Over the years, I’ve heard of authors dashing off in search of solitude so that they can complete their manuscripts before their deadlines. I remember Kristan Higgins talking about escaping to a scenic inn with gourmet food. And I remember Deeanne Gist mentioning a stay in a remote cabin.
Well, I went on a two-night deadline getaway this week. Not to a charming inn or rustic cabin. No, I went the very cheap-o route. I received a postcard in the mail offering two free nights at a recently renovated hotel near one of Oklahoma’s casinos. The hotel is only about an hour’s drive from where I live. I’m a wife and a working mom of three. I have a book due June 1st. I think, Free? No laundry? No cleaning? No cooking? No endless carpool driving? Sleep late? Work uninterrupted?
I pick up my phone and make a reservation.
When I arrive at the hotel, I find the exterior underwhelming. The building is squat and plain and located next to a freeway. However, the rooms ARE newly re-done as promised.
My room, which is amazingly easy to keep neat because no one’s here but me to mess it up. It has a TV, but there’s no telling whether or not it works since I don’t turn it on. It has a coffee maker. That works.
I settle in and get right to work. Hmm…. I’m accomplishing lots. And it’s great not to have any other responsibilities or distractions! But it’s also strange — even for someone who loves quiet and solitude — to be this alone. The only people I interact with are a) the hotel staff who greet me when I walk through the lobby and b) the lady who rings up my bill when I pick up dinner at Chili’s To Go counter.
I work more.
The next morning, I wake up and head to breakfast.
This cost $9.95. (!!)
Then I work. Then, somewhat desperate at this point to escape my hotel room, I locate the nearest Starbucks (15 minutes away but who cares) and drive there. Here’s lunch:
Oh, Starbucks oatmeal. How I love you.
Then I work for a few hours outside, soaking in the sun, caffeine, and the nearness of civilization and other human beings.
Then I exercise in the world’s smallest hotel “fitness room” because if I don’t exercise I’ll be in danger of a World Record for least calories burned in a 24 hour period.
I’m alone in the fitness room, thankfully, since no other body can possibly fit.
This is the whole room. One bench. Three machines. Anyone with a touch of claustrophobia would never hack it.
I work in my room.
For dinner, I eat the leftovers from the Chili’s To Go meal I didn’t finish the night before.
Then I work, sleep, eat more breakfast, work, exercise alone. I begin to wonder if any of the other hotel guests are interested in exercising. They all seem mostly interested in the casino’s slot machines.
I pack up, eager to return home.
My husband and my mother in law joined forces (bless them) to take care of my house and my kids while I was gone. Everything’s in order when I return. The only things that bear evidence to my absence are:
My daughter’s uncombed, unstyled hair.
My silverware drawer, which is a bit amiss.
Here’s what I learned from my deadline getaway….
- It’s nice and needed to get away sometimes.
- We all thrive with a degree of quiet in our lives. But we also thrive with a degree of relationship.
- Focusing on a project single-mindedly results in lots of output. But not as much as I’d thought because even though I had unlimited time, my brain still had its limits. It could only churn out work for so long before it grew tired and revolted.
- A room filled with only a writer and her manuscript is a good place to visit for the short term.
- But home is the very best place to be for the long term.
- The challenges I face working from home are ultimately for my good. They make me crazy and I rail against them occasionally when I’m under pressure. But God knows that it’s actually very healthy for me to spend some of my day stacking the dishwasher, and folding clothes, and nagging
my teenagersomeone who will remain anonymous to clean her room, and running a bath for my kindergartner, and tucking my 5th grade son into bed. My people and the things I do for my people give my life balance and richness. My family keeps me company and brings me joy.
Do you take regular getaway trips? Where do you most love to travel for a getaway? Who (if anyone) do you travel with? Do tell!
Have you entered the giveaway that’s running right now to celebrate my new release, A Love Like Ours? Take a look at the great prize pack, pictured below! Go here for more details, the link that will take you to the giveaway entry form, and a short video in which I divulge the inside scoop on the inspiration behind the novel. I’d love to see an Inspired by Life… and Fiction follower win!
Becky Wade
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I don’t take regular getaway trips. Have thought about it occasionally. I would want to take my adult daughters with me to a spa retreat!
A spa retreat sounds wonderful, Anne! My mom had a milestone birthday recently and her request was that my sisters and I take a trip with her. We had a great time!
I’m glad you were able to getaway for a couple days. With deadlines and hosting company at your house during RT last week, I’m sure it felt nice to only worry about yourself for a couple days. I’ve never taken a writer’s retreat weekend by myself. The closest I get is closing the bedroom door and warning family away for most of a Saturday. Hope you made great progress toward that June 1 deadline! 🙂
I’m very familiar with the ‘closing the bedroom door and warning family away’ type of retreat! 🙂 Yes. I did make good progress while I was gone. Enough that I felt less stressed with I returned home.
Once a year a group of woman from my church go to a cabin for about 24 hours. We have a group devotional some work on a service project, other play games and we go for walks. It’s a great chance to step away from our families and talk. But my favorite part is always coming home to my family.
I love to take trips, but like you Becky, my favorite part is coming home. When I walk through my door, the comfort of familiarity washes over me. I can relate to Dorothy’s ‘There’s no place like home,” sentiment!
My husband and I getaway once a month with my brother and sister in love.
We’re retired and it’s a chance to do something different.
What fun! My husband and I really enjoy taking weekend getaways together. We usually only swing 2 or 3 a year. But they’re always a treat.
I live in Northern Michigan. My husband and I own two vacation rentals, one of which is on Lake Superior. I am an elementary teacher. When I get worn out, I hop in the car and drive to our cottage (when we don’t have guests of course!). I sit and stare at the waves and fall asleep to them also, the best sound ever! It’s my very favorite place to be!
Your cottage sounds awesome, Kriss! A vacation rental is a wonderful thing to have. My family has lived in southern California for generations. We often wish that a grandparent or great grandparent would have invested in a little vacation cottage in one of the beach towns back when such things were affordable.
I’ve never had the opportunity to do a writer’s getaway, but I love sneaking away for a weekend trip to shake off the duldrums. I loved getting away to New Orleans and Saint Augustine the best, but I’m always looking for somewhere new to go. I don’t have a husband or children so I spend most of my time at home by myself. I still have to get away from home sometimes to concentrate on my writing. I don’t know how most people feel about them, but I especially love those desks in the library with the three sides; they really help me focus in on what I’m doing without being distracted by others around me. This works unless I’m running out of ideas, at which point I go to a coffee shop or such and eavesdrop unabashedly.
A weekend trip really can help reinvigorate, can’t it? There’s just something energizing and exciting about the change of scenery and an adventure (even a small one) to a new place.
“I especially love those desks in the library with the three sides; they really help me focus in on what I’m doing without being distracted by others around me.” For years, I went to my local library one afternoon/evening a week to write. They have a ‘study floor’ quiet zone which makes for an absolutely wonderful work environment. It was my most productive day of the week! Now that all my kids are in school, I work during school hours at home. But when I need to get work done on the weekends, I still head to the library.
I laughed out loud at your post, Becky. And I could really relate. When my kids were small, I used to write in the middle of our family room in the middle of chaos. When they all grew up and moved away, the house was almost TOO quiet!
I can imagine, Lynn! That’s exactly how I’ll feel when mine grow up and move away, I’m sure.
LOL! Love this! And I love getaway trips, too! Here, when the weather’s good (which right now it is anything but), I love to drive to the top of Pikes Peak and hang out at the Summit House with hot chocolate and my “story Bible” notebooks, and just brainstorm and write whatever comes into my head. And of course, I love road trips to just about anywhere, as driving is another way to mentally disconnect from everyday life and get the creative juices flowing. But I’m the opposite of you: my home is where I’m alone and isolated (except for the cat, bless his heart), so I do getaways to go TO people, not away from them! 🙂 Can’t wait to read this story!
You’re so good about going on getaways, Amy! I always love following your car trips and vacations on social media. I especially enjoy reading about your co-traveling cat. 🙂
For me the local park is a getaway for me on nice days its huge and hard for people to find you unless they look. My true getaway is my families vacation home in maine don’t go often but when i do its off the beaten path so to say.
Does the grocery store count as a get away? 🙂
Enjoyed the report of your get away. Guess sometimes we get what we ‘paid’ for.
My only get away worth mentioning was when I spent 6 weeks in a vacation rental while waiting for and recuperating from childbirth. It was off season so we got it for very cheap. It was nice to have a fancier setting than at home. I was able to relax without thinking of everything that needed cleaned. And the two washers and dryers made laundry upkeep extremely nice since I had all my other kids with me. Some times we just get tired of seeing the same thing day in and day out. Change of scenery helps relax and rejuvenate.
Hi Becky,
Sounds like a good, but somewhat lonely, time. I recently went away on a writer’s retreat with my critique partner and found it to be great! We worked around meal times, then walked to a restaurant which gave us a little exercise. During meal times we brainstormed ideas, then once back in the room, worked again. It was fabulous.
Almost took a solitary retreat during this latest round of edits, but made it without having to fork out the cash!
Cheers,
Sue
I think I could beat you on the least calories burned in a day. Still recovering but when I was camped on the couch with no weight bearing on my right leg I probably burned very few calories. And my husband did all the cooking and is still doing it.
Hi Becky!
Pete and I have just returned from a few days away at Victor Harbor which is South of Adelaide..a very picturesque seaside town on the South Coast. It is commonly referred to as “God’s Waiting Place” because it is so beautiful and a favourite place for retirement. I hasten to say there are young people there too, especially when “Schoolies Week is in full force”..end of year celebrations for the year 12 students who have just completed their final year at school !
Perhaps you may have visited Victor when you lived in Aus, even though it is far from the West…..but you know the old cliche… “When in Rome , do as the Romans do” .Well you will know Aussies are great ones for travelling and think nothing of the distance in this vast country of ours.LOL.
We have what is known as Travel Auctions and certain Hotels or Resorts put out an offer for usually 3 nights at a very reasonable rate. However you can bid lower than the going rate and the lucky ones have their bid accepted and off they go for a great few days. We do this several times throughout the year and have done so for the last ten years. We go with friends of ours whom we met on our very first TA ,..we just “clicked” and have been firm friends ever since. No saying what we get up to, when we’re together. LOL
Enjoyed your Post Becky:)
I haven’t taken any getaway trips for writing purposes. Instead, I’ve orchestrated go-away trips for my kids, which means my parents swoop in and whisk them off for a day with Grandma and Grandpa. I usually get a lot done during the “go-away trips” but like you mentioned, Becky, sometimes the brain is just tired and can’t produce anymore, solitude notwithstanding. But it’a lot of pressure when they come back and ask how much I got done. As a novelist, it’s really hard to say, because maybe I didn’t reach my word count goal, but what I wrote is really good. Or maybe I wrote like a banshee (banshees are prolific writers, in case you hadn’t heard), but tomorrow I may end up deleting more than half of it. Gr. So I just say “I made progress,” which is always true. Sometimes we just have to do our time with our seat in the chair, right? RIGHT? hahaha 🙂