Diary of a Mad Editor

The other day, I was cleaning out my humidifier filter it occurred to me that as writers, we have to clean out our own filters from time to time. When we write, we are tapping into some rather powerful forces. It’s black magic, I tell you. Just as the pressures of real life can infect our writing life if we let it, so too can our writing life infect our real life if we let it. That’s why it’s always helpful to clean out all that psychic residue in-between writing projects. How one does this varies from person to person, but it usually involves some form of non-writing activity allows the brain a rest from creative thought. For me, it often takes the form of a computer game, an exercise session and, sometimes, just closing my eyes and spacing-out for a while. Maybe your method of cleaning out the cobwebs involves sitting on your back porch smoking a cigarette, drinking a pint of ale. My advice is to find something, anything that allows you some peace of mind between your real life and your writing life. Take up yoga, or knitting, play a round of golf, whatever — because if you don’t, the dark magic will get to you sooner or later and you’ll wind-up a suicide or slicing off your ear.