The Not So Lazy River



Janis was on the baggage carousel at the Austin Airport

I spent Thursday through Sunday of last week in Austin, Texas. What did I do there? Well, I avoided red meat, was surprised at the humidity-I assumed Texas had dry heat, I relaxed by the pool while reading about the Zombie Apocalypse, did a few laps in the lazy river, and I wrote over 7,000 words.

Wowza!

I rarely make that much progress in so few days. On average I write 800 words a day. I credit my (almost) supernatural productivity to the lazy river and not having to go to work. I guess both could be summed up as having the time to write.



Always on the job.

 My dream, like many writers, is to survive on my writing alone. Until then, I work in an office crunching numbers. I am in no rush to get published though I dream about it nightly. I never queried my first manuscript because I knew it wasn't the quality I wanted to send out to publishing's gatekeepers.

There is no ticking clock and I am not banking on author super-stardom to validate my life or to pay for my next vacation. However, when it comes to what I do eight hours a day, five days a week, I would rather be writing. My mini-escape helped me see that I can write a lot if I didn't have another job. Maybe that's not too impressive to the average person who may think, I am a writer, therefore I write.

The truth is writing can be hard and between daydreaming which pair of Jimmy Choo's you will splurge on for your first-ever book signing, following fellow writers and potential literary agents on Twitter, reading industry blogs, imagining your book's cover design and reading because you love it-that's how you got into this mess-the actual amount of time a pre-published* writer spends writing can be tragically short. So, I am proud I forced myself away from the pool and got my butt in the chair and wrote for hours and hours.

Lazy River



The lazy river allowed me the time away from writing and reading to just float along. It's important to do this because when you are relaxed your mind is free to wander and perhaps offer up solutions to plot holes, tricky sentences that need reworking or whatever your WIP needs. Also, it is important to remember that we can't write about life if we don't live. That's not to mention relief from the eye-twitching caused by staring at black and white print all day.

I didn't see much of Texas, I stayed at the resort the whole time, but in between trips to the pool and seeking out cool places to write I had the most delicious guacamole ever. Keep that in mind if your travels lead you there.

*Nicer than unpublished