This month I celebrate 24 yrs sober so my relaxation has evolved. It use to be a drink or two with friends, or editing, or well... today I relax laughing with friends at a coffee shop, bike riding, walking or meeting strangers on the street, grocery store, coffee shop or snuggling with my woman. It's hard to turn off my craft since I keep every draft, story idea on my phone. Technology is a curse... you're never truly away from craft... but that in itself is why I write... Laughing is the best diversion.... Namaste Speedo

I am often told that getting a sold seven hours sleep can refresh your brain and increase creativity. If I'm ever able to test that, I'll let you know if it works.

Personally, I tend to be most relaxed when I'm actually writing the script. Everything surrounding it--research, outlining, pitching, oh man, don't get me started on pitching...that's all--I don't want to say stressful, but it isn't my idea of fun. Any spare time and energy I have is taken up thinking about this thing I'm going to do (or I have to do, if I'm lucky enough to have someone paying me to do it.) It's kind of a miserable way to live, having this program constantly running on some level near the front of your mind pretty much every waking moment no matter what else you might be doing at the time. But when that's the *only* program running? When I've finally figured out where the story's going and the characters finally start talking to each other and I'm just pounding the keyboard trying to keep up? That's better than yoga. So if your mind works in a fashion similar to mine and you're following the 1, 2, 7, 14 formula, I'd say the time you get to relax is during the 7. If I'm just not going to get to write pages that day for whatever reason, walking the dog'll have to do.

Jeremy, please let me know if that theory works out... if you ever manage it. You and I evidently take a similar approach to life... and sleeping [or lack thereof].

I'm still trying to figure it out ha ha

No sleep. Check. Writing on vacation. Check. Wife and kids wondering if they'll ever see me again. Check. You are almost never off as a writer. Everything ties into something. Especially as projects begin to fall on top of one another. However, I do try to take two or three days a month and not write, take notes, or get on the Internet. I spend time with my family. Sometimes my wife says something like, "You're taking me out tonight. I'm not asking." If someone figures out how to not feel guilty on their (forced) days off, I'd appreciate some tips on that.

I have to have one day a week when I'm not typing, or my wrists would just give out completely. Mostly I go walking, which is about as opposite to sitting in a chair typing as you can get. Physical exercise does tend to 'switch off' my creative mind for a while, so I find it works quite well...

ok, here we go. I’d like to share with this one… A year ago I was attending McKee. And during breaks we're continue to have fun. His famous Q&A, etc. I had finished with mine Q, and was doing some time next to the stage. Collecting some curious stuff. And now I’m thinking I completely forgot the actual question, but the answer was made of gold. And if I got it write, it was piece of some private conversation. The other party (I, too, forgot the name) in this story said to him: the hardest part of my job is to convince my wife when I’m seemingly pointless staring out of the window I’m actually working. And I may sound egocentric… Seriously, it’s pretty damn good question. Important even. Not for the sake of relaxing, but for the sake of winning some time. I think we should be doing some relaxing during our everyday repetitious work. Some automatic movements will do good. While you’re fooling yourself that you’re trying to be in control of this fucking nightmare, it actually would be good to sweep the floor, or wash the dishes. And not for sake of cleanness, god no! Lol. But with something that you actually touch, and it works as you touch it, it brings you back to the field of you nightmare right away, fully armed. Sorry for my cracked English )). Didn’t mean nothing by it ))))) .

I don't think writers ever truly relax. We're always listening, watching, observing etc. You never know when you'll hear some amazing snatch of dialogue or see a person walking down the street and think they look exactly like the character you've been struggling to describe. That said, I like to run on the treadmill. I find that it empties the brain and allows new ideas to come in and rattle around. I watch movies, listen to music, play online games. But I'm always working in the background, taking notes, taking a snapshot of the world. I was awake half the night as I'm working on a logline and turning it round and round until it's just so. I woke up with the words on my lips. The only thing that helps me switch off completely are the soaps on BBC and ITV such as Eastenders and Coronation Street. They are written in such a way to be completely absorbing and consuming. So I use them to switch off.

I think it's really important to relax or you'll never be able to maintain a 'mind like water' a la Bruce Lee. I feel that's so important because if I'm all strung out, I miss the magic of the everyday that's unfolding all around us. But how do I relax? These days, it's Animal Planet with my father-in-law. Or Tamil soap operas that I only half understand. There's something about animals that's meditative. And there's something about trying to understand something what's going that reinforces to me how powerful the visual medium is.

God, I so get that. When I'm starting to plot or characterise and feeling really unmoored, I have a violent urge to clean the entire house. When those voices come back that say, "Why are you working so hard - it's going to be crap anyway?", I find myself working out like crazy. Automatic movements are restful. No doubt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination IMO, it's the sign of something important when you try to dodge it like this. And i may sound way too much like BruceWayne's Alfred, but you have to ENDURE the call to be distracted. Sometimes I get too much of a truth in on particular line or paragraph (i believe it's bit of a stressful to be that much close with your real self, it's the kind of Truth that you're expecting never to be found in real world (and paradoxically you're hunting for it), it's coming out of you and it is UNIQUE, and you're affraid of it and subconsciously try to force it out with your Procrastination (i.e. things in your opinion that have lower priority)), and so I find myself imidiately running from it (literally I exit the room for whatever the reasons, and some extra effort to come back and finish that instant bright and shiny IDEA). I like to think that it's a sign of right direction )) .