Why vacations are bad for my author...

Hey, everyone, it's me, Elijana the great and all knowing (occasionally gloating) muse. I'm here today to tell you why my author needs to avoid vacations that involve her leaving the home for more than two days at a time. Actually, if she would only listen, it has to do with her being away from her writing for more than a few days at a time, but I'll get to that.

Day One of her vacation involved missing the plane to take her to her destination. While with most airlines that might have been a show stopper, it was not. My dear, dear author was smart enough to fly Southwest and... the fantastic people at the counter got her on the next plane down to sunny Florida and a week at Disney World. It was great when she landed--rainy and cold. Then muggy and rainy. Then cold again. Why did she go on the vacation again? Ah yes, to have fun.

And the fun continued on Day Three, when she received a call from the neighbor (and a dear friend) who was watching her beloved ten year old, black, German shepherd, Lily. Well, Lily had a boo-boo on her paw that sort of ruptured in the friend's house and... from the description you would have thought there had been some sort of blood elf battle scene re-enacted in her kitchen. Lily-pup is all right--a little tender on one foot, but she's feeling much better. Especially after a few impromptu visits to a new vet.

So back to vacation my dear author goes--all the while thinking/obsessing about getting her WIP EMILY'S AFFAIR out the door for submission. And then it's Day Five of the vacation where the fun never ends. My author has actually managed to carve some time for herself to work on her WIP. It's wonderful and the writing is flowing and it's rocking and... the phone rings. Hello? Yes, we're having a great time and--yes, I have the keys to my cars. No, I didn't leave any--why are you asking me about the keys--what?!!! Did you just say that my hot water heater has burst, water is pouring out of my garage, and I am watering all the lawns in the cul-de-sac?

Needless to say, my author was done writing fiction for the day.

By the end of the vacation, as she is sitting in the airport staring at the screen that says her plane home has been delayed, she has finally admitted defeat. But she’s not down. Nope, she’s not down. She learned her lesson and… she wrote while on vacation. More than she did the week after she returned from vacation. But the reason why she didn’t write when she returned is a completely different post—one that may never see the light of day on this website, but will definitely be used as a writer’s reference material in my dear author’s immense repository of crappy things to be used to torture your characters in your WIPs.

Speaking of which… the dear author has a few characters that need to be appropriately tortured to learn their lessons. Take care and happy musings!

~EK

Comments

I enjoy reading your posts and I look forward to reading more of them. I also understand how frustrating real life can be when it gets in the way of chasing those lovely words on a screen. It also gets in the way of a thought processes and amazing compositions. Blessed Be
Elijana Kindel said…
Rhianna, I am so glad you are enjoying the posts! I have discovered in a round about way that my best research comes from living the best life that a muse and author can. Hmmm, that makes me think about some research I did recently about looking to classical authors for inspiration. Perhaps I shall whip up a post about that sometime soon. There's nothing like a good classical metaphor to turn my author's cheeks beet red and have her stammering, ohmiword over and over. lol.

~EK

Popular Posts