Step inside my office

Some of you who know me know that I travel a lot for work. When I say a lot, I mean 50% of the time. I spend large amounts of time in airports, hotels, Second Cups, and Starbucks. Sometimes I’m stuck in airports for nine hours at a time. What on earth do I do with my time? I read, edit, write, revise, and try to work on my grammar.

This is an example of how I work. I first choose a spot to sit in the airport by scoping out the power outlets, there aren't nearly enough in airports, believe me. Now that I’ve found my office, step inside.I've plugged in my laptop, hopefully there are seats near the available outlets. My Ipod plays, helping me find the mood for the scene I'm working on with music. My Bose sound canceling headphones (a gift from my husband) keeps the noise of the busy airport from distracting me. My notebook--that I always carry with me--is open to random ideas that I scribble down to help with plot, dialog, and flow. There are stacks of critiques from other writers to work through. I try to extract the opinions and thoughts that will improve my novel.

I've been working on this novel for almost two years non-stop, until recently. I wanted to share a little about how I work around my schedule, since I get asked every so often. Recently I've taken a break from my writing, I think I needed to step back. I think it’s like when I paint, the longer I'm working on a part of it I'm not satisfied with, the more I feel I can't fix it. I need to walk away. The next time I return to the painting it is easy to see what wasn't working, what was out of proportion, what colour I wasn't mixing right. I think my month long sabbatical is almost over. I did get a lot of relaxing reading in. Time to get back to work.

Stella out!