Top 5 Non-Work Activities With Lynn West

Top 5 Non-Work Activities With Lynn West
Thursday May 25, 2017

Even I, a Dreamspinner Press founder and devotee, need brain breaks by doing something not work-related. To be honest, it's tough. I love what I do, and it touches so many parts of my life that I have to work just as hard to find activities that are not work-related that I can maintain interest in. So here's what is currently working for me:

  1. Listen to audiobooks (that are not romance!). I was brought up a science fiction and fantasy fan, so that's what I aim for when I want to decompress. Mostly epic classics (like Frank Herbert's Dune or Anne McCaffrey's Pern) but also modern series (like David Weber's Honor Harrington).
  2. Coloring books. When the craze hit a couple of years ago, I wasn't too sure about the idea. I don't think of myself as any sort of artist. But I've found that I really enjoy coloring because it's something to do with my hands while I'm listening to audiobooks, and those two things in tandem require enough focus that I can let hours pass by.
  3. Binge TV shows. God bless the DVR, and now Amazon Prime, Hulu, whatever. I simply can't force myself to a schedule to watch TV, and I'm usually working in the evenings anyway. But DVR or other services give me the freedom to rewatch old favorites, keep up with current shows, and discover new ones, and I'll occasionally spend an entire Sunday watching a whole season of something. Most recently, I binged season one of The Expanse from Syfy.
  4. Create new iTunes playlists. I love music, but I'm terrible at remembering to turn on Pandora, the randomness drives me crazy, and I tend to be really touchy about how music influences my mindset and mood. So I like to create highly customized playlists. I'll spend hours listening to samples and putting together just the right combinations of music.
  5. Go to Disney World. It's not called The Happiest Place on Earth for nothing, and I can while away days (mostly) guilt-free when I need a real vacation.

Bonus: I didn't number it because it's much closer to what I do every day. Yes, insert epic gasps here, I read fan fiction. What can I say? I was watching Star Trek at age five.