The Reluctant Vacationer

There’s nothing like going on vacation, clearing your head, doing tons of reading and surrounding yourself by inspirational scenery. That’s what a vacation should be for a writer- to relax the mind and rejuvenate and replenish the creative juices.

My vacation came at a time when I had just gotten my new ebook ‘Aadita’ published and while I was working on the thrilling climax of my “all-out” horror story. I told myself to finish the horror story right before the start of the holiday and pushed myself to work on a chapter every day. I also succeeded in disciplining myself and then right before I was to depart, my mind shut down because I had exhausted myself.

I still hoped that I would continue my strict regimen of writing every day, but the second I stepped into another country, my brain shut down the part that would help me speak coherent sentences. For days I struggled with talking normally. Was it jetlag? Probably! I’m guessing it also had a lot to do with me forcing myself to write relentlessly every day until my brain decided to revolt at the most inconvenient time.

I tried working on my chapters but they would no doubt have to be written again. Now that I am at the last two of my pre-planned chapters, I cannot take a risk with my lethargic mind. These chapters have to be amazing or the tone of the whole story would go awry and ruin all my hard work.

Going back to my vacation…I decided to do what I was reluctant to- I let myself relax and have a little fun. It’s not every day I would get to travel and see new places and try exotic food. So, I packed away my laptop and let myself go with the flow. I missed writing and working on my story so much, but since my mind had decided to act as a disgruntled employee, I let it have its vacation time and decided not to pressurize myself.

Two weeks passed by and I still hadn’t written a decent chapter. The itch to write and to finish my story returned and this time I felt compelled to return my fingers to the keyboard. The story would still not flow properly- my mind refusing to give up on its free time. I packed away my laptop again and did what I did on every single of my vacations- read!

I can’t remember the number of novels and novellas I finished in two weeks. Binge- reading is the best. My mind never felt relaxed and challenged at the same time. Ideas started to pour in my mind though none of them would fit into my horror story.

Then it was time to go and though I felt the pinch of not giving enough time to write my story, I comforted myself by reminding the time I spent on promoting my new ebook ‘Aadita’. I boarded the plane, relishing the fact that I would get back into my writing regime again. Those days I spent before my vacation working on my chapters had been so exciting.

But then guess what? My mind decided that it needed some time to recuperate from the hours I had spent travelling back home.

I did force myself to write a few paragraphs and it came out, well decent if anything. I’m also out of horror ideas so I have to get back to watching horror movies to trigger off my creative machine. In the meantime, I have my ebook ‘Aadita’ to promote (Buy! Buy! Buy! From Amazon  Smashwords or B&N) and to write on my blog.

Now off to read some ghost stories on the internet.