APOLOGIES: Vacation Writing RULES

I must apologize to my avid readers. I have been neglecting my blog due to finishing my novel and traveling over the summer. But I do promise some new and exciting things this fall ----

But until then, the summer months tend to keep me away from my computer. That's a good thing and a bad thing for the writer side of me. I need to keep writing to stay sharp, but I also need downtime to allow creativity to happen so I can write about it. If I do nothing but sit, my writing becomes boring. I need to experience things, places, people, and situations, so my writing is new and exciting.

In the meantime, I am in Newport, Vermont, for 2 weeks and have the writer bug. But I'm supposed to be on vacation. I posted this dilemma to my Facebook account, and some of my favorite writers and creative friends wrote back. 

What I posted: I know I'm on vacation --- but I need to write!!! UGH --- What should I do?

What they said:

• I know what you should do. You should write! ~ Max Timm

• Short stories. Write stuff that you never thought you'd try to write. See if any of the pieces sprout into something more. ~ Rick Rowe

• Write me a letter about your vacation. ~ Ginger Teapole

• I'm having the same problem. I've been off for over a week, and I've written nothing! It's making me antsy, but I figure sometimes you need to take a break from everything. Good luck! ~ Lisa Lamm Alkins

• Whenever I visit a new place on vacation, I think of how to turn this new place into an article topic that is refreshing and different. And since I'm new, it's easier to get perspective. I've had much success with this - it can be done! ~ Dorit Sasson

• Postcards? ~ Jennifer Bach Larson

• Journal your day…~ Betsy Pritts Ickes

• I really like to use some of these if I need help writing… ‎www.cracked.com/blog/5-writing-exercises-that-will-make-you-more-creative/ ~ Jessica Beauchamp

Thank you, my creative friends. I did write --- in fact, I wrote this blog using your fabulous ideas. You helped me more than you know. And I hope these ideas help you, my rocking writer readers. 

Writing sparks strike at odd times. If you write, you know this. A writer must write when the light turns green. So go!!! Do not stop! WRITE.

Vacation Writing Rules:

• Find a quiet place away from the family - sneak away --- do not announce that you are going to go write!!!

• Bring your laptop -- and the cord

• And a glass of wine - you're on vacation, so this sipping of the wine could be at 9:00 AM or 9:00 PM --- this is vacation writing!

• Food is needed -- so you don't have to get up and then get seen by your kids and then asked to do 1001 things before you go back to your writing

• Water -- hydrate so your brain can work through the wine haze

Vacation writing can be fun if you relax and know that it's not the same writing you do at home, in your office, in your writing spot, or surrounded by your writer things. This is VACATION! Write freely and with much fun. Write through your inner child's eyes….and you never know, you just might hit upon an idea or a line that will unfold into a beautiful novel.

Good luck to you, and keep me posted on the vacation writing you do!

Write~on

Angie