Vacations: Part One

It’s definitely vacation time. If you’re a student, you’ve probably been on vacation for the summer. If you’re amongst the working, you’ve probably been looking forward to your July or August 2 weeks off to take that long anticipated vacation.

But whatever your job is that pays the rent, if you’re a writer, you don’t get a vacation.

I’m serious—and even if you think you do, you’ll find yourself working. You’ll find yourself coming up with stories because that’s just how your brain is wired. I’ve often wondered if the reason so many writers drink [too often to excess] is that it’s a way to stop the stories—a way to turn off their brains! So hopefully, if you’re a writer, you kind of like the way your brain’s wired and rather than try and quiet it, you develop a mindset that looks forward to seeing what stories you’ll discover next. So I’d encourage you not to try and rein in that writer-centered characteristic while you’re on vacation, but use your vacation to just go for it.

Let’s say you’re in a restaurant with your friends or family on vacation. You look up for a moment and think about how the ugly drop ceiling of the place doesn’t go at all with the kind of wild west décor. And in looking up, you notice that on one of the metal support brackets that holds these unattractive ceiling tiles in place, you see a small arrow in pencil, right in the middle of a two-foot long bracket. Odd, you think, why in the world would someone put an arrow on a ceiling bracket? Your eyes sweep the restaurant ceiling and there are no other marks of any kind on any of the brackets in sight. And this is when your story-centered brain kicks in with thoughts:

1. It couldn’t be random. Even if, in the process of putting up these brackets, they were lying on the ground or something, what reason could there be to pencil an arrow on one of them? None. It’s not like these brackets are coded or have to fit in a certain pattern—all the pieces are alike and easily hooked together.
2. Even if there was a reason to write on one, why an arrow?
3. This means there’s a reason for that arrow, so what could it be?
4. The only logical explanation is that it’s pointing to something hidden under that bracket, right?
5. So what could it be pointing to?
6. Treasure.
7. Important documents.
8. Drugs.
9. Stolen goods.
10. A gun

Wasn’t that fun? If you’re like me, you don’t sit down to do these things as a kind of writing exercise, you just find yourself doing them. You see that arrow and your story-brain takes over. So when you’re on vacation this year, embrace that—let your brain go on vacation too and see different things than it might in your normal routine and who knows? Maybe one of those things will turn into your next script.

Copyright © Diane Lake

16Jul17

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com