Sick! So sick right now! My daughter had the worst cold/flu bug, and of course the caretaker picked it right up. So the revision process has been halted a bit due to 102 degree fevers and chills. When my fever breaks—as it does about once or twice a day—I get a few things done. Hence, my blog post today. By the way, the picture was taken by the hubby. This was his third take—and his last according to him—because the waves kept washing the words away. Yes, it would have been smarter to write this more inland, but that would just make too much sense now wouldn’t it?
For those of you who follow me on Twitter (@katrinasspencer) and Facebook you guys already know that my family and I had a wonderful vacation in Florida this summer. Disneyworld was great but my favorite part was the clear blue water at Melbourne beach. When I think about it, I can’t remember the sand between my toes growing up. I mean I remember it, I have it imprinted on my brain somewhere—but the feeling of the sand in between my toes, the cool water lapping on my ankles, the dizziness from the tide pulling the water back into the sea—those details were forgotten as details of laundry, dishwashing (okay, okay I have a dishwasher, but somebody has to stack the the dishes in) crowd in my brain, clamoring for space.
That vacation had a profound effect on my writing. (I always bring a notebook or my laptop with me, even on a vacay. You never know when you could get inspired!) The peacefulness of the ocean waves, the salty sea air blowing my straw hat off my head—all those evoked emotions in me that I had to get down on paper. No, my characters didn’t live at the beach and didn’t take a vacation, so how could this help my writing?
I’ve always been the one to preach that it’s great to have a passion for writing, but writing cannot be your life. Crazy I know, but if writing is all you thought about, all you ever did, then you couldn’t get much living done. And for me, living enhances the ability of a writer. Seeing the world in a whole new perspective translated to my characters and they grew from skeletons to fully, breathing creatures with minds of their own. Because I experienced, they too could experience—taste the turkey sandwich peppered with sand, the sheer glee on my daughter’s face as a wave crashed on her belly and the scream that scared the seagulls when she felt seaweed on her heels. My characters were made richer because of my experiences. I forgot about that, how life translates to art. It’s easy to forget when you get caught up in the hum-drum of life.
Whether it be a weekend getaway or week-long escapade, try to take a vacation this year. Your characters will thank you for it.
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