Need your best idea, writer? Stop writing.

ALERT: My Headline Writing Challenge ends Sunday!

Finally! After bringing my mom to many games, she was in the park for a Rockies win!

Okay, back to today’s thought.

Tuesday’s “play date” was a real joy, a refreshing stop I greatly needed. Thanks, Mom.

Drove my Mom into downtown Denver, spent the afternoon walking in the sun up and down the 16th Street Mall. Sat in a shaded patio and all but dozed off in the light breeze, with our iced teas clinking and happy chatter floating over the simple music of sidewalk buskers. Then off to the ballgame…

By the way: I’m going somewhere with this.

We arrived at Coor’s Field just as the gates opened. Strolled the concourse debating too many options for dinner. Sat in the full-on afternoon sun to watch batting practice and hope for a fly foul. Enjoyed our seats right on the firstbase foul line rail for nine awesome innings, as Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the Houston Astros into a near-scoreless fit and the  Rockies’ offense sent hits deep to every part of the stands except ours (our only regret for the day)…

We celebrated the 11-1 victory with a relaxed, windows-down drive back home to catch the late shows with a glass of wine. I can’t tell you how deep a breath my mental state drank in that day. But I can tell you what happened the next day (yesterday), almost certainly as a result of refueling my brain:

I gave this blog a new name, and traffic shot through the roof.

Think I'm making up a 93% jump in daily hits? Nope, there it is at the far right.

Final tally, if you’re curious: yesterday was a new all-time traffic record by fully 93%. Yes, it very nearly doubled the previous record–which was set (only a week or so ago) by some thoroughly concerted effort.

Today, I’m taking off  again (mostly), to get out and handle a few other things related to my job search. All this makes me think to share a “gold nugget” of a lesson every writer learns just before he or she becomes a much better, much more prolific, and much… MUCH HAPPIER writer:

Stop writing once in a while!

On the one hand,

“What is written without effort is, generally, read without pleasure.”
–Samuel Johnson

Then again–on the other–

“Writer’s block is the greatest side effect of boredom.”
–Jason Zebehazy

When you write, write like it means something. Give it your best. Like your momma taught ya. Hopefully, she did. Or somebody who loves you.

Then, when writing gets tough… try stepping back. For an hour, a day–heck, do you even take enough vacation time? I typically never did, until one exceptional week spent lounging was followed by a proposal for the brand launch that trained my company’s core customer base–and boosted their lifetime value by double digits.

I put two and two together on that one.

This job’s been a virtual Disney-land ride ever since.

Enjoy your day. One way or another. And if you put pen to paper (or fingers to keys)…

Write what’s Right.

Ken