A Writing Vacation.

The following is very long, and probably boring to anyone who isn't interested in the nuts and bolts of writing. I just spend 5 days and 4 nights out of town -- writing.




I'm writing this on Monday, August 29, but I want to keep a record of this adventure.

This coming weekend, Linda's church is having what they call "Bend Institute" which is a region wide conclave. I generally don't see her during this yearly event except early in the morning or late at night, and even then I think she worries that I'm being neglected and pulls herself away from her friends.

So I got it in my head to head out of town and stay somewhere for a few nights and concentrate on nothing but writing.

Writing, writing, writing. Nothing but writing.

We stayed at the Geiser Grand in Baker City last year around this time, and what I remember is how soundproof the walls were and how tall the ceilings and just a general feeling of comfort. I also tend to do my best writing out on the road, or in the wilderness. I'd have five hours or more to think about my story and pull off the road every time I get a brainstorm.

So I booked a room for five nights.

It feels incredibly, sinfully luxurious. I've never done anything like this.

So I'd BETTER write. Do lots of writing to justify it all.

I'm going to spend a bunch of time in the room, and if not there, I'm going to jump in my car and explore the surrounding countryside.

I have to rent a refrigerator, and I'm thinking -- don't laugh -- of buying a really small, cheap microwave and smuggling it into my room. Maybe a couple nights of room service. But at least I can try to save money on food.

It's a liberating feeling to get out on the road. So that will be fun in itself.

I don't worry about getting bored. I'm very comfortable by myself. And the idea of being able to completely lose myself in the story is kind of exciting.

So I'm going to keep this diary and see how it goes.

**********

Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Complete and utter buyers remorse.

What a crazy thing to do. I mean, I'm already getting a fair amount of time of; it's not like I'm currently overworked.

So if I'm going to do this, it really does need to become a writer's working trip -- not a vacation.

I won't have a cell phone; I rarely if ever go out of town without Linda. But it's a writing trip, so being incommunicado may not be such a bad thing. I'll just remind everyone to e-mail me.

***Later.

I've decided to shave off the last night, Tuesday, so I can come home that day and attend writer's group. 4 nights is enough; I'm freaked out enough by that. If I shaved it anymore, though, it would defeat the purpose which is -- to clear the decks. To think about nothing but the story.

If I take a book, it's going to be a mystery so as not to interfere with the flow. (If I took Dance with Dragons, I'd probably spend all weekend doing THAT.) My plan right now is to drive around the countryside on Saturday, and then hole up in the motel room the rest of the time I'm there. Something like that.

**********

Thursday, September 1, 2011.

Linda reminds me that it was ten years ago around this time, I took my last vacation by myself. We know this because I was out of touch during 9/11. Didn't even know it had happened until I was heading back to Bend.

So hopefully, I ain't some kind of harbinger.

I did end up cutting the last day, even though I realized that writer's group has a two week gap between Tuesdays this month. Oh, well. I will be back in time to put out the 13 new DC titles that will come in this week. Will be in the paper tomorrow morning, so it's become a big deal.

**********

Friday, Sept. 2, 2011.

Took my time this morning. (Still fiddling with my Pandora, and just taking my own sweet time.)

Went to Red Carpet South to fill up and wash my car, and had the idea of getting some fresh donuts at Richards. Big mistake. Took forever to get anywhere. A harbinger.

Finally got on the road out of town at 2:25.

Then the traffic was horrendous. Horrible. Worst I've seen. This leaving on Friday of Labor Day weekend may have been a big mistake. But with Linda having a weekend off, I didn't have any choice.

O.K. Gave myself until Prineville to decompress -- which isn't happening, because, as I said, the traffic is really bad. I'm hoping east of Prineville it will be better.


Stopped at Book and Bean in Prineville -- which has wi-fi. From here on out I'm incommunicado. The following will be written on my computer without wi-fi.

O.K. I'm going to get serious about writing, now. My goal from here until Baker City is to try to figure out the plot to the rest of the book. I'm going to do this by talking to myself -- hey, probably no one there to see me. Literally talking to myself.

So anyway, the ideas started flowing only 30 minutes out of Prineville, but I think they STARTED flowing because I knew that I couldn't be interrupted; my subconscious was saying, “O.K. You can brainstorm all you want. Nothing will get in your way.”

I think maybe I was afraid that once I actually started on the trip, that I would be dry of ideas. I needn't have worried. I just started flowing with ideas; having to stop every few miles at the roadside. (which got a little strange when I would pass an ultra slow car, and they would go by me, and then I'd pass them again, and so on.)

I also think I must be really starting to get serious because for the first time, some of my ideas are going to necessitate complete re-writing of earlier chapters. But not completely contrary, which they also could have been.

I think I've worked out the thematic structure of the book --which may change as I actually write it, but I need the structure to start. I've decided that I need more characters; or to flesh out earlier characters.

Characters + settings = plot. How they interact. Too few and the plot is thin. Too many, it's too complex and confusing.

**********

I've gotten to the state park outside John Day for a rest stop. I was going to have dinner, but I've been so slow on the road, I think I'm going to push on through.

Going to hit Baker City around 8:00 or so, which means I spent about an hour on the side of the road writing.

After about John Day, though, I pretty much quit brainstorming because I had enough on my plate.

I could almost say this trip has already been a success. But writing 3 or 4 or 5 or more chapters would be great. I do believe this book is going to get finished.

***********

O.K. At the hotel. But the internet connection keeps dropping, so I won't be writing my book stuff on the cloud, but on the computer.

A little inconvenient, but I can wait until I'm home to transfer it.

************

Saturday, September 3, 2011.

I take it back: being dropped in the middle of writing something is super super annoying. I'll be writing on computer memory, so it's O.K. But in this age, not having reliable wi-fi sucks.

What I like about this hotel is the solid feel of it. It feels made of real material. It doesn't shake slightly when you walk, you don't hear random noises from next door. I can't explain it -- you don't realize most buildings aren't solid until you actually stay in a solid place.

My parents house up at the end of Roanoke Ave.was the same way: solid. It stayed cool in the summer, it had a sense of realness that most places I visited didn't seem to have.

What I'm talking about is a real sense of wood and stone and building material. Like they used different materials altogether.

Anyway, the Geiser has that; which is why I chose it to write, because writing comes out of thin air, and to be enclosed in this solidity feels right. It also helps, there is a sense of volume, coming from the very high ceilings.

Anyway, enough of that.

Later:

Turns out, I'm not quite ready to close myself off in my room. Wandered out in the morning, checked out Betty's Books down the street. Introduced myself and we had a nice talk, but no where near as extensive as I'd like. Just skimming the surface. Nobody likes to talk about business the way I do.

I went out of Baker City, found a country road, and just followed it to a dirt road, and then followed it up into the hills. Hit a rock quarry on top, and turned around and found a place about halfway down the hill.

Going to try to write.

So I wrote about half a chapter, and went back to the hotel.

Been here a couple of hours, and getting now where. The actual writing seems hard. I'm distracted by the noises in the hallway.

So, I managed to write about 6 pages by 8:00. Not exactly rip-roaring. I'm feeling fuzzy headed, which might be from driving for 6 hours yesterday, and then waking up a little early.

I think I'm starting to realize – again – just how hard this is for me. Now I'm dealing with the difficulties of plotting, which is important. Up through the first 8 chapters, I was kind of oblivious. Now it's landed on me like a ton of bricks. How important it is – how tricky it is to pull off.

Plotting means I have to introduce the right characters at the right time; not as easy as it sounds.

Meanwhile, I'm having trouble making the evil seem immediate. I'm trying to fix that with the chapter I'm writing right now.

I'm not sure about the quality of the actual writing, either, but have decided the plotting is more important right now. The moving the plot forward. Progressing. I can always try to dress up the language later.

I consider today a minimal success. I was hoping for more.

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011.

Yesterday was not as productive as I thought it would be. I did manage to write 6 pages – or the equivalent of a chapter, but I guess I had illusions of going on a tear.

My head was just really foggy from the drive, I think. I wasted a lot of time on Pandora again.

So today, I'm going to change the rules.

I'm setting myself the goal of one chapter.

No listening to the iphone.

No T.V.

And most of all, I staying in the room for the whole day. If I have to pace around, or sit in the corner to think, or lay in bed and nap, that's what I'll do.

One good chapter. That's all I'm asking for.

O.K. Right off the bat, I wrote 4 pages by 10:00.

Going to take an hour break and contemplate.

Back at it. Another new earlier chapter. Many of the things I'm writing on this trip are inserts into the early storyline. So far, nothing that really contradicts what I've written –thankfully – but additions to. I need more characters, more good guys, and especially more bad guys. Now that I know where the story is going, I see I have to go backward and lay the foundations.

I never knew this, because I haven't tried to write a book in the last 20 years set in real time – but cell phones make plotting a whole lot easier. Heh.

This if more like it. 6 pages by noon.

I'm going to try for another 6 pages.

Then push the issue tonight, and drink a little beer, and see if I can write some more....(later -- drinking beer is USELESS for writing. It's a trick that used to work, but doesn't anymore.)

All right, 9 pages during the day. Almost all of it is buttressing earlier chapters. Nothing wrong with that. Needed to be done. Fascinating how it all fits together. I know I'll have to do rewriting, but so far nothing too structural.

Late afternoon, finished a new chapter, about 6 pages, so I've done over 15 pages today.

So, this trip has been a success already. Especially the working out of the plot. And, well, the commitment to finishing. I think that's what this trip was all about, actually. A statement of commitment, because I could stand to have spent this money and not follow through. It's a bit like burning the bridge behind me – there is no retreat.

Monday, Sept. 5, 2011.

That's more like it! I wrote 18 pages! About 8 pages were progressing the story, and about 10 pages were going back and laying foundations in earlier chapters. What's kinda cool is how these foundations slot into existing material without totally disrupting them.

Having my doubts about my writing, again. I think I won't know if this is a book I'm proud of until the final write. The last rewrite will pay all, I think. It's where I probably make the story readable or not.

I was tempted to head home today, but the thought of Labor Day traffic made me stay put. I'm pretty sure I'll have a hard time matching yesterday's output -- much of that had been figured out over Friday and Saturday, and the well is dry right now.

So I'm at 24 pages as of now.

But I'll try to write about 10 pages minimum, to justify the cost of another day. If I can write, say 6 pages on the way back to Bend on Tuesday, it will mean I've written 40 pages. Not bad. My wildest ambition was to get 50 pages done.

But even more importantly, I worked out the plot details -- which I was worried about.

Turns out, my sub-conscious was probably working on that.

Monday, Later:

I think the maids here think I'm a really weird person, not leaving my room for two days. It is pretty weird, but then writing a book is a weird thing to do. It isn't routine, or it has to become a new routine. You just have to do it. A writer writes. It's what separates the writers from the wanna be writers.

A strange plot development. The bad guys are 'sacrificing' pets. So I have the good guys building their army out of “humane society” members and the shock troops are PETA. This isn't a comedy, really – a little whimsical, maybe. But this could be a little much.

By this time yesterday, 10:00 in the morning, I'd already written 8 pages.

Going to sit in the armchair in the corner and try to think of an opening.

I managed to write about 8 pages by 6:00.p.m. Obviously not the torrid pace I set yesterday. I'm thinkin may four more by bedtime.

They aren't stellar pages of writing. But I'm past the point in this book were I can wait for inspiration. Sure, I could take a couple years to wait for each chapter to come naturally– but I doubt I could keep my attention directed that long.

So I'm at the stage where I need to move the plot forward.

Interestingly, I seem to moving it forward mostly by dialogue, and by “Then they did this and then they did that” action. Not ideal, but getting somewhere at least.

I'm not sure how all the pieces of the puzzle will fit, yet.

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011.

I'm heading home today, sometime around 11:00. I'm going to take my time, pull off the road whenever I get the urge, try to write about 6 more pages, though 16 pages would be cool too.

All in all, it was a successful venture, but no one I'll probably repeat. I was especially pleased to plot out the book, but the second half of the book had been a bit of a blank before I left. The number of pages I wrote was adequate, though if you factor in the cost per page, it was a little expensive.

But it worked best of all as a gesture of commitment. I'll be damned if I'm not going to finish this book after making all this effort.

But I really could have accomplished about as many pages at home. The distractions -- T.V. and phone and radio and internet, were all here as well. The Hotel noises were inconvenient -- why do people feel like it's O.K. to slam doors at 7:00 in the morning?

The traveling part seemed almost more important than the stopping part. That's when I was heavily brainstorming.

Was all ready to go by 9:30. Thought I slept well, but feel really groggy. Anyway, since I didn't need to check out till noon, I sat down for an hour and wrote a copy of pages.

Stopped along the Powder River outside Baker. I love that name, it's so Westerny. Like “Shootout on the Powder River” kind of Westerny.

Am sitting on the banks of the river right now. Not inclined to write fiction, however. I thought I'd get to the Holliday State park, about 45 minutes out, I think, before I get serious. Like I waited until Prineville.

O.K. I'm realizing I had that wrong. The park is closer to John Day than I remembered.

So I stopped at Dixie Campground, instead.

I've been mulling over plot. For one thing, I've been advancing plot through dialogue, which is different than the way I used to write. Back when I wrote my first books, I think I was a little afraid of dialogue and used it as little as I could. I did more description and mood back then. (which I still intend to add to this story, later.)

I also am realizing that I might have trouble gettting the actual plot to fit into the thematic structure I came up with. For one thing, I must be getting more sophisticated, becaue I never thought in terms of “thematice structure” back in the day. In fact, is that even a thing? Well, it is for this book.

I think it's important that the plot come from the characters, and the plot become more important the the theme, as much as I like the theme.

I also have a big “reveal” at the end, which I'm not certain will be big enough of a reveal, but there it is. Once some ideas come along, they are hard to get away from.

I just have to trust that the plot will conform eventually to the overall theme and vice versa.

Difference is – I had no idea what to write when I left Bend, and I have a couple of possible threads I can pick up now. Still, I'm going to try to get myself to brainstorm about the bigger picture, since that seems to work so well while driving...

The drive home has mostly been about plotting the book, not so much writing. Drives just seem to be conducive to that.

The book has really gone in a slightly strange direction. Unexpected.

Here's what I don't understand about other writers. The book I write is the book I write. I can't outline it in advance – I have to discover what the book is about. Which usually happens about halfway through – and then, the book is pretty much what the book will be. I can change the details but not the overall outline.

As it happens this time around, there haven't been any major plot developments that make mincemeat of the earlier chapters.

Anyway, these 43 pages added to what I have, are about 100 pages. I figure I'm roughly 2/3rds of the way through. So 150 pages for the first draft. I underwrite on my first draft, so the second draft will probably double that and take about the same length of time. I'll be trying to deeper develop the background, the characters, the mood, the descriptions. Trying to line up the continuity, but added, usually and sometimes subtracting. Trying to flesh out the writing –

Once I'm done with the second draft, what I'd like to do is print it out and have a few people look at it from an editing standpoint. Then do the third draft. In fact, I might even contemplate the 3^rd draft as what I put online.

Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011.

Finished up with 43 pages and the outlines to the last third of the book.

This is the weekend my little venture turned into a book.

My wonderful wife sat and listened to all 43 pages last night -- how cool is that. Linda said she loved it, and that I had layers of depth to what I had written.

So all in all, a successful five days of writing. Not so much a vacation, as a working holiday.