It pays to walk away for a while

I've been overseas, cruising on the Rhine and Moselle rivers. And I haven't done any kind of writing except blogging about the holiday since I left. If you're interested in my voyages, you can pick up the trail here.

Anyway, back to writing. I've got a finished (or so I thought) story that needs some work, and a WIP that stalled when I left. Both of them have floated through my brain as I gazed at the panorama on the river bank. I have some fresh ideas and come up with a way to improve "Eye of the Mother". So I'll be getting back in the saddle as soon as I've finished all those travel blogs.

And that goes to show that walking away from an MS isn't a bad thing to do. It gets you back to thinking about the only thing that matters - the story and how it hangs together, whether the characters work.

I know it's hard to take that break between 'finishing' and starting the edits. But if you can bear the wait, it's worth it. Maybe you could take a river cruise as soon as you've written 'the end'?