal, it is in the nature of us to create our own monsters. Our children are alloys of our own imperfect flesh. We animate them with magic & never truly know what they'll do.'' - Sarah Connor, 'Queen's Gambit - Sarah Connor Chronicles'

Got a story about when your writing behaved like an unruly little brat? Tell us about it in the Comments Section. Any favorite literary 'parenting' techniques?