Just got back from a summer vacation with the family. We
took our two boys on their first ever cruise to the Western Caribbean. All of
us had a blast and enjoyed getting pampered, spoiled and catered to 24x7. No
serious sunburns or significant seasickness resulted, so I'd call the trip a
resounding success.
During our packing stage, my wife asked how much of my
writing I planned to tote along. I said zip. This was a full vacation, time-off
from both the day job and from the writing job. I totally blew that plan even
before I finished packing. How did I manage that?
My TBR pile.
For my current novel WIP, I have a small set of books on various
technical topics that constitute research. Guess what the #1 choice of book was
that accompanied me on the cruise. Yep. Ditto book #2 (which I didn't actually
get to).
So basically I performed research on behalf of
my writing during my summer vacation. Admittedly all of that happened in a
lounge chair either on the ship's fantail or else pool-side, usually with a
frosty beverage or two involved. Have to say that a writer could get seriously
used to that caliber of research. Alas the same cannot be said for a writer's
bank account.
