We all love holidays. Whether it’s a short city break, a week in the sun or two weeks walking the Camino de Santiago, it’s a break from our day job and often a welcome dose of sunshine. But wait – it’s taken you weeks to establish your early morning writing habit, and you’re finally at the crucial second pinch point in your latest novel. The last time you took a holiday, it took an age to get back into the flow after you arrived home. What to do!
Of course, you could write every day, but holidays by definition are a break from the usual routine. And anyway, you won’t have your laptop, your desk and your favourite coffee mug with you, so maybe that’s not such a good idea.
The good news is that there are lots of viable options which can help maintain your daily writing habit and the momentum in your novel while keeping those important writing muscles in good shape.
Option 1: Mini Writing Session
Decide that you will continue to write every day, but make it a mini version of your usual routine. If you usually write for two hours each morning, decide on one hour instead. If your daily target is 1000 words, settle for 500 words for the duration of your holiday. The benefits of this approach are:
- You maintain your daily routine, just at a reduced rate. Numerous articles have been written about how to develop a new habit and the importance of doing it every single day. Breaking a routine, even for a short time, can cause it to magically evaporate into the ether as if it never existed.
- You banish the niggling feeling at the back of your mind, telling you that you should be writing, that ‘real authors’ write every day no matter where they are – climbing Mount Everest, potholing in Tasmania or skydiving over the Serengeti.
Whatever you do, make sure the goal you set is both realistic and achievable. Overcommitting will just create tension, pressure and disappointment, not what you want during a holiday.
Option 2: Mix It Up
Consider taking a partial break by working on a different project, one that still comes under the heading of writing. This could be another novel that’s only in the idea stage or maybe a finished manuscript that requires editing or proofreading. Pick something that’s doesn’t need your usual writing environment of laptop, desk and a quiet room.
The ideas and research stages of a book are sometimes the most fun. If your story takes place somewhere similar to your holiday destination, then all the better. Take the chance to visit interesting locations for your scenes. Take photos or video where permitted and look for the small details that will make your descriptions more authentic.
Editing and proofreading are perfect activities for a holiday, as you only need a tablet or even a printed copy of the manuscript, so being away from your laptop and office won’t be a disadvantage. Imagine lounging by the pool with a refreshing drink while spending an hour reviewing your latest book; or sipping Italian coffee in a sunny piazza, proofreading your soon-to-be bestseller.
Option 3: Refill Your Creative Well
Holidays are a fantastic time to refill our creative wells, the inner resource for our ideas and characters. We write and create from our experiences, the places we’ve been, the people we’ve encountered and the situations we’ve had to deal with. Holidays give us the opportunity to choose where we spend our time, what type of environment we put ourselves into and more importantly, they give us the time to really absorb the scene and events being played out around us.
Our daily lives go by so quickly that it can be difficult to remember what a person looked like, what smells and sounds filled our senses or what emotions we experienced. On holiday you can visit a busy marketplace and take time to identify the aromas passing through your nostrils, and to describe them in your own words, jotting down your ideas in a notebook or the voice recorder app on your phone.
You can take the ski lift over and over again, focusing on something different each time – the feeling of the cool breeze on your face with your eyes closed; the shouts from the kids experiencing the lift for the first time; the lurching movement as it makes it way up the mountain.
By planning, you can visit locations that you intend using in your book and gain invaluable material for your novel. This will be immensely satisfying and will feel like ‘real work’ compared to researching on your computer at home.
Option 4: Character Profiles
Characters are the lifeblood of our novels. They bring our stories to life. Without them, our novels would be pages of facts more akin to a history book from our school days.
A great resource is to have a cast of ready-made characters to pick from. I often find it difficult to conjure up an ‘interesting’ character when I need one. I might be in the middle of writing a scene and don’t want to break out of the flow to begin profiling a new character.
On holidays, people from different parts of the world convene in popular destinations and provide us with a vast array of characters to choose from. Enjoy a snack in a busy thoroughfare and watch, listen and be curious about the people you see. Observe how they are dressed, how they interact, their facial expressions and body language. Try to interpret what they are talking about, what emotions they are having and where they are from, not only their country of origin but their home life, their jobs, the highs and lows in their lives. Study, imagine, create, be inventive.
Your conclusions don’t have to be correct, that’s not the point – it’s about being observant and aware of the smaller details, details that support the personality you have created for them. Too often we describe our characters by their appearance and their background, but forget to really bring them to life by describing the subtle characteristics specific to them e.g. the way the girl pulls apart her Danish pastry with her fingers and delicately picks the icing from the top with her lips before eating the rest of it; how the guy deep in thought cradles his coffee cup with both hands instead of using the handle – is he warming his hands or is it a comforting gesture.
You can pick and mix traits from each person to create your own new characters. Think of the novel or series you are writing and create suitable personalities. Maybe that guy perusing the magazines in the shop across the road isn’t waiting for his wife, instead he’s watching the two men deep in conversation at the table outside the cafe next door, who look like innocent retired locals but are really art dealers planning to rob the gallery down the street. Have fun while exercising your creative writing muscles.
Happy Holidays!
Harry
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