A Writer’s Staycation

Last Friday, I turned in my manuscript to some beta readers. This week, I am trying to take a vacation from writing. Emphasis on trying. Turns out my attempt at a short vacation is only confirming what I’ve suspected all my life — that writing isn’t something I DO, it’s who I AM. My vacation at home is teaching me a few more things about the cliche phrase, “You know you’re a writer when …” So, here we go with some vacation-specific thoughts on how to recognize the writer as a species, compared to writing as a profession.

You Know You’re a Writer When …

1. Though on vacation, you don’t bother turning off your alarm, which is set for 6:00 A.M. on normal weekdays, because you know you will wake up with ideas that need to be quickly transferred into Scrivener notes before you forget them … which is usually right after rolling out of bed. (That and you realize it’s pointless to try to sleep in when you have a cat that sits on you at 5:50 A.M., staring at you like a vulture, waiting for you to wake and feed him.)

2. You go through your morning routine of planning your day, as if you weren’t on vacation, but end up blocking off 2 or more hours anyway for “looking over” your next writing project. That “looking over” turns into plotting the draft of your next book. Then every day thereafter is blocked for working on specific draft elements. And you’re excited about that because the ideas are flowing since you’re not under pressure to have to do it.

3. Your first vacation day is miserable because you planned chores you otherwise don’t normally have time to do … like that half-finished sweater you’ve been knitting since last September. But after you “look over” your spontaneous draft work in the morning, you lose track of time refining it, and by evening you’re scowling at your planner as you highlight things you didn’t accomplish because you spent your “free time” writing.

4. Your second day of vacation is better because you decide that if writing is what you enjoy, and you’re making progress, you should give yourself permission to write! But when you force yourself to shut down Scrivener, you kind of have to talk yourself into playing Witcher 3 to get your mind off of the morning’s plotting. You’re on vacation for Gods’ sakes! Spend half the day playing or something!

5. Your third day of vacation you realize you suck at vacationing. But you’re okay with that because the goal is have fun and relax to counter burnout. If the morning was spent having fun writing, and you can spend the afternoon relaxing with a game … reading a book outside … or daydreaming while napping in the sun and thinking about what you might tackle in tomorrow morning’s draft work. Because your come to realize your idea of vacation is not about taking a break from doing something you love. It’s about giving yourself permission to take a break from the things you don’t love … like mowing the lawn or doing the dishes.

6. Your fourth day of vacation you finally feel like you’re on vacation because you have figured out that more time doing what you love and less time doing what you don’t love results in happiness. And you’re kind of relieved you chose a “staycation” because travel would involve the hassles of arranging pet care, planning an itinerary, and wasting precious money. Imagination is free, and you can take your time enjoying it if you live like every day is a holiday or summer break.

7. You resent the fact that, before the weekend is up, you will probably have to interrupt your writing retreat to face the dandelions taking over the yard. You already resent having to load the dishwasher last night because no one has invented a dishwasher that does that part of the job, too. Oh, and things like laundry and the budget? Their constant presence is a reminder that they will be waiting for you with double the normal workload when your “vacation” ends.

8. You are spending one of your last days of vacation writing about your attempts to take a break from writing because you finished today’s draft work early and now have six plots almost completely mapped out and ready for transcribing onto note cards for the storyboard. But you’re not quite ready to take the afternoon off for Witcher 3 yet. … Perhaps some ice cream and a nap in the sun will help.