Here and There

Last month I was in Dallas at RWA’s national conference, this month I’m in Manistee, Michigan, one of northern Michigan’s vacation hot spots.

Here’s Dallas: Up at 7am, iron clothes, makeup, hair. Wish for coffee, but don’t have time to wait in line at coffee shop. Ride train thing (I’m sure it has a name but I never took the time to figure it out) through town to conference hotel, meet with somebody to discuss book biz, sit up straight while having biz lunch with somebody else, learn new stuff at workshops. Sign books. Look around for Texas cowboys, see none, feel disappointed. Zip to dinner, catch up with friends, laugh, have fun, look for cowboys, again see none, go to bed.

Here’s Manistee: Up at 10am, put on wrinkled t-shirt and shorts, pull hair back. Drink coffee while slouching on porch swing and watching trees bend in wind. Ride bike for a couple hours. Sneak laptop outside so my DH won’t know I’m working while on vacation. Write for a while. Eat dinner on a paper plate. Go swimming with kids. Laugh, have fun, watch cowboys on tv, go to bed.

Contrasting exepriences are great for writing. Sort of like a life-size bingo ball tank, they tumble you around, shake you up, and get you to see stuff in new ways.

I know, vacations are supposed to be a time away from thinking, but—oh geez—here comes my DH to pull me away from the library computer…