A Work in Progress

I love coastal Oregon. It's always lush and green, even in the dead of summer. Though I don't live there, I've been traveling there probably twice a year for the past thirty years or so, vacationing on the same beach, and loving it more and more each time I visit. It's a great place to do a lot of writing too. The beaches are clean and beautiful. The air is crisp and clear. The views are astounding. And that the forest meets up with the ocean, makes it consistantly breathtaking. I did a lot of coffee drinking ... duh. If you've never visited, I highly recommend it. I was just there for ten days and I would love to be there right now. But I'll especially wish to be there when it's 105 degrees here in July, but a balmy 75 degrees there. Here's their tourism site, just in case you want to make a trip. Oh, and if you want a beach-front vacational rental to rent, e-mail me. I've got the hook-ups.

I'll admit it ... the title of this post sounds suspiciously a lot like a travel article, or a top ten to see while you're in Aruba. But this post is more about being writer/reader productive -- without actually feeling like you are working -- while on vacation (or holiday, if you're on the other side of the pond). Even when I'm on vacation, I still have this infinitesimal -- and sometimes grand -- urge to write. Something. Anything, especially when a postcard doesn't quite cut it as literary work. If this sounds like you, yet you don't want to write too much because heck, you are on vacation, keep a tiny notebook with you. Jot down story ideas, characters flaws for your hero, write a poem as you watch the ocean, or end that novel with the final two hundred words you were trying so hard to write back at home. While vacation is just that, vacation, it doesn't mean you have to abandon all creative writing. That's sort of like cutting out your oxygen

It's been a while since my last posting. Maybe because I'm way too busy. But then, who isn't? Even if my blogs have been infrequent, my writing hasn't. Although, while a quick jaunt to Napa Valley for a spa vacation with my sisters and mom doesn't count for actual writing this last weekend, I did get a few inspirations while a caky-clay mud was applied to my skin and then a facial --full with smells that would make even a flower garden want facials of their own--that piqued my subconscious. I'm home now, and coming back from vacation is never a good time to jump into the old. And yet, is there any other way? One has to pick up the old routine, get into the swing of things in order to be what you were (and hopefully productive) before vacation made you a limp rag. Until next time.