On a More Personal Note

I have been on vacation this week from my day job. I made no plans for the week because I needed to check out of an overly stressful life and rest. I ended up sort of pretending to be a full-time writer, which I guess was my idea of rest. Writing is actually a lot of work, but it's something I love so much I wanted to spend my vacation devoting myself to it.

On the one hand, I have been fairly productive: I set up a new website for my novels. I wrote a bunch of blog posts to be posted here on Sundays and Wednesdays over the next few weeks. I did a ton of editing on my inventory of novels. I surfed the net in search of writing sites, and found several I really liked. And I also spent way too much time trying (without success) to fix some technical issues I'm having with my computer.

That sounds impressive, but I know that I could have done a whole lot more. I spent inordinate time surfing the Net, thereby avoiding drafting the story synopses I need to prepare for the website (because I hate writing synopses). I spent excessive time obsessing about traffic and checking the statcounter every fifteen minutes to see if anybody was visiting the sites I have labored so hard to create, instead of creating content to attract people. What is more, I spent too little time exercising. I spent way too little time with my family and friends. I went to the beach only twice.

My vacation to Writer's World was great. I had decided in advance that for my vacation I was going to indulge my anti-social tendencies and wallow in solitude. My family agreed to leave me alone without my having to leave home. I have to confess, I loved it! It was like the good old days when I was a housewife -- only without the baby to take care of. I'm sure I'll be bummed out about going back to work on Monday (especially after I allow myself to think about all the work that I have waiting for me).

But....

I know that as much as I've enjoyed it as a vacation experience, it isn't good for me to spend so much of my time alone with my eyes focused on the computer screen, creating imaginary worlds. It was great to check out of my life for a while and indulge in an excess of writing and solitude, but it's time to go home. I go willingly, but with the understanding that I will never go so long without a vacation again, and that, at least once a year, I want to spend a few days exactly as I have spent this week!

Meredith
Visit - My Website
Buy - Always Faithful