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Ring Psychology

by Aaron Hall

Volume Ten: Running on Empty Writing, like any other artistic or creative undertaking, is far from an exact science. I in no way believe myself to be a master of the game or a voice of authority on the dos and don’ts of writing. This column is simply me sharing with all of you some of the things that I’ve picked up along the way that seem to help me out. Use them, abuse them, make fun of them, or sell them on eBay. Now, on to the article! “Running on Empty” If there’s one thing that we can all agree on it’s that life can be hard sometimes. We all have our off days and sooner or later, we all have that day where we simply run out of energy. The day where all you can think about is going to bed. The kind of day where you use what little energy you do have to keep from falling asleep on the drive home from work. As a writer, I dread days like these. It’s hard enough to write after a long day at the office, and that’s under ideal conditions! When you have a day like this though, it’s even tougher to force yourself to get behind the keyboard. Over the past few years, my stance on these types of days has changed a little. As long as you don’t have days like these all the time, they actually can be a good thing for a writer. Let’s face it; we live in a world of fuel. Sugar, carbohydrates, gasoline, electricity, batteries. Everything in our lives is juiced up somehow and running on some sort of fuel or power source. In this world of digital cameras, laptop computers, and cell phones, most of us know first hand that these power sources don’t last forever. Sooner or later you have to take your cell phone home and plug it into a charger. People are no different. Our bodies are pretty good at telling us what is going on, so when you find yourself just fully out of energy, you shouldn’t keep pushing yourself. You shouldn’t force yourself to write, you shouldn’t force yourself to go jog. You should really think about just taking a day to recharge. Plug yourself up and just re-fill. One of the greatest tactics I have for writing is to get up and walk away for a few hours. Go relax, do something fun, talk with a friend. Then come back to the keyboard with a fresh energy, a fresh mind set. There’s no shame in taking a bit of time off. That’s why we have weekends and vacations and holidays and summer break for school kids. There needs to be a day every once in a while where you take a step back. That’s precisely what I plan on doing this evening. I’m going to head home and lie around and read some comics. Just take a night to step away from the seven million projects and problems in my head. It’s something that most of us don’t do often enough. And I can guarantee you one thing. I won’t make it past 8 p.m. relaxing. I’ll clear my mind just enough to get a great idea on one of my projects, which will inspire me to get up and go write. So in the end, I’ll probably only halfway take my own advice on the subject. Until next time, this is the true mvp of the NBA Finals and the fifth member of the G Unit, Aaron Hall, signing off. If you have any questions or comments about creating comics feel free to email them to freejenkins@gmail.com and I’ll answer them right here in this very column because yes, I care about you that much.