My Old Nemesis Returns: A Vacation

If you’ve been following my blog closely, you’ll know that vacations are one of the main things that can wreck my productivity. When I’ve been writing up a storm, few things can disrupt that storm better than a long vacation away from home.

Oh, I try to continue my writing regimen during these trips. I might even manage to keep it up for a few days. But I never fail to fall off before the end.

By the time I get back home, my momentum is lost and the passion’s gone. I tend to find other things to do, and don’t find that spark to start writing again until months later. Sometimes as many as six.

The time has come for another vacation. It’s one week long and we’ve had it planned for awhile. Of course, we didn’t know at the time that it would interfere with trying to sell our house, my data analyst training at work, or a comprehensive manuscript edit for a client.

But something interesting happened this time: I set a goal to reach at least 75% completion before we leave. And, wouldn’t you know it? I reached and surpassed that goal two days ahead of schedule. I now have the better part of a month to finish up the thirty-odd pages that remain.

Once again, hard goals and hard deadlines worked. It will be interesting to see if I can keep up the forward momentum when I return. But for right now, it’s time to relax.