Sunday, August 30, 2020
Poolside writer’s retreat not such a pipe dream after all
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| In my fantasy, I'd be able to spend a year at a place like this finishing my novel. |
Summer is drawing to a close here in the Northeastern United States and while I confess to feeling sad about it, I have to admit it has been an unusually productive one for me.
With the Covid-19 lockdown limiting my usual summertime social activities, I’ve had more time to focus on my writing than I usually do at this time of year. In fact, I spent practically all my free time these past few months in my favorite pool chair floating around the same 15-foot diameter circle working on my book.
It’s something I always wanted to do, but life’s other obligations always seemed to get in the way. I always thought that if I could just lock myself away from all those distractions, I could finally finish the “Great American Sci-Fi novel” I’ve been trying to write for decades now. And since I don’t like the cold weather, I’ve always fantasized about doing this at some small, secluded, four-room house in the tropics.
I’d tell myself I’d get up each morning and go out to the pool (did I mention this place would have an immaculately maintained pool?) and spend all day there on my floaty-chair scribbling away on my pad. At night, I could relax, have a light meal and maybe watch a little TV, before heading off to sleep. I’d leave editing and transcribing what I wrote into the computer for the few rainy days that I’d certainly have or for days I wasn’t feeling all that creative.
Following this schedule, I figured I could complete my book within a year, easy.
The only problem with this little fantasy of mine – aside from being able to afford it – is I never thought I’d be disciplined enough to actually do that. But this summer surprised me and showed me I could.
I have a ton of different interests and hobbies and during the nice weather, I usually split my time between my woodworking shop, tinkering with various technology and the pool. This year though, I decided to forgo everything and just concentrate on the writing.
Starting in July, the temperature where I live rarely dipped below the 90s making it too hot and often too humid to do much of anything other than spend the day in the pool. So between the 20 or so vacation days I had in July and August and the evenings I spent in the pool after work, I managed to close a pretty significant gap in the middle of my novel. I also put a major dent into closing another gap near the end. If the weather holds, I think I can close that gap too by the end of Labor Day weekend.
Unfortunately, on read-back, I discovered some other smaller gaps in my story I thought I’d already filled, so maybe I only need six months at my pool-side hideaway now….
You’d think that after spending all that time in the pool this year, I’d should have finished my story. But the process wasn’t always easy. Somedays the I’d get into the pool by 11 a.m. and wouldn’t stop writing until it started to get dark at 7:30 p.m. Other days, I’d struggle. I’d spend all of the morning and half the afternoon just staring at a blank page or at the lines that I wrote the previous day, trying to pick up the thread of where I left off. Eventually, I’d manage to get started again and by the time I got out of the pool for diner, I’d at least have three-hand written pages completed.
Not that they were always good….
The next day, I’d re-read what I wrote, decide it was no good, rip it up and re-write at least half of it. But at least I was making progress and fulfilling my vow to write something every day.
Now with summer coming to an end, I fear my progress on my book will slow back down to a crawl.
Sitting at my desk in my office just seems to offer too many distractions:
• My dog coming over to me wanting attention, or to be let outside or begging me for a walk.
• Mrs. BlueScream popping in to talk to me or to ask for my help with something (usually tech-related).
• And most of all my computer itself.
While an invaluable tool for writing, my computer is probably the biggest source of distraction. In the middle of writing something, I’ll pop over into my browser to look something up, like the meaning of a word, a synonym or even to fact-check some event, and then get sucked down the wormhole of related links until suddenly half the afternoon is gone.
Ah, the Dark side. It is strong….
Floating in the pool with just my paper and mechanical pencil in hand, I’m free of such distractions. The dog is happily outside with me and while I’m sure he’d prefer me to be paying attention to him, he’s happy lying on the patio or in one of the zillion foxholes he has dug in our backyard watching me.
Mrs. BlueScream will either be inside doing something or floating beside reading or working on her own writing (which by the way you can check out here and the only tech gear in sight is my iPod blasting my eclectic mix of music from across the yard. (It’s across the yard because iPods do NOT like to go swimming, and NO, I won’t tell you how I know that….)
Oh well. I guess there is always next year, when – this time for sure – I’ll be able to finish the story and have it ready for final editing.
That is unless I can convince Mrs. BlueScream to forgo her retirement and fund my little writer’s getaway. But I think that’s a fantasy for another time!
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