Three desserts are better than one.

Is there ever a time this phrase makes sense? Personally, too much sunshine and heat, too much sleep, and too much alcohol would ring true with me. It might make sense for you to know that I wrote some of this post whilst in Turkey, it was 30 degrees centigrade in October, and it was all-inclusive.

But this phrase doesn’t count for reading or writing; although I would say you could become saturated reading the same genre. Widening genres helps expand vocabulary and opens you to a range of authors, each with their own styles, voices, and rule breaking.

I write two genres – crime and contemporary fiction – to keep my mind fresh, and my writing alive, even though both my genres tend to involve mental health, as that is a great interest of mine, due to my nursing background. I find my mind goes stale if I write the same genre over and over. This doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for you, but personally I crave the change to pique my interest.

The more I write the more I learn; even highlighting my inadequacies and areas requiring improvement. But there are days when the words won’t flow. For example, yesterday, I spent from 8.30am until past midnight, with only two one hour breaks, editing a novel with my editor from the publisher. This is an example of ‘too much of a good thing’. I say good as I enjoy editing, but the pressure of getting it back to an editor, makes me spend too many hours in one day working on the manuscript. Hence today, as much as I’d like to, I just can’t write, so here I am on my blog.

Instead, I’m going to read. I’m currently enjoying ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls, which is a change from all the crime novels I read. I’m refreshing my mind and exploring new authors.

I hope you have the opportunity to occasionally indulge in too much of something that takes your fancy, without over-spilling into the realm of nauseousness, like I did having three desserts instead of one.

Happy Word Flow One & All