Tag: vacation

Back from the Boat

Laura Highcove

So apparently I went so head down about the Writing Excuses Cruise coming up that I just simply forgot about writing anything for my blog in over a month. That being said, once again Wxr was awesome. If you remember last year I was so impressed by the Wxr cruise, that despite telling my husband and myself last year that it would be a one time thing, I simply had to go again, and this time I brought the husband.

I was far more relaxed this year because I knew what to expect. It was all the same airports, hotel, cruise ship, and many of the same people, who actually remembered me! We were on shore for an extra day this time which I wasn’t super keen on. Mostly because it felt like I was just hanging in limbo before getting on the boat, and it also meant more meals to pay for. By the time we woke up Sunday morning everyone was talking about how it felt like we’d had a whole convention already but yet we still hadn’t gotten on the boat.

The lines to get onto the cruise ship practically flew compared to last year. I was prepared for the waiting in line, but there was only a minimum amount of waiting before we were on the boat and our rooms were ready shortly after. (We got a little pizza first.)

We had fewer classes this year. Last year was very class heavy and even I, ever the dedicated student, had trouble keeping up. This year they cut the number of classes. I think a little too far. Added to the fact that I didn’t go on any excursions this year, I ended up with a lot more free time than I expected. I did spend much of that with my husband, which may have helped stave off the depressive episodes I had last year, and I still felt like I got in my Wxr people time.

The classes were good. Piper’s class on animals in novels was fun and informative, and Mary Robinette’s impromptu 8am class on short stories was very helpful, even though I’ve heard her give bits of it before. I think the fact that we wrote a flash fiction helped to cement it better, and I’m feeling much more confidant about short stories in general.

I was apprehensive about Dongwon’s class on Writing Good Beginnings because I feel like I’ve been though so many of those classes before, but something about this one struck a chord with me and I realized my first “page” in The Law of the Prince Charming doesn’t have any stakes or reason for the reader to be invested in Tabitha. I had gotten that feedback before but didn’t “see” it, much less understand how to fix it. After Dongwon’s class I was able to see what I was missing and how to fix it. That gives me some more hope for when I send out another batch of queries.

I also went to watch the karaoke, which was far more populated that I expected from a group of writers. They had to close sign-ups at one point because they had so many people already signed up. My husband and I also participated in game night a bit more, which was good because the bar under our room played music that vibrated through the floor until ‘late’ (11:30-11:45 pm). I also recognized a lot of the food offerings at dinner from last year so I was able to avoid the bad ones and get extra of the good ones. Mwahaha! It was wonderful and fabulous, and I’m so hopeful we’ll both be able to go back again next year.

Finally Back to Productive

Laura Highcove


Got back from my vacation in Williamsburg and had a ton of fun. This was Argon’s first time going to the condo, but as expected he spent maybe an hour slinking around before he was perfectly fine. I played a lot of Hyrule Warriors, went to Busch Gardens, bought clothes, ate food, and ended up writing a decent amount while I was at it.

I also used the vacation as a reset point for my writing. I didn’t record how much writing I did while on vacation. I just ended up with 8k words written on my phone by the end of the week. But when I got home, I just accepted that I was back on schedule, and I split my time between two stories: Blessings of the Neriel, which I realized I needed to keep restarting from the beginning because my characters weren’t solid enough, and a new story I started during vacation that I ended up tossing aside because the idea isn’t developed enough yet. (Oddly enough, the characters are there, the story just isn’t.) And I ended up working more on a story I had started a while ago, with the working title: Kirin.

As such I’ve been getting work done while I’m waiting for my alpha readers on the Huntsman. I keep having an urge to work on it, but I’d like to 1) wait until the alpha feedback is back and 2) read the short stories my husband wrote in the Storyteller world for Nanowrimo, but we’re having some trouble getting that formatted right so I can read it. I might lose patience before July and start working on it anyway, but for now I’m just happy to be writing again.

Working on Vacation

Laura Highcove

So this past weekend I was in Williamsburg for vacation (Yes, Williamsburg, because I’m old.) and I can still remember the stresses of the up-coming vacation. Trying to get everything done in prep (I didn’t) hoping things would be calm at work (they weren’t) not forgetting anything important (we did).

The first morning I sat down in front of my computer, entirely intent on writing something, as I usually do on vacation because I just love to write. I realized about ten minutes in that I didn’t want to write. I forced myself to anyway, because what is vacation for if not having time to get things done?

And after I had finished I looked at it. Why? Why was I forcing myself to work? Yes, I got something done. Something that wouldn’t have gotten done otherwise. I had filled my head with idea that since I had written on vacation in the past, I should do it now. Because this was time I could spend writing …why wouldn’t I?

And I think we humans do this a lot. We convince ourselves that it’s not a good time to take a vacation. That there’s more that needs to be done! Right now! Can’t wait! I was able to turn something I generally enjoy into work. (I mean and it normally is work, but I was on vacation.)

The truth of the matter is yes. There is always going to be something to do. All. The. Time. That’s never going to go away. It’s important, I think, that when you do set aside time for yourself, whether it’s a whole vacation or just relaxing in the evening, that you don’t convince yourself somehow that you should be working. Take that time to relax. Yes, you could be getting something done, but relaxing is getting something done as well. It just doesn’t always feel like it. There is a time to get the job done and there is a time to sit back and relax, and you’re never going to relax unless you make that time for yourself.

It’s Vacation Time Again

Laura Highcove

So Camp Nanowrimo was both a success and not. I easily passed my word count goal of 20k. I validated with 30k, but I didn’t finish writing all the scenes I needed in the Huntsman. I did a lot of new ones, and then I went back and rewrote a number of scenes. I am certainly further than I was at the beginning of the April, but certainly not as far as I would’ve liked to be. Of course ‘doneness’ of a novel is not an easy thing to calculate, so it’s more like, my goal of having a draft 0 done has still not been reached.

I’m still moving forward, I’m still making progress, but I really want to hit some sort of milestone. Something I can point to and say, ‘I’ve finished x.’ I mean I gave myself a reward for reaching my goal in Camp Nanowrimo, but I feel like that was a milestone for Camp Nanowrimo, and not necessarily my book.

Of course this week I’m on vacation and I’m trying to give myself a break from having to work on Huntsman. I generally write for an hour or so in the mornings even when I’m on vacation because I love writing. I just don’t give myself any time or word count goals. I write for as long as I want to, on whatever project I want to. (I spent this morning on a scene from Blessings of the Nerial.)

I’m hoping that this more lax structure will help me to gather myself and be ready to move forward again once vacation is over. Short post, I’m on vacation.

Work while on Vacation

Laura Highcove

So I was able to smooth out a lot of The Huntsman in the week of May 3rd. Had to rejigger some things, but that’s just part of the process. I’m actually fairly happy with how things are turning out.

Had a little more trouble working on Tabitha’s character arc, as I spent the latter part of last week depressed and decided I needed to take care of myself rather than try and power through it. I was still able to create an outline of what I want Tabitha’s scenes to be, so now I simply need to write them, and I have to get that done before Emelia can step into place.

But I am on vacation this week so I’m only spending a bit of my morning actually working. This is a short update for that very reason, and though I’m behind, I’m not yet worried about not finishing on time. It’s a rough draft, so the important thing is just getting it all out.