People ask what I really did in the three years between 'The Dreaming' and 'Hounds of Love.' I spent it with my family, living a normal home life.
From time to time, I've experimented with sculpture or metal design. It's a good break from just sitting behind the keyboard.
I didn't move to Nashville with any inkling or dreams of getting a record deal. I didn't have those stars in my eyes. I just wanted to take a break, relax, and figure out songwriting.
People who work crossword puzzles know that if they stop making progress, they should put the puzzle down for a while.
Writing is a grueling process for us, and once we finish an album, we go on tour for a couple of years. Plus, we're always very involved in our own business, so we need a break when we come back.
After Wings I did a lot of recording rather than live work. I even went into a kind of semi-retirement to places like Spain at one point.
Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.
Instead of just hammering away at a song, I'll approach it from a million other angles. Sometimes I'll leave all my equipment set up and just turn on the TV for five minutes; sometimes I've gotta get out of the house. I don't think it every really leaves my head.
There comes a point at which you stop writing and think all the more
I believe every artiste, at some point, needs to take a step back.
I'm working on my music - I've taken a little break from it and want to get back into that.
I sat down to take a break from writing a book and wrote a spec feature that would end up being the movie 'Lies & Alibis' with Steve Coogan.
I always need to get away from whatever it is I've just finished, to feel a distance from it.
I have, for a few years, been writing comedy prose - short pieces for my blog - because I found it to be a good way to write while I was on a TV show. It was different enough from my scripts that it felt like a break, but it still was comedy and very fun. I like to do comedy!
Sometimes not playing music for a day is much more beneficial than playing every day for ten hours.
After 'Return Of The Bumpasaurus' in '96, I just got away from music for, like, a year. Literally, I think I produced two songs in a year. I was totally kicking it, running around.
When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!
Well I'm still working on The Incredibles. So I'm going to take a little time off. I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. I'm not ready to talk about them yet, but expect the unexpected.
With Instapaper, I can take a few months off. I can't stop publishing 'The Magazine' for two months and work on something else.
I have a piano in my office, and sometimes during meetings, I'll sit down and goof on the keyboard a little bit.
One of the good things about consulting is that you leave the writers' room for a couple of days, things progress, you come back, and you might have a fresher take.
I took a lot of time off after Mobsters and although I did something I had never done before, which was to direct a play, The Laughter Epidemic, it felt like a vacation.
When you're writing it's a very solitary job. It's you and your word processor and a cup of tea. It's nice- that again, is another nice thing about being able to do commercials is, you can get out of the house and chase high speed cars around for a few days and then by the time you go back, you're kind of re-infused to write.
The good thing about writing a novel is that you're creating an imaginary world and can take a break when you need to.
When I first started writing, I didn't write about scientists at all. I think I wanted a break from that part of my world.
