Packing

My adult-life motto is Be Prepared Enough To Be Spontaneous. This week I have been trying to take my own advice as I get ready for a two week writing vacation in Mexico, then Florida–not exactly my destination of choice but the medium size boys are going to summer camp at Embry-Riddle which leaves me two weeks to hole up and crank out pages.

Spoiler alert: packing as a Hisfic author is a nightmare. Talk about overthinking. I have half of my book tacked up on my murder wall in the form of timelines, articles, maps, and note cards. Even if I could pack all of it, the hotels would get fairly upset if tried to recreate my system on their drywall. I also tend to research as I go which means that I have an actual stack of books I would like to take with me, but don’t want to lug through customs twice. 

Due to an unexpectedly extended trip to Oregon this week I am short on packing time which just makes me want to shut down and stare out the window. Instead I made a list. Okay, three lists. 

Part of the problem is that the nature of the trip and the nature of the writing I am working on class. I am wrapping up a three book arc and setting up what should be a delightfully chaotic romp through the American Revolutionary War then a new chunk of my series. I have stacks of notecards reminding me of threads, plot details from two books ago, and seeds for the next book spread out over my desk or sitting in piles waiting for their turn. This is not tropical beach writing. 

Part of me is tempted—very tempted—to spend two weeks writing a palate cleanser novel that has been on my desktop for six months and in my head for years. This goes against my hard and fast policy to finish one project before starting another. My grownup voice says that jumping from this project is a poor precedent to start, but maybe, just maybe, this is the spontaneous I have been preaching all these years?