October 26, 2020
Sunday Letter: Taking Vacation
As I alluded in last week’s letter, I took the week off. Not because I had a trip planned or family was visiting from out-of-town. Nope, this was nothing more than much needed time away from work.
During the week, my family was generous enough to let me take some time away from them to focus on writing. It might sound like work, but I treat writing as structured relaxation.
Writing fiction gives me a place to channel frustration and allow the left side of my brain to switch off.
This isn’t the first writing vacation I’ve taken. Last year, about the same time, I took a three-day trip south to Salinas. It was during that trip where I wrote a page in my writing journal that would become The Traveler. Seemed only fitting to devote this year’s writing vacation to completing the series.
And I came close to finishing. Two of the three remaining planned stories were written this past week.
I’m really happy with how they’ve come together. The plot in these last three represent several of the core ideas of the series, and appeared in the very first outlines. I would share my first journal entry with the concept, but it would ruin the story.
It also feels good to complete a story that I’ve started. When I began writing fiction a few years ago, my first (and foremost) goal was to finish.
I’m not done yet—and don’t want to jinx myself—but this most recent writing vacation gave me the momentum I needed to get there.
So things are back on track after my break last month. I’m focused this week on the final story, and—if I can—finish the behind-the-scenes post for The Banker.
That’s a lot of writing (for me), but I’m on a roll.