6700 Miles

Hi all, we just got back.  This was one of our stops along our 7200-mile trek that we truncated to 6700 miles.  I won't bore you with a travel log at this point (leaving myself to do so later).

Overall, it was a super great trip and we learned a great deal about motor homing.  One of the many things I learned is my routine was blown all to hell.  I only wrote one evening in an RV park.  That means for a month I only wrote 600 words.

Why was my production so low?  As you could guess, I wrote so little is because of a number of things.  First and foremost is the same thing that I think gets most of us out of writing.  A break in our routine.

Authors and wannabees like me write about the pitfalls of not writing and what to do about it.  Getting motivated, writing junk until it jells into some coherent and so forth.  What I think is at the top of the list is structure, routine, a time and place consistently.

When we have a place where we are comfortable and a time where we expect to be productive and free of distractions our word count soars.  Get in a motorhome and head down the road thinking about how many miles we're going to make today, where will we dump if we don't rent a spot in an RV park and why isn't the propane on, doesn't give much time to think about that scene I want to write or how to weave in the next chapter with a new character that I'm going to introduce.

The break in routine doesn't have to be as dramatic as my trip.  One of the gals in my writing group commented, "I didn't write anything this past month.  I have relatives visiting."  At least, I got a short story of 600 words. Ain't I proud of myself. Ha...

Now I'm home.  Yet, my routine is broken.  I use to count on two days a week to write as I watched my granddaughter toddle around trying to stick her fingers in the outlets.  That's over.  I don't babysit anymore.  I have all kinds of remodeling projects going on.  I'm flooring, replacing windows, chopping on that darn stump that's been in the yard for two years.  When am I going to write?

I could write at night.  I've done that.  But (I admit it), I'm old.  I don't know when to quit and then I'm wasted the next day and everything else suffers.  I am still distracted.  I have the camera full of pictures from the trip to download.  I have a shoe box of receipts to sort and a ton of mail to review.

Sure, it's a matter of priority.  What's important to me and what's important to my wife.  Writing is way up toward the top of my list.  It is a little lower down (toward the bottom) for my wife.  So, there is that to consider.

There is so much to be said for stability in life.  I don't know what distracts you.  I suspect the more successful of us have one or more things going for them.  They are in a nice productive routine or so committed and talented that they can write anywhere at anytime. Of the latter, I am so envious.