It happens to me every afternoon.


Some time between 2 and 3 or so, I find myself surfing the web, pushing refresh a dozen times on my website stats page, itching for a walk, allowing the cat on my lap thus ensuring I can’t type… whatever.

BeforeI quit my day job to make a living as a professional writer, I used to try to fight through this Idiot Hour. I’d feel guilty for not being as productive, and I’d try to concentrate and keep going. I used to keep peppermint and lemon essential oils in my desk drawer to sniff them when my brain went dead.

But now that I work for myself, I recognize these little mental shutdowns as real needs for a small break. Sometimes it takes me a few moments to realize how distracted I’ve become — for example, I’ll kind of “wake up” in the middle of blind-blog surfing to realize I’m not getting any real work done.

When it happens now, I run an errand, take a walk, watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (don’t ask — I’m addicted), eat some edamame that has to be shelled, cuddle with the cat, take a nap, etc. And I don’t feel guilty because I know that after my brain break, I’ll be fresh to get back to work.