What Does It Mean To Rest?

In my programs and in my book, I help authors pace themselves in ways that make the work of writing a book sustainable. I suggest a limited-time framework in which to work toward specific goals, and then rest periods in between.

In chapter six, I talk extensively about the WHY behind rest. But one thing authors always ask is the HOW.

What does it mean to rest?

Some authors want to continue working on their book. They feel like setting it down for a while will cause them to lose momentum. Others are willing to take a break from the book, but they don’t see how they can take a break from life and work.

The good news is, you don’t have to do any of those things.

Rest, in this context, does not mean lying in bed doing nothing. And it doesn’t mean you can’t ever pick up the manuscript and look at it.

Yes, it’s helpful to let your brain focus on other things for a while, so the subconscious mind can do its important work.

But if you’re feeling drawn to add something or tinker with it, that’s your brain’s way of choosing it AS the rest.

Let me explain. In this context, REST stands on the opposite side of a coin from WORK. During the WORK periods of the book writing process, authors commit to certain goals, usually time-based. For instance, they may write for an hour a day for five days a week, or six hours once a week, or three hours twice a week, or they may spend a full week immersed in the work full-time.

Whatever the commitment, it is a commitment. They sit down and they WORK on the book. It is a time when, yes, they hope for inspiration. But whether inspiration comes or not, they do the work.

That is a thing that has to happen in order for a book to be written.

But it doesn’t have to be every day all day for the rest of your life… or even more than a few weeks at a time.

REST periods are the other side of that. During your rest periods, you commit to nothing having to do with the book. You can tinker with it, think about it, dream about it, add things, take things out… as long as it feels GOOD and INSPIRED and you WANT to be doing it.

Rest isn’t inactivity. It’s autonomy. It’s choosing based on desire what you will do next.

Work isn’t one specific activity, it’s choosing based on commitment what you will do next.

When you are at work, you do what is is front of you because you have decided that it is important to do it, so you do it. It might be fun, but that is not WHY you do it. You do it because it is important to do it.

When you are rest, you do whatever you decide to do because it is what you feel like doing right now. It might be something productive, but that is not WHY you do it. You do it because you feel like it.

During author rest periods, they may have other commitments that constitute work, and it is totally fine to do those things. We don’t all have unlimited paid vacay with full-time childcare to permit us to rest from EVERYTHING. 

Resting from the commitment to the book itself is enough. And it is critical. We build these periods into the process and, like the woodcutter sharpening his axe after every few trees, it makes the process go faster and smoother than if we just tried to push through continuously.

Try it, and let me know what you think.