Why does taking time off feel like a challenge?
Emma Gannon on artist dates, solo creative boosts, and why stepping away from your desk might be the most productive thing you do this week.
Hey there, Bec here
When writing gets tricky, all too often our instinct is to stick at it. Sit at your desk longer. Just. Keep. Going.
I often feel that taking time off is a luxury I haven’t earned yet. I tell myself, I’ll take a break as a reward for finishing. I’m not alone in finding it a challenge.
In our new episode of This Might Work, I explore artist dates - a practice from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way that’s as simple as it sounds: a solo, two-hour expedition to do something enjoyable, with no agenda and no output required. Not research. Not self-improvement. Just playtime!
Emma Gannon’s approach
To help me understand artist dates I spoke to Emma Gannon. You might know Emma as the author of eight books, including A Year of Nothing and Table for One. She’s also the writer behind one of Substack’s most-read newsletters, The Hyphen and has her first book on creativity out in a few weeks. She’s built a remarkable creative career - and learned the hard way, after burning out - that prioritising time away from work isn’t a reward for productivity. It’s the foundation for creativity.
Emma books artist dates into her calendar every week, colour-coded in orange. Not ‘scary-important like a business meeting’, she told me, but ‘good-important’, not to be missed. In the episode, she talks about the delicious solitude of a solo creative boost and shares where she goes and what she does for creative fuel.
🎧 This Might Work is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy it, a five-star review helps more writers find it.
The experiment
I also put it to the test with a real writer and self-confessed ‘recovering academic’, Aimz Rushton who had stalled on their memoir-in-progress, and has been feeling creatively burnt out after a period of illness. I set them the challenge of booking a two-hour artist date - using the word challenge says a lot about me, but also, it felt difficult for Aimz. Why is it so hard to give ourselves permission to stop?
“This actually sounds quite challenging for me.”
- Aimz Rushton, writer and episode tester, on being set the ‘challenge’
In the episode, you’ll hear what happened when Aimz finally booked a date and the unexpected breakthrough when they walked through the door of a local art gallery.
Try an artist date
Book two hours in your diary this week. Go somewhere on your own and do something that sounds fun. No work, no pressure and certainly no outcome required. If you struggle to commit, ask someone to help brainstorm ideas of what to do, or get them to set you the challenge - a bit of accountability makes all the difference.
Then come back and tell us what you did. I’d love to hear.
That’s all for this week, keep writing
Bec
🎧 This Might Work is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy it, a five-star review helps more writers find it.
