There’s traveling to research settings for fiction, travel for a wide variety of non-fiction articles, and then there’s traveling with kids, family, friends, or for business. Traveling with others for fun can make it difficult to fit in the words we thought we’d get while daydreaming at our day job desk or hauling children to soccer practice. Vacation or conference hours have a way of re-shaping themselves on the fly and we never have enough of them. If you want to get some writing time in while on the move, you’ll have to strategize.
Get Up Early
The time-proven method is to rise early. If you have roomies, stage your clothes and laptop the night before so you can sneak out to elsewhere and write for an hour or two. In the case of business traveling, stay hydrated and get to bed at a reasonable hour to ensure early rising. If you put your writing time off until later in the day, it has to be scheduled in just like any other high-priority meeting in order to withstand the pressure of sliding time.
Got kids you can’t leave alone? Consider writing on a notepad by hand or writing in a Notes app on a smartphone if a laptop is too cumbersome or bright. Many a writer has dragged a pillow into the tub or a blanket out onto the balcony to get a few early words in.
Stay Up Late
Wear the family out with swimming, tag in the park, or high-value, face-to-face activities that satisfy the kids’ or spouse’s need for being the complete focus of your attention. Plan to cap your evening business dinners or schmoozing by a set time, say nine or ten o’clock. Be the first of your friend’s group to settle in for the night and write while they take their turns getting ready for bed. In any circumstance, set your timer so you can let go and write for a set time, but have a reminder that it’s time to sleep so you can easily get up and go again the next day.
Strategize Your Travel Times
Try to schedule in full half-days on your active travel dates. Fly or drive out early so you have a half-day of unscheduled time at your destination. Plan a last morning of unscheduled time before you head back home. If you’re traveling with kids, be sure to have books, coloring books, dot-to-dots, and other activities that don’t require your participation and get some words in while they are absorbed.
Just Say No
Excuse yourself from a planned activity. There’s always some excursion planned- with family, set up expectations in advance. A majority wants to hit the town for shopping or visit a museum or landmark you have no particular interest in? Negotiate your absence with spouses or buddies. Schedule writing time into your day by instituting an afternoon siesta for kids to rest with a movie in the room and freshen up before dinner. Wave off further evening drinks after your networking goals are met at a conference.
You could also say no to activity-filled vacations or getaways or even business conferences to a certain extent. Rent a beach house and live on the beach for a week instead of running around sight-seeing. Book into an all-inclusive hotel and stay in. Choose the panels at a conference that serve your highest-priority needs and ditch the rest for a full morning or afternoon of writing at the pool, a coffee shop, or in your room.
When You Aren’t Wording, Be Present
Aside from the time you’ve planned for writing, be in the moment. Shake off your storyline and characters by de-roling (more on de-roling here) and live every moment of your daily experience with your family, friends, and co-workers. After all, those experiences make you a better writer with every memory, emotion, and sensory detail you tuck away for later.
Share your experiences or thoughts on writing while traveling in the comments below. Join me on the first Friday of each month for exploration, discovery, and discussion of the writing life.
Veronica Helen Hart
Traveling now and, guess what? Can’t get up earlier than Bob! And writing in the bathtub is beyond me these days–would need a crane to get me out!
Elle Andrews Patt
Lololol. Guess you need to go the get-down-to-the-lobby-for-coffee-and-words as soon as possible in the am route 🙂
Judy Swinson
Excellent article. When I visit my brother in another state. I have no distractions so I can usually exceed my word count goal. This year it didnt happen and I even lost over 3k words written during a 4 hour detail at airport. I do plan early morning writing g time.
Ken Pelham
It varies. If I’m sitting on a beach for a week, I crank out tons of words. If I’m on an on-the-go trip, it’s harder to get snatches of time for writing. But as you say, Elle, I’ll get some writing time in early and late. I refuse to miss an excursion or event, because those instances might just provide fodder for writing.