I arrived on Buenos Aires on Friday and I didn’t turn on my computer. Saturday came and went, by Sunday I thought it was a good idea to take the weekend off, and by Monday I accepted that I needed to travel away from my computer. We’re still friends! My constant companion and I just need a break.
Is this good?
YES! It’s Tuesday morning and I’ve already written the first drafts of two short stories. Writing without the computer? Yup! Writing in a notebook with my notoriously bad handwriting, inability to spell, and lacking the useful/time suck pauses to “just check a reference” that the Internet imposes on my writing.
Neither of the stories is anywhere close to finished. One was germinating for days before I left New York, but the other came to me in its entirety at a Milonga (Argentine Tango dance). Rewriting, polishing, editing, and re-thinking will come in the days & weeks ahead, when I’m back home, but for now…
Am a circling an excuse for missing a Monster Meditation on Monday? Yes and no… I think once a week while I’m away will be fine. I lived without Twitter and Facebook for a long weekend and I survived.
What do YOU think about taking a break from the computer and still writing?
A mysterious selfie. My reflection in the famous cemetery in Recoleta.
I’ve been brainstorming on paper lately with good results. It’s hard to have to spend so much time sitting in front of a computer everyday for my freelancing work, so I often feel wiped when it comes go sitting for another hour or two to try to muster some of my own creative writing. At least I’ve cut back on blog posts. That has freed up a little more time for me to focus on getting my own writing done, and I’ve always struggled with that.
I agree completely!
A freelance writing client sent me a couple of texts in the last few days about a tiny project. Today the text said she needs a paragraph on the subject for tomorrow. I did my “thinking” on paper and then tightened it on the laptop. I will send it off to her. It was strange writing for someone else in my notebook by a rooftop pool on a sunny day that was way too windy for swimming. Ah well… back to fiction for me!
As for the blog posts. I usually do two a week, but for the vacation I’m doing ONE. It’s not that I can’t pull it off, it’s more that I, like you, want to shift the focus. Happy writing to you!
Wow…you didn’t take your computer with you…at all?? Colour me gobsmacked. I can live without ever visiting Facebook again, and even Twitter is optional, but no keyboard and no gaming? No music? Na ah, no can do.
Honestly, I think I’d give up writing entirely if I had to write longhand. Then again, you sound as if you’ve been re-inspired. Maybe a self-imposed holiday could work, every ten years or so….^.o
LOL! Nope… the computer is with me. I’m using it right now in the fancy lobby of the hotel (no wifi in the rooms). I just took a break from it. I thought I’d stay away for a day, but it felt right to stay away a bit longer and now I plan to “travel” away from it for a day or two at a time while I”m here. After all, I did manage to the first drafts of two short stories during my computer free days…