{"id":5561,"date":"2026-10-02T13:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/?p=5561"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:33:09","slug":"fallow-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/fallow-time","title":{"rendered":"Fallow Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/meadow_clouds_14291_h264_1920.mp4\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5563\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many moons ago, when I still lived in the Boston area, my friend Freda* and I were having a hard time writing one of our books, and she said our brains needed fallow time. We talked about it \u2014 and went with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just as fields are left unplanted so they can replenish, she thought our writing brains needed to be replenished \u2014 by taking a break from writing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We stopped work on our book \u2014 and each of us went on to do the other things we were doing, and let our writing brains sit fallow for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of our colleagues called it wasting time \u2014 but for me \u2014 then, like now, it is not wasted time &#8211; it is a vastly different type of  productive time &#8211;  and it is nearly invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back then, our fallow time was followed by rapid writing time, a finished manuscript, and publication! That period of NOT writing did what it was supposed to do, like the fallow field, we were again filled with ideas and the words to write!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I sometimes remember this fallow time idea, but I mostly forget the concept &#8211; until I was working on my current book about getting stuck, and it came back to me like the proverbial ton of bricks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fallow time was what my brain needed this August and September!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have an easier time with how I feel when I can label it \u2014 and labeling my brain status as fallow time made it easier for me to connect with what was\/is going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m almost out of my fallow time, but I am not pushing it \u2014 I sit and remember all those other fallow times when the words came back \u2014 rushing out and into coherent content \u2014 and I know they will again do that \u2014 and that\u2019s why knowing I am in fallow time is so great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I know it has an endpoint and abundance will reappear!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/powerful_brain_300_clr_35515.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5565\" style=\"width:336px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The brain energy is coming back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"479\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/brain_storm_cloud_400_clr_35481-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/brain_storm_cloud_400_clr_35481-1.png 479w, https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/brain_storm_cloud_400_clr_35481-1-290x300.png 290w, https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/brain_storm_cloud_400_clr_35481-1-145x150.png 145w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the ideas are flowing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PS [sigh] now there is no publisher to clean up the manuscripts, edit, and advertise&#8230;.that&#8217;s on me now&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>*Freda Rebelsky, Ph.D. was my professor in Graduate School \u2014 and my best friend, co-author, and colleague. She died in 2009 and I still miss talking to her about Psychology. If you ever had a child development or lifespan textbook by Rebelsky and Dorman or Dorman and Rebelsky \u2014 I\u2019m that Dorman.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\t<div id=\"respond\" class=\"comment-respond wp-block-post-comments-form\">\n\t\t<h3 id=\"reply-title\" class=\"comment-reply-title\">Leave a Reply <small><a rel=\"nofollow\" id=\"cancel-comment-reply-link\" href=\"\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561#respond\" style=\"display:none;\">Cancel reply<\/a><\/small><\/h3><form action=\"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-comments-post.php\" method=\"post\" id=\"commentform\" class=\"comment-form\"><p class=\"comment-notes\"><span id=\"email-notes\">Your email address will not be published.<\/span> <span class=\"required-field-message\">Required fields are marked <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/span><\/p><p class=\"comment-form-comment\"><label for=\"comment\">Comment <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/label> <textarea id=\"comment\" name=\"comment\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"65525\" required><\/textarea><\/p><p class=\"comment-form-author\"><label for=\"author\">Name <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/label> <input id=\"author\" name=\"author\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"245\" autocomplete=\"name\" required \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-email\"><label for=\"email\">Email <span class=\"required\">*<\/span><\/label> <input id=\"email\" name=\"email\" type=\"email\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"100\" aria-describedby=\"email-notes\" autocomplete=\"email\" required \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"comment-form-url\"><label for=\"url\">Website<\/label> <input id=\"url\" name=\"url\" type=\"url\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"200\" autocomplete=\"url\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"form-submit wp-block-button\"><input name=\"submit\" type=\"submit\" id=\"submit\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" value=\"Post Comment\" \/> <input type='hidden' name='comment_post_ID' value='5561' id='comment_post_ID' \/>\n<input type='hidden' name='comment_parent' id='comment_parent' value='0' \/>\n<\/p><p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"akismet_comment_nonce\" name=\"akismet_comment_nonce\" value=\"ad17b07819\" \/><\/p><p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_1\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"56\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_1\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\t<\/div><!-- #respond -->\n\t\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"118\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/thank_you_comment_bubbles.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5568\" style=\"width:412px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many moons ago, when I still lived in the Boston area, my friend Freda* and I were having a hard time writing one of our books, and she said our brains needed fallow time. We talked about it \u2014 and went with that. Just as fields are left unplanted so they can replenish, she thought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[75,425],"tags":[181,130,61,117],"class_list":["post-5561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","category-psychology","tag-writing","tag-brain","tag-human-interest","tag-psychology-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graywolfproductions.com\/graywolfproductions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}