The Myth of the Writer’s Getaway
Or, save your money and work on writing at home
When I first started working on my second novel, I really wanted to take time off of my day job to go away for a week and “focus in” on it. I had such plans! I was going to buckle down, make a better outline, map out a plotboard, and nail down all my nagging plot questions.
In one week. All at once.
Yeah, I know.
I did it anyway…or tried to. And not just once, but twice! I’m not sure why this seemed like such an important thing to do. Maybe because taking time off of work and renting a tiny house near (INSERT RANDOM TOWN HERE) was the closest I thought I could get to a residency at the MacDowell Colony (or really, any free/paid residency). This was in my phase of thinking that without a residency, I could never be seen as (*gasp*) legit.
Mostly, though, I thought that something magical would happen out there, away from home and the distractions it holds. Surely, my muse would find me and, without a husband or cats to distract me, I would eat, sleep and dream my story. I imagined walls papered with the timeline of my story on rolls of tacked-up shelf paper, maybe even with some Beautiful Mind-style red thread connecting various time points and storylines. I’d be hunkered down over the counter with a steaming mug of coffee next to my laptop, losing all track of time as I wrote, lost in the world of my story.
The reality of it was, without my husband, I had no one to bounce ideas off of, or even just chat with. I felt pressured to be brilliant in one week. ONE. WEEK.
So instead, I binge-watched a full season of American Horror Story, played with my tarot cards (“will I ever write this book???”), drove to the seashore, and drank a lot of wine. And beer. And smoked a totally legal substance just because it was there. I lost track of time, all right, but not due to writing.
Okay, I DID do a little writing, which I later cut when I realized it was forced and just plain not working. Bad writing is still writing, so it’s not time wasted, but come on — I definitely could have done that from home. You know, that place where I should be developing the habit of writing every day?
It finally hit me after the second writer’s getaway/vacation I took. This one worked out better because I had time to create while on a getaway staying at a wonderful artist’s rental home in Minneapolis (Bella Luna Studios/Wolf House). The space was full of creative energy, but I also didn’t put a ton of pressure on myself to be constantly writing if I didn’t feel like it. Surprisingly (or maybe not at all), I got much more done in a few days there than I did in a week on the first go around.
But do you know where I got the most writing done? Wait for it…
HOME. In our little one-bedroom apartment, cats and all. I set aside time every single day to work on writing. If it wasn’t on the book, it was on a blog entry, or even on one of my writing games. Once I got a pattern established, I realized I didn’t need a residency or a writer’s getaway to get things done! I’m an older married woman with no children. And even if I wasn’t — one might argue, especially if I wasn’t! — I would still need to get in the habit of carving out little bits of time every day wherever I could.
Don’t put unneeded pressure on yourself. Don’t pay to rent adorable woodsy cabins with the expectation that you’re going to get TONS of work done out there. I mean, by all means, take a holiday and relax. But “writer’s getaway”s are little more than a romantic notion that sounds a lot better than they actually are. Just call it a vacation and bring your laptop in case you’re inspired. But the real work? It can only take root in your long term comfort zone, AKA your day-to-day. For me, it was generally a few hours in the evening while my husband was asleep, nearly every evening for a few months. It was actually pretty addictive, truth be told. I was even rather sad when the first draft was finished.
Not to worry, though. There will always be edits! If nothing else, this I know.
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