Whew! I have been doing a lot of traveling the last few months. A trip at the end of August, one in September, one coming up soon, and of course Thanksgiving travel in November.
All these trips are relatively short—3 days to a week. But it still totally throws me off my writing game. I usually get no writing done, or just a little. The travel days themselves are usually write-offs. Anyone who has traveled with a small child understands this—there is no writing at rest stops or while eating. And the trip takes longer because of frequent bathroom breaks.
And of course once you reach the destination, the days usually fly by in a chaos of activities. Obviously we traveled to somewhere for a purpose (usually to visit relatives) so most of our time is taken up with visiting (which is great—I don’t get to see these relatives nearly enough!). And the whole sleeping, eating, visiting with a small child whose schedule has been totally disrupted can make my down time not so “down”. By the time I finally get time to myself to write, I’m usually exhausted!
I’ve long since decided that while traveling I can only do what I can and try not to beat myself up too much about it.
What are your writing while traveling secrets?
I write no matter where I am since I have deadlines to meet. I write a daily blog for Beliefnet http://features.beliefnet.com/blissblog, weekly and monthly blogs and articles, book and music reviews, contribute to others’ anthologies, conduct interviews and have additional books percolating in my brain. I also do promo for my current book called The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary. My laptop is my trusty travel buddy and I write in airports, train stations, hotels, Starbucks,as well as the homes of friends with whom I stay while on the road, I also do it because it feeds my soul.
It would definitely be different if I had deadlines I needed to meet. But since I don’t, I can get away with leaving a little time for life being crazy. But, like you, it feeds my soul, so I hate to not write!
I say that (grammatically incorrect as it is) “I can’t NOT write.” It is one of my greatest joys, passion and purpose in this lifetime.