During the Cool Down

With my first man revision out of the way on my current work-in-progress (WIP), I find myself caught in the in-between spot known as the cool down, the doldrums of the writing life

I don’t want to continue work on my WIP, for I need time for it to set and cool down to a point at which I can see the manuscript with fresh eyes. But what do I meantime?

Should I go back and revise an older novel? Or perhaps it’s time to start a new story. If so, what? The sequel to the one I just finished? Or a totally unrelated project? Maybe it’s time to focus on that non-fiction piece I keep tinkering with.

Endless possibilities. Many choices. Too many, in fact. After all, isn’t a cool down partially for the resting of the brain from all those decisions I just finished making? So I turn to the one always-present task that requires little decision making but inevitably needs doing after a long deadline crunch like this last one:

Cleaning the house.

Welcome to the strange and not-so-glamorous life of a writer.