Before I was able to quit my day job and start writing full-time, I imagined all kinds of scenarios about what might be the biggest challenge of being a full-time author. What I didn’t expect was how much guilt would affect me. Guilt about literally any second spent not writing.

I took a vacation last week (Gasp!). I haven’t written a single word in ten days. Here’s the thing, it was planned ahead of time. I had a book all ready to release almost as soon as I got home, I had my trusty “how many words per day” app loaded up with my next project, ready to start the week after my vacation. There should be no guilt involved, and yet I’ve spent the entire 10 days feeling like I’m no call, no showing into a job.

What surprises me most about the author guilt is that I never had it before I was a full-time author. And I’m not on anyone’s schedule except my own. So why do I feel like such a slacker if I don’t get words done every day?

I know I’m not the only author who lives with this. I see posts all the time from authors saying they feel burnt out, they feel guilty taking a vacation, etc. But here’s the thing, it all comes down to mental conditioning. From a young age it’s ingrained in us that the more productive we are, the “better” we are. This is my livelihood, I should take it seriously, and vacations aren’t serious.

When the guilt creeps in and it feels like I’m not productive enough, there’s one thing I try to remember. Writing is a creative endeavor and if I don’t give my brain a chance to re-charge then the words I’m writing won’t be as good. It’s hard at times to see other authors posting massive word counts, but keep in mind that you only need to compare yourself to yourself. If writing 5k words today wouldn’t be the best 5k you could possibly write, then maybe it would be better to take a break and write even better words tomorrow, even if it’s fewer words than planned.

Breaks are ok. Vacations are ok. We all need to retrain ourselves to accept that down time is NECESSARY if we want to write the amazing words we’re all capable of.