I'm writing this the day I should be on the road to a family visit for the holidays, but an unexpected ear infection (though it shouldn't be...my 4 year old has one at least once a year) flared last night as we were preparing to leave for a 10 hour drive. So instead of leaving home at 4 am, I was consoling my son and waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in. And for morning so I could take him to the doctor.
We're leaving Tuesday now, but that gives me a chance to post. My question to you is this: do you write everywhere you go? I am going on a trip that involves lots of driving and hanging out. I've tucked a notebook into my things so I can write if the whim takes me. Does anyone else do that? I don't want to be rude to anyone, and sometimes writing feels rude, it's so solitary and internal. But I've put it off long enough, having been overwhelmed by the activities of the past couple of months. And I'm feeling it, that lack of creativity in my life. I don't know that I can stand it much longer before I'll have to crawl back into my writing hole.
So what are your writing-during-the-holiday plans? Do you plan on just waiting for the end of the break and then take it back up like a New Year's resolution? Or do you need to write everyday, and do it religiously regardless of the time of year? Or something in between?
I'm very much an as-the-inspiration-hits kind of writer. A very sweet friend of mine gave me several notebooks for Christmas and I was really grateful- I'm planning on stashing at least one in the car and one by my bed. It gets comical when I actually go to sit down at my computer to work on a story and I have a pile of old receipts, junk mail, and random post-its all with my scribbling all over them!
ReplyDeleteAs for the isolation thing, I think that even when we're traveling or with family there are always quiet moments when we can steal away and take advantage of some alone time. It's good for us. :-)
Hi Megan!
ReplyDeleteEvery year I tell myself to take a writing holiday for the month of December. I never quite manage to do it - waking up with ideas in my head and sitting down at the computer instead of cooking breakfast because NO ONE HAS TO GO TO SCHOOL! Ha ha aha ha ha!
This year I've grabbed additional time to work on writing during the holidays by having my daughter read manuscripts aloud to me while we drove to the mall. I also have several notebooks in my purse, and I've jotted down inspiration at Christmas concerts.
When I'm visiting family or family is visiting me, I usually don't draft or revise because I like to do that in big chunks of time, and I'd rather spend face-to-face time with the people I love. But those little notebooks are always with me to catch the flashes of thought that I build my stories on later when I'm alone.
I have been known to carry a small notebook and pen in my purse to jot down those cool story/book titles that rush into my head, or write a scene from a story that I'm developing. If I don't have my little red notebook then I whip out my handy-dany iPhone and use the Notes application. Now I'm trying out a dictation app to see how well that works: dictate now, type later...
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of writing every day, although I must admit there have been plenty of times in the past when I've only written when the inspiration hits. However,I am working on amending this by using the above stratagies and posting on my blog, http://notesfromtheguamside.blogspot.com.