Keeping Up Writing On Holidays

It’s summer. For me, it is an unusual one, full of travels, visiting friends, family, and living on the road. While all this is great and exciting, the question of writing always remains at the back of my mind, awakening my conscience.

How to keep up writing on a summer schedule, outside the normal routine? More importantly, why make the effort of doing it there and then instead of sinking in the adventures and impressions to write about it later on?

Among the reasons that imposed themselves and persuaded me it’s best to keep up:

1. Discipline

You’re already aware of how important discipline is for writing. If you’ve worked hard on developing a routine, why abandon it now? Of course, you may need to make changes in the times and places you do the work, but it’ll feel much easier to pick up your normal schedule when you come back to it.

You will have proved to yourself that you’re able to pull it off in various circumstances and not face the blank page and lazy fingers upon your return.

2. Capture Details

Even though it may seem straightforward that you’ll remember everything that’s happening, we all tend to forget details. Just like we forget dreams in a flicker of a second. And details, like the tone and feeling, are what make writing memorable.

Don’t save the overwhelming emotions of experience for later. Write about it there and then and capture the explosion. You can modify it in the future, but you’ll never be able to seize that initial excitement.

3. Fresh Thought

The whole point of holidays is to bring refreshment. By clearing up your head, resting your body and mind, facing a new environment and being isolated from the everyday surrounding and problems, you make up room for fresh thoughts.

Two years ago, I went on a four-day holiday and it brought about a transformation I didn’t expect. After feeling stuck for months back, I finally found my inspiration during those few days and thankfully I acted upon it immediately. When I came back, the writings I did then kept my inspiration flowing and maintained the motivation. It was a new chapter in my life – and I started it on a holiday.

This summer, being torn from everything familiar, I seem to be experimenting with different kinds of writing. One day I woke up with a ready poem in my mind, and I don’t even write poetry.

Yes, routines are needed in our lives, but sometimes the unusual circumstances can be an inspiration by itself and show us a different side of ourselves. Make room for these surprises and you’ll definitely learn something new.

PRACTICE

For fifteen minutes write about last summer. Pick an incident, a day, make a summary or any detail of your choosing. When you’re done, post it in the comments.

As usual, make sure to support others’ practices.

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is a writer and entrepreneur. He is the author of the #1 Amazon Bestseller Let's Write a Short Story! and the co-founder of Story Cartel. You can follow him on Twitter (@joebunting).