Do writers need holidays? - Jo Carroll
It's August. The schools are out. Children and young people mill about our streets eating ice creams. Families, if they can afford it, are heading off on holiday. And those of us in teaching or factories or offices or libraries - anywhere with a boss and a contract - have the statutory right to take leave. Employment law enshrines a belief that we are entitled to time away from work to recharge our batteries. I am aware that the situation is different in America, where most employees have very little paid leave - but here, in Europe, we see time away from work as reparative and not evidence of slacking. And families need time together, just to have fun, to remind themselves how much they love each other when they don't bicker every morning just getting out of the house. And writers? Do we need restorative time? Days, weeks, away from the blank page and from social media, just to reconnect with who we are and what we really want from life? To breathe fresh air and re...