headerheaderheaderheader
photo

Friday, July 18, 2008

Planning a Detour Off the Writing Road

I'm sitting in a smaller than average hotel room enjoying a bit of vacation. It's work for my husband and vacation for me and my two daughters.
Except I brought my writing along with me.
So it doesn't feel exactly like a vacation.
So far today I've plotted out my Work in Progress, letting my twentysomething daughter get in on the process. She's good at it. Of course, I don't know how the book's going to end: happily ever after or mostly-happily ever after? And I'm okay with that little plot question for now.
I've also worked on my assignments doled out by my mentor who is helping me build my author platform. (Rob, if you are reading this post, I hope my work ethic impresses you.) So I've drafted out three online articles and read three chapters in a book.
I updated my late-in-life mom blog and visited a few others to research this post.
And in the midst of this vacation-work, I have come to a conclusion:
I am ready for a real vacation.
I'm traveling the Writing Road and I'm looking for an off-ramp. Not in a desperate "I hate my life" way. No. I just realize it's time for a little R&R.
I'll be a better writer for it.
Writing is too much work and not enough relaxed creativity right now. I am writing and editing because I must, not because I want to.
Sometimes it is more fun to write just because I want to.
In a couple of weeks, I am blessed with a real vacation. Just me, my husband and a beach. I will take no writing assignments with me. No have-tos. I will abandon the Writing Road--for a season--and be a better writer for it.

2 comments:

Kay Martin said...

Writing for deadlines is a writer's goal for getting published but the pressure has built in challenges. As I return to serious writing I am encountering the "aloneness" that I must have to find my words in my heart. Also I struggle with a comfortable relaxed voice in my writing if I am pressured.

Thanks for this post...you've stirred up many thoughts I needed to surface.

Beth K. Vogt said...

Funny that I should get your comment today . . . the day before I head out for my real vacation.
And I stuck with my commitment to take no "real" writing with me. I'm not even taking my laptop.
GASP!
May you find the enjoyment in crafting words . . . and may God bless the work of your hands.
Beth

Blog Archive