  Mystery
This week: Sharpening Your Skills Edited by: Gaby  
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Hello and welcome to the Mystery Newsletter. I'm Gaby and I'm your this issue's editor.
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If there is one thing you as a writer know it is that your first or next best seller isn't going to write itself. No one is going to do it for you either. It's all on you! The only thing that will make such a thing happen is if you sit down and write, write, write. But it's never that easy.
When you look at your daily schedule and all the things which may be thrown in your direction, finding time to write seems almost impossible. Some people manage to find a steady writing schedule but not many. There's too much going on in life to have a set daily writing routine. Yet you know how important it is.
Recently, while at work, my boss - also my father-in-law - was showing me how to cut meat and which precautions to take when using a knife (a very sharp knife!). He compared butchering to writing. Of course, at first it didn't make sense - writing and skinning an animal or cutting it into pieces had nothing in common - but soon it became clear that although they are two very different things, they do have something very important in common. It's a skill, a craft we have to hone and keep doing in order to stay sharp and learn more than just thinking we know it all. He said 'If you don't like it, would you expect someone else to like it and buy it? No, you wouldn't. Just like with words, you turn sentences into pictures, you do the same with a knife and the meat that's in front of you. You make it appealing to others.' Made perfect sense! He also said that if you don't keep at it, eventually, you feel as if you're starting at the beginning and certain things have to be relearned.
It's the same with everything else. If you don't stick with it, sooner or later, you'll forget what you know and will have to start at the beginning once you do it again. Picking up a pen is easy, creating mysteries which may appeal to others, not so much. It would take time to get there. Still, writing every day can become too much!
You can take a vacation from writing and not get rusty. Read instead. Expand your knowledge in any way possible. Just because you don't write every day doesn't mean that you have forgotten how to do it or that you've gotten rusty. Change your perspective. Be open to new things. Write about things which you've learned, which you've experienced. How they made you feel, how they changed your mind. It all matters in the world of writing. Those are exactly the ingredients that your inspiration needs.
Taking a writing break isn't a bad thing. It's what you do with the time away from it that matters.
 Read! ~ Recharging your batteries with books you're usually not inclined to read may change your perspective on your own writing and open up other worlds you weren't keen on opening and yet end up glad you did.
Explore ~ Go for a walk if nothing else. Fresh air always does good. If you like doing more than just walking, do it! Anything that you enjoy will help get new ideas for writing. Even rock climbing - just be careful. 
Learn something new ~ It's not true what they say about old dogs and new tricks. You can always learn something new that might be useful later on and give a new twist to your plot.
Meditate ~ No one is saying that you have to sit there for two hours thinking about nothing. If you're like me, then you take at least an hour or two before you fall asleep. The mind doesn't rest as easily as the body and it's the perfect time to invent worlds not known to you yet.
Rest ~ Yes, even sleep is necessary to recharge the batteries necessary for writing. And if a story comes to you and you can't sleep, get up and write it down!
'til next time!
~ Gaby 
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Mystery: April 01, 2015 Issue [#6908]
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