LUCY BURDETTE: As I’m writing this, it’s early March and I’m frantically wrapping things up with several projects and starting to pack for New Zealand. This has made me think–is there ever a vacation during which I can turn my writing brain off completely? I doubt I will be setting a book or story in New Zealand, though never say never! We went to Australia about ten years ago and I’ve not written anything about that, aside from a blog post. I did start a short story about a crime on Lord Howe Island off the coast of Australia, but I realized quickly that I didn’t know enough to continue. I didn’t understand the local culture or how the police would behave–I’d be flying in the dark and subject to making mistakes and garnering criticism. Maybe this trip will be different? Maybe I’ll write nothing and only relax. What are the chances Reds? Have you ever done that?
JENN McKINLAY: No. I don’t think I’ve ever been on vacation (since I got published) when I didn’t work. That is a very sad statement. I remember when the Hooligans were little and we’d go on our annual beach vacation to San Diego, I’d get up at 5 in the morning and work in the bathroom - usually sitting on towels in an empty bath tub - just to get the day’s pages done so I could be on vacation during the day with the fam. Most of my vacations - Florence, London, Paris, Ring of Kerry, etc. have been because I needed to research the area of the place I was writing about. Maybe someday I will travel without my laptop…someday!
HALLIE EPHRON: I do think that, if you’re a writer, your “writing brain” never turns off. I can be in the bathtub and still seeing myself as a character. Or go somewhere and imagine the words I’d use to describe its essence. I think every trip I’ve taken in the last ten years has generated a setting or a situation or a feeling that’s turned up in a story I’ve written. It’s an occupational hazard.I confess, I’m the least fond of the Agatha Christie novels that she obviously set somewhere she vacationed or visited. Take me back to London or St. Mary Meade I want to beg of her. And Roberta you are so wise to NOT write a story set someplace you don’t know well enough. I started setting YOU’LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR in Beauford, South Carolina, and realized I didn’t know enough about its amazing history, so I created a fictional town nearby that I could have my way with.
RHYS BOWEN: I have taken some vacations with the express purpose of writing about the place where I am staying. This was true for Mrs. Endicott in Cassis. Also Tuscany and Venice. I never set a book in a place I am visiting for the first time, but somewhere I am familiar with. I go back knowing what details i want to reassure myself about.
If I am not writing I am always jotting down ideas for future reference.I find airports, trains, cafes are wonderful sources of inspiration. As Hallie said, you cannot turn off a writer’s brain.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: The only non-England trips I’ve taken in ages have been my yearly jaunts to the Round Top antiques fair with my daughter, and even though I am not “writing” writing, I am always looking at things and people and thinking about my books. I don’t think it’s possible for writers to ever really turn their writer’s brains off–and I’m not sure I’d want to. Nevertheless, Lucy, I hope you have a lovely vacation and come back refreshed and ready to dig into your book!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I agree with Hallie, writer’s brain never switches off. And I also agree with the idea that you need some familiarity with a place in order to write well about it - They’re all large cities on the water with lots of snow and cold weather, but Boston is different from NY which is different from Chicago in so many small ways that you can get wrong if you’re not reasonably well-versed in the area!
As for vacations, since I started writing professionally at the turn of the century, 98% of all “vacations” have either involved writing (Nantucket,) research (anyplace in New York State,) meetings with agents and the publisher (NYC) or conferences. The latter has been great - my kids have accompanied me to Alaska, California, Alabama, Chicago, Florida, Michigan… they and their Dad got to have fun while Mom taught or spoke!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hmm, so interesting! I have never gone anywhere for the sole purpose of research (except for my entire TV career, which I did not realize was research at the time.), but wow, everything is possibly something. And it's not only setting, of course, it’s how people behave, or what they do or say or eat. Or, for example, the sign we saw in Nevis when we had to go to the police station to get a drivers license. (They make tourists buy them :-)) There was a big sign, warning that houses were being broken into across the island, and to especially beware, because the perpetrator “might be disguised as a vicar or a meter man.”
It makes me laugh even to type that.
I have never ever not taken my laptop.
Red readers and writers, do you take your work on vacation, or are you able to switch gears completely?
In our family, vacationing generally seems to involve visiting family, so taking work along doesn't usually happen [although there are always moments when teacher-me sneaks out]. I think that, for the most part, "taking your work with you" depends on what your work might be and I can see how it would be difficult/impossible to "switch off" your writer's brain . . . .
ReplyDeleteYou are fortunate! My husband is one of eight children in his family and when they get together, one or another is almost always working on his laptop part of the time. Two worked in communications and three in IT, so bringing work along was all too easy.
DeleteWe only take our laptop with us if we are visiting one of the kids for a few days. We only took our cell phones with us to Greece and Irwin didn't even use his. There was nothing for us to work on. Nothing. Just be on time for the tour bus!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds lovely, Judy!
DeleteRoberta, I hope you have had a wonderful time in New Zealand! As for writer's brain: I've always thought Thurber's comic short story, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, was a great illustration of the fertile brain constantly weaving behind a mild, and in Walter's case, hen-pecked, exterior. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteSeldon, SLOFWM has long been a favorite movie and yes, the true life of a writer’s brain. Danny Kay(e) was absolutely brilliant. I’m going to find it and watch it again. Thanks for the reminder.
DeleteI also have a writer's brain I can't turn off, and I rarely travel without my laptop, sneaking in bits of work at conferences and on airplanes and trains. The exceptions are the short 48-hour trips to see my granddaughter, when I want to give her my full attention.
ReplyDeleteBut here's a funny-sweet story about laptops. Ida Rose had a half day last month so I brought my laptop to work in the morning while she was in daycare. That night I left it charging on the floor near a plug. The next morning my son and I were talking, and Ida Rose ran off to her room but then we realized she was a little too quiet. We checked and found her lying on her stomach (in her pink footie PJs) in front of the open laptop typing away. She said, "I working." Both her parents work from home and are constantly in front of screens typing.
too cute
DeleteEdith, so adorable! (Selden)
DeleteShe is delectable! Cutest ever!
DeleteKids notice so much don't they. I can imagine her in her pink footie PJs! Too cute.
DeletePaula B here, she is so delightful. Perhaps a budding creative. It is so fun to watch them grow into who they are to be.
DeleteA charming memory for you all!
DeleteWhen Wren was that age, we gave her her own keyboard (not attached to anything) so that she could "type."
DeleteShe has her own mouse, which connects to nothing!
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DeleteI love that! My niece works from home, so Gabby has her own desk and computer, made for kids, with learning games and such. She also loves to type gibberish on mine when they visit.
-- Storyteller Mary.
I always bring my laptop with me on vacation (reader conventions) and work on blog during the early morning hours. Once I leave the room, I don't think about working.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have found myself properly alphabetizing books on the shelves in bookstores and libraries from time to time. I guess that is an example of not being able to turn work off.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago while vacationing in Fort Meyers, I returned to a breakfast restaurant table from the restroom to find my husband on his phone. I could tell from the look on his face it was a work call…he had been retired for 3 months.
Roberta, I hope you and John are now safely back home. Following your trip a little on Facebook, it looked as if you were having a wonderful time. Sans cliff falling, we hope.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is the one who can't turn it off, although he has finally begun to relax and no longer takes more camera gear with us on "vacations" than we jointly take in clothing and other necessities. In my travel journal to our first trip to Africa in 2013 I drew a picture of our allowed six pieces of luggage: I had one small carryon and a shoulder bag, and all the rest was his gear, all at unwieldy maximum size and weight. I finally had to take him aside mid-trip and tell him how much he (and the other man in our party of four) was getting on my nerves trying to get a photo every three seconds, that it was MY (and the other woman's) "vacation", too. He also managed to spoil our only trip to Hawaii with that kind of shenanigan.
Bless the man, he is a workaholic, which I am grateful has translated into financial security, but for many, many years he did not go a single day without working, including on Christmas Day, etc. When we went to Kenya twice with the kids, though, he had finally mellowed, and the only cameras he touched were the ones he was teaching my grandson and our daughter to use.
Thanks for all your insights into vacationing as writers! 9-1-1 was a job I couldn't take on vacation. As a supervisor, I got called in on days off, but if I was on a trip, nope. I was glad to leave that pager at home!
ReplyDeleteEarly in my career, a friend and co-worker called the Canadian Coast Guard to track me down (which they did) on a sailing trip, because management was just going to assign me to a shift (we bid by seniority) even though I would have had a choice of several--in the days before cell phones.
First of all, we rarely take a vacation, which in various ways has been my whole life. Growing up, my father had a family grocery store, so ‘vacation’ was a drive from Cape Breton to PEI to see my grandmother (and live a completely different life!). When I worked, I came home. After we married (no honeymoon – just moved to Montreal), and then later had kids and a farm – well, it again was just go to NS to visit family every few years. It was a 15 hour drive or 2 days as we travelled, with cranky kids, so not much touristing. Now – well, just can’t be bothered.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did spend 10 years after we moved here working on the local magazine where as a part of my duties was writing the monthly editorial. It started small, but eventually morphed into a front page of anything about either the month (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, even fire prevention month) or about my family’s life and funny anecdotes, or even about the change in the weather. For those near an ocean, have you ever noticed the many colours of blue grey that the sky and sea can change during a day in March and April?
It is not nearly 10 years since the magazine expired – death by Covid and Facebook. I still find myself seeing things as I am driving or outside, or just anywhere and starting to write the blog in my head. On Friday, the other person from the magazine and I were sitting together at a funeral. I turned to her, and asked if John Urich, a local Dutch immigrant in the early 60’s who was brought to the Fortress of Louisbourg to teach people how to become stone carvers to rebuild the fortress, had constructed the wall behind the altar in the church. She replied “we are not with The Seagull anymore – you don’t need to ‘have an idea’ and write an essay about him. I guess the need for the mind to write never dies.
We're very glad you write for us, Margo!
DeleteI have given up taking my laptop to conferences because I don't actually type anything. I think I took it when The Hubby and I went to Florida last December, but I don't think I wrote anything.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say my writer brain is turned off. I'm always on the alert for things that might become a story - although I would never set a story somewhere I didn't know quite well for all the reasons listed above.
Bon voyage on your upcoming trip to New Zealand - I've been to Australia but we didn't make it to NZ and I really regret that. Would love to hear about which cities you liked and your experiences.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that writer's brain cannot be turned off.
ReplyDeleteRegarding "vacation", I had a thought that might be a bit off tangent? I was reminded of a speech at a career fair. When you have a career doing something that you LOVE doing, then it does Not feel like work. When you do the work that you love, do you need a vacation from work?
Though you may not write a mystery set in New Zealand, perhaps you may enjoy taking notes of the restaurants that you visit in New Zealand? The food that you eat in NZ? In a future novel, there can be a reference to Hayley visiting NZ or having a friend from NZ visiting with ideas about NZ food? I look forward to reading your blog about your visit to NZ.
Lucy set a Key West mystery in Scotland where Hayley Snow, her new hub, and Miss Gloria vacationed. But if I remember correctly Lucy said some fans/readers didn't like the location being away from Key West. That said, it might be cool though to set a new one in New Zealand!
DeleteLucy, at the risk of sounding like Contrary Mary, your Key West mystery story set in Scotland was my FAVORITE of all the Hayley Snow novels. I always marched to a different drummer. I rarely love books that are on the Sunday best seller lists. I often love novels that others are not interested in.
DeleteNew Zealand is so tempting! Did you fly nonstop or take a break in Hawaii?
ReplyDeleteI've published short stories about places I've lived for three or four weeks: New Orleans, Cape Cod, and the prehistoric caves in SW France. For the latter, I combined my cave experiences with WW2 Resistance history, with an American genealogy librarian as the main character. I'm not sure I could create characters and set a book-length plot in these places.
Question for all of the authors here....I had a dream about cursive writing. Do any of you decide to write your novel by hand instead of writing on your computer in order to avoid AI? Or did you figure out ways to avoid the AI pitfalls while writing on your Word document or Pages document? I'm seriously thinking of writing my novel the old fashioned way - writing by hand with a pen / pencil instead of the computer to avoid AI pitfalls.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what "pitfalls" you mean. I use Word software on my computer but the only assistance involved is the occasional use of Spellcheck.
DeleteThe person above does not understand how AI works. Irrational fear of technology?
DeleteDeborah, thank you! Perhaps "pitfalls" was a poor choice of words? Good to know about Word document and spellcheck!
DeleteMorning all. I used to be a travel writer ~ restaurants and road side fun/beautiful things. I worked that into our trips to one ocean adventure or another. I took pictures with a camera and hand wrote everything. when I got home then is when it all came together. And reviewing restaurants is fattening, I gotta tell ya. So here’s the latest visual surprise. I was having coffee in my fav place and people watching while my mind struggled with a story dilemma. The door opened and once my eyes adjusted from wandering around, there was my villain. fully formed with facial expression, hair and all and when he left he drove away in the perfect car. Now is he THE villain with a gun in the library? Don’t know but he is the perfect visual of a nice murderer, suspect or real is unknown at the moment.
ReplyDeleteOh, serendipity!
Delete"Taking work on vacation" reminds me of when Ross was a baby lawyer. We traveled a lot, and we had booked a romantic trip to Manzanillo, Mexico. Unfortunately, one of his cases was given a trial date just a few days after we were to come back. We didn't cancel the trip (and it was glorious) but he lugged his litigation bag (not a bag in reality, but a hard-sided box the size of a carry-on) with him, and we had to make several trips to a mom and pop store and drop peso after peso into the phone box for international calls back to his office. Good times, good times.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, when I had a day job, I took vacations with the specific intent to get away from work; I would tell my colleagues if anything came up, NOT to call. (I actually told them when I was on vacation to think of me as dead.) But now I'm writing, I spend some part of every vacation working, and happily so. Say - does that mean the IRS would let us "write" off vacations as business expenses?
ReplyDeleteSometimes.
DeleteSomewhat different, but doctors, lawyers, teachers and many other professionals sign up for conferences in their profession located in popular vacation destinations and write it off for tax purposes. Not sure, but its possible a writer could manage something similar.
DeleteRobin, couldn't you take it as a business expense to do your research in London, Paris, or Cape Cod? I sure the authors here know.
DeleteMy hub is a lawyer but he doesn't work when we go on vacation. It is something all the attorneys in his office seem to do as well. They have someone who covers for the person who is gone. But when he is home/office he is constantly working on his computer.
ReplyDeleteThis brings up memories when we traveled back in the 1970's when we had no cell phones no computers. We basically landed in England and mopeded around various towns looking for Vacancy signs prominently displayed at hotels, inns or B&B's.
For Deborah Crombie: From The Life of Crime premium substack.
ReplyDeleteHe was writing about John Dickson Carr and then made this comment: (Incidentally, a contemporary American crime writer who ‘gets’ Britain very well in her work is Deborah Crombie, who is a regular visitor to these shores and takes great pains with her research; her books are worth checking out).
This is high praise from a British author and editor.
Thank you, Betty! I subscribe to Martin's newsletter and I did see this! So kind of Martin! And now I have to admit I've never read John Dickson Carr. Ouch!
DeleteThat will teach me to be behind reading Martin's substack articles, and I have the premium subscription, too. Debs, I can't imagine a more impressive praise of your work than Martin's. Congratulations.
DeleteI am planning a writing hiatus in April if I can ever finish this book and I am so looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteI can't see where a writer's mind could ever quiet that part of their brain. It's too much a part of who you are, and we readers love that. Lucy, what part of New Zealand are you going to visit? I have a wonderful author friend named Catherine Lea who lives in Kerikeri in the north. Her most recent series is set in the north, with fictitious town names, and features Nyree Bradshaw, rather a Kiwi version of Ann Cleeves' Vera. She has three books so far in the series, and although I'm behind, as I am in all my reading, I think it's a great series. The reason I'm telling you about Catherine is that if you are going to the North in New Zealand, I would love to somehow facilitate your meeting her. She is truly a treasure, and she is the reason I signed up for this year's Bouchercon. She has tempted me with guaranteeing to show me a good time.
ReplyDeleteI suppose this means I'm a bad person and an unserious writer, but I haven't worked during a vacation for years. Or, if I have a PR essay with a deadline that falls on our travel days, I get it done as fast as I can, turn it in, and take the rest of the time off.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, I'd say you're efficient and wise to get it taken care of prior to leaving, if you'd rather not worry about on vacation
DeleteAnd I totally finished my book TRUST ME on the veranda in Nevis, overlooking the beach and water. I as SO happy, one of the best vacations ever because of it!
ReplyDeleteI'm late to the party today.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky to be able to go to my favorite vacation spot often. My Special Place is just lovely and peaceful. The air and the water are pure, the vegetation luxurious. The people who live in My Special Place are unfailingly kind, courteous, and supportive of one another; they actually believe women are people and have unalienable rights. And, by golly, they believe in science and eschew excessive greed. And all the politicians work with the people's best interest foremost in their minds...then, some sonovabitch hospital attendant shocks me and I am back in THEIR world.
...Until next time.
My laptop comes along on every vacation--just in case. It's really part of the joy of my vacations --write little passages about where I am that may or may not be used later. In the early days I took notebooks which I still have and every now and then I grab one to snatch that little local color I need. Our vacations are not centered around my writing (although lately my husband has been having fun accompanying me to Bouchercon as part of HIS vacation.) Life without my laptop feels like I'm missing something.
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