I’ve been on vacation all week in Orlando at an undisclosed location. Hint: There are alleged Islands of Adventure nearby. That is to say, I should be on vacation this week, hurricanes and other disasters permitting. I am writing this post in the past and it will go up while I am on holiday because blogging while on vacation is a no-no.

“But Shon, you write every single day. You are a machine put here on Earth to give us porn. Don’t you write while on vacation?”

Good question, highly insightful person that I did not make up. I do write almost every day and it wouldn’t be a vacation if I didn’t take some time off from writing. Besides, my wife would really like my company while exploring these alleged Islands of Adventures. I owe it to my brain, my spouse and my sore fingers to not do any writing while on vacation.

But I do admit that the act of creation never stops. When I go on trips, I take a brand new notebook with me to jot down ideas. It is essential that it is a new notebook because if I bring my current notebook, I’m more likely to work on current writing problems and then the chances of me sneaking to the laptop and wanting to maybe write a page or two while my wife is gathering eighteen more pillows for the hotel bed, greatly increases.

A new notebook is a lovely thing. It has all these blank pages. It has no expectations. A new notebook pretends that you don’t have a dozen other stories waiting to be written. It exists to record whatever weirdo idea you come up with as you stand in line to a place that promises the thrills of your life even though the ride only lasts ten minutes.

“But Shon, what if your old ass body needs a break from standing in lines and you are at the hotel room killing a few hours while your knees recover AND your wife is off doing something because she still has knees?”

Well, that is another good question, person who is strangely knowledgeable about my knees.  What I do in these situations is read the hundred books on my Kindle that I haven’t gotten to yet, but if I am feeling really antsy, I might crack open the laptop and edit. Proofreading is always a challenge but reading your work in a new setting, like a hotel room, gives you that New-to-Me experience.

But really, I don’t recommend that. If you write on a regular basis, even if it is a just a little time a week, then you still deserve a break. People often treat writing as a recreational activity and I get that, but it is also a lot of work. Take the vacations when you can and make the most out of them.

Writer, producer and awesome human being, John Rogers, had this to say on Twitter recently.

“. . . it is perfectly acceptable, when working on a scene that vexes you, to write “DUMBEST VERSION” along the top of the page and start from there. As I, a human who has been writing professionally for 25 years, just did. Give yourself permission to suck.”

It is truly great advice. I have lost count of how many times I have stared at the blank page, not willing to write a scene or story because it was just not right in my head. There were problems. I didn’t quite knpow how the characters would have sex. I didn’t like the color of someone’s hair. For whatever reason, I wasn’t willing to commit my idea to words because the words weren’t perfect yet.

Which is a bullshit reason to not write something cause let me tell you, even if you think you have all the right words to put down, you’re going to change those precious little babies in the rewrite. The most perfect ideal concept in your head is not going to be perfect once it gets on the page. There will be rewrites. Go ahead and put that shit on the page.

I have been writing since the 90’s and I still struggle with this. We all do. Sometimes it is not even perfectionism at work, it can be simply having no fucking idea what happens next. That’s cool, you still write something down. The act of writing your inferior idea down is going to give you very strong feelings about what is wrong with it. From there, you can craft the better idea.

My mental trick for coming up with the “Dumbest version’ is what I call the campfire scenario. Imagine you are sitting around a campfire with your friends. They are trading stories and it is your turn. You have to say because your friends won’t let you pass. In that situation, I will spit out something. If it sucks, who cares? The next person in line will tell a story and your blunder will be forgotten.

But in the meantime, you got it started.