Hobbies are healthy, some are even low in calories!

Briefly, I'd just like to mention that hobbies are healthy. I know a lot of people say things like "writing is my hobby," but I'm here to say, that might not be enough.

I know plenty of people who love their jobs. I also know plenty of people who are writing with the hope of having writing become their job. If you're writing to become a paid writer, you need other hobbies because your writing has crossed a magic barrier: your writing has become a second job.

Think about it. Yes, it is a passion. No, I couldn't stop even if someone ordered me to. But if  you had a second job that you were passionate about--say making blankets for the homeless, or sewing dresses for needy girls who just want to have one storybook moment in their life--you wouldn't consider your second, yet very passionate, job to be your hobby. It would just be another thing that you do. You'd still find time to tend a garden, or play golf with friends, maybe sail or relax on the lake.

When we write, we are passionate about it, but sometimes, we write to the exclusion of all else. Don't do this. Relax, enjoy the summer around you. It may be that I am particularly guilty of this right now, so this warning is more about me getting out to smell the roses than me admonishing all you lovely people to remember to do other things with your time besides hole up and write books.

With that being said, I think I'll go walk around the garden before jumping back into the writing cave.