Saturday night, I was lying on the futon with my Writer’s Digest. At some point, without realizing, I put the magazine down and started staring off at the wall. But I wasn’t seeing the wall. I was seeing Dempsey’s neighborhood, and his family, and his school. I was seeing these through Dempsey’s eyes, and listening to explanations in his voice.

After I mentally worked my way through a plot tangle and came up with a couple of blog post ideas, it occurred to me I should jot them down in my journal. As I stood up, I realized I had spent the past 40 minutes doing nothing.

It’s the most productive 40 minutes I’ve had in weeks.

These past few weeks have been busy, to say the least. The husband and I took a trip to Pittsburgh, then I came home to a few major projects for my day jobs (including designing two magazines, a high school football preview, and a cruise night preview). The opportunities to do nothing have been few and far between.

But those moments of untethering the mind are critical to the creative process. Sometimes the most productive writing time and book planning time is when we give ourselves a break from the screen or notebook.

The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. — Agatha Christie