Taking a Break
Posted by annastan on July 3rd, 2009. Filed under: Writing Rants.Since I’m going out of town for a little while (don’t worry, I’ve scheduled posts to go up in my absence) I’ve been thinking about how much writing should happen while you’re on vacation. Being away from a routine for an extended period of time can be a little unnerving. When I was in Hawaii in January, for example, I was having a wonderful time for the first few days, and then the fact that I hadn’t been writing started to get to me. So I left my husband at the hotel pool and I went to sit in the lobby and wrote furiously for a little while. It made me feel calm again, so I could enjoy the rest of my vacation. This is why I’m bringing my trusty notebook with me on this trip as well. But I have to say that to me writing is more than just the act of putting pencil to paper, it’s also brainstorming and storing away information. Just by jotting down ideas and things you’ve heard, you’re adding to your writing. If you come back from vacation with nothing down on paper, but still filled with the mood of the places you saw, that can be more valuable to a story than pages of notes. I guess the trick is to keep your eyes open, to memorize the details of the things you experience, and to let yourself have a little bit of fun.
