I love the work that I do as a writer and blogger for businesses. I think it allows me the chance to research many different interesting topics while working from the comfort of my own home. However, I also sometimes feel like I need a break.

You see, I don’t know if I want to be a full-time writer forever. Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes I think I’d like to write part-time and then do something else part-time (consulting, art, something else). On rare occasions, I think I’d like to do something else altogether.

The problem is that I can’t seem to figure out exactly what I want when I have to work all day every day. I feel like I need the space of not writing to just breathe into. In that space, I hope to hear myself echo back to me what it is that I specifically want to do with my writing.

So I’m planning for a sabbatical. I want to take a year off of writing professionally in order to just engage in some deep self-reflection. I won’t be doing this anytime soon. My goal is to write full-time for at least three more years. I’m working on some new writing goals to accomplish during that time. But then I want a full year sabbatical to just figure things out.

I think sabbaticals are important. They give you the chance to get to know yourself again. You can assess what you’re doing and how to do it better. Why don’t more people take them?

Tags: career, freelance writing, kathryn vercillo, sabbatical, writer, writing

Have you ever seen that old movie Threesome from the 1990′s? There are a few things that stand out in my memory about that movie, the most notable of which is the way that the girl in that movie got completely turned on by big words. She liked to have big words read to her in a sexy voice so she could get all hot and bothered. Now, that’s not everyone’s thing, but it’s something that comes to mind every now and then when I think of the romance of libraries and old books.

I wouldn’t say that I get turned on by old books. But they definitely conjure up something romantic. That smell of browsing through a bookstore just brings so many stories into your mind, stories about the people who have been in that bookstore before you and the books that they read and the passions that they explored in their lives.

A lot of people feel this way which is probably why there is a library-scented perfume on the market. Again, not for everyone, but certainly for some people. Don’t you think?

Tags: books, kathryn vercillo, library, perfume, real words, writer, writing