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| Pihea trail, Kauai |
Both trips have or will be turned into books. I'm working on the next Shandra Higheagle Mystery book that is set in Kauai. A Gabriel Hawke novel will be set in Iceland. It was fun to go to these places and not only see different lifestyles but to also see things with an eye for how I could set a book there.
With these and other travels that kept me away from my computer, I ended the summer feeling way behind in the projects I had planned to write this year.
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| Gullfoss waterfall in Iceland |
However, a week ago, I finished book 4 in the Gabriel Hawke series, and I'm back on schedule writing the next Shandra. The next Hawke book is in my mind "stewing and brewing" and I have started digging for the information I'll need to write it.
While I feared being behind due to my gallivanting, I have found the trips have not only refreshed me, making my writing fun again, it has also helped me regroup and discover my priorities and how I want to continue on my writing journey.
I've always thought that large blocks of time away from writing would pull me out of the stories and writing all together. After my two trips, one before I started a book and another in the middle of the book, I discovered, being away from the computer and writing 3-4,000 words a day, was good. I came back with a vengeance in my writing and a better grasp of what I want to write and how I want readers to see my books.
The words didn't stagnate, they blossomed. So while I do agree that you shouldn't let too long of space go between writing, I think, because my trips were inspirational and mind healing, that they were needed to improve my writing.
Hopefully, my readers will agree after they read the latest books. ;)
In case anyone was wondering, the next Shandra Higheagle book is titled Abstract Casualty, and is set around an art show that is held every year on Kauai.
I'm still working on the title of the Gabriel Hawke book set in Iceland. All I know at this point is Fox will be in the title.
Mark December 7th on your calendars! It's my annual December Facebook Party and it will be a real Whodunnit! The party will run from 10am to 10pm PST. Myself and 12 western romance authors and 11 mystery/suspense authors will be entertaining you every half hour. If you join the party, you can collect the clue each author gives you and at the end of the party, using a link that will be given to you, you put in the person, place, and thing that wasn't mentioned from the list below, and you will be in the running for one of 2 Kindle Fire Ereaders I'm giving away. The other authors will be giving away things the full twelve hours as well.
Here's the link to join the party: https://www.facebook.com/events/426351174658554/
Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 43
novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western
romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along
with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern
Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the
western lifestyle, she lives it.
Hi, Paty. I have to agree that sometimes time away from writing is a good thing. It gives a person time to see life in a new perspective and gets us away from pounding the keys. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteHi Judy Ann, Thank you! It was two fun experiences and now I'm ready to put that experience into books.
ReplyDeletePaty, the party sounds fun. I envy you your travels but I'm pleased you were able to go and found inspiration and returned refreshed. Writing is not as easy as some think. We work long hours alone and in our own world. I look forward to reading the books that result from these trips.
ReplyDeleteCaroline, Thanks for commenting. The party should be fun! I agree on the writing. I think we all need to "fill the well" now and then.
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