U is for Unwind

Time to Unwind

This A-Z has been great for social networking, but I'm assuming I'm not the only one finding it quite time-consuming at the moment. Not far to go, then I can go back to posting about three times a week. Like a lot of bloggers, after Z I intend to take a few days off to unwind.

Here's my ways of unwinding:

• Switch off the computer. I can't help myself and will start jumping from site to site if I have access.
• Read a new book that is not useful for my writing or in anyway literary. Something fun, maybe even smutty (okay, I'm lame, it'd be very mildly smutty or I'd get embarrassed that someone would recognise the novel).
• Download a TV series and watch all episodes in a veg-day marathon (these school holidays I've discovered Veronica Mars and Fringe).
• Do some writing exercises that are not about my current WIP. Riff-writing helps me to unthink too. Fantasy writer, Ursula Le Guin has a great book for strengthening your writing by breaking it down to smaller exercises (it's also great to use in the classroom) called Steering the Craft.
• Visit bookstores. This can be a bit of an expensive past time for me.
• Spend time with my dogs and an audiobook. I'll take one of my dogs for a nice long walk around Yass and listen to an audiobook at the same time. Today I was listening to book 3 in The Dresden Files series, Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (awesome detective style series with a slight difference, instead of a PI, the protagonist is a Wizard with a few bad debts).

My ways of unwinding always involve me doing things. I have a lot of trouble just relaxing, bubble baths just stress me because I think of all the things I need to be doing. Mind you, if I'm reading in the bath, then it's okay.

Another Unwind is the most awesome Scifi/dystopian novel I've ever read. Unwind by Neil Shusterman is masterful and the story will sit with you long after you finish (especially one particular scene, anyone who has read it will understand).

Click here to read a review of Unwind from Paper Dolls

Okay, now I've got a LOT of blogs to catch up on!