Writing Thoughts: Planning to write is not writing…

Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.

— E. L. Doctorow

So I’ve had planning on my mind a lot lately, since my husband and I are taking a vacation with our best friends to Florida for two weeks, and we leave on Tuesday, less than a week from now!

We’re going to Orlando for the fandom convention called GeekyCon, and then going to a little town by Tampa for another week on the beach. I’m really excited, but I can’t wait to start the relaxing part!

I’ve had to plan for our two-day drive from Minnesota to Florida (with a layover in Nashville), secure our hotel for the convention, and arrange our day at Universal Studios (where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is, of course!). And I still have to figure out my convention schedule and which programming to attend; they have a track about writing and YA literature that always has great content and ideas.

Then as we say adios to our friends, who are driving back to Minnesota after the con, my husband and I are renting a car and heading to Tampa, where we’re staying at a beachfront resort. I’ve arranged our second time on the awesome Speedboat Adventure Tour, and hopefully I will find some time to write on the beach between other adventures, before finally we fly home, and our magical vacation will be over. It’s been so much work to plan!

And of course, I’ve also been planning and pre-writing some of my vacation blog posts, so never fear, I don’t intend to abandon my blog! It’s just about to get a lot more tropical!

As of today, I’ve already got five posts written for the twelve days we’re gone, including this month’s Random Writing, which will post next Friday as scheduled. All of my pre-written posts are scheduled to appear at 12:05pm CST (-5 GMT), just as they did during the April AtoZ Challenge.

This will be the last writing thoughts post for two weeks though, but today’s quote is definitely something I plan to keep in mind during my vacation. It’s from the author E.L. Doctorow, who I’ve actually used before — I guess I just find him inspiring! Last time he was talking about how writing is like driving at night in the fog… and today, we’re talking about planning to write.

“Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”

I am so guilty of this, it’s crazy, especially this week — I mean, I have a good portion of the next Neeka chapter written, but it’s no where near finished and probably won’t be in time to post tomorrow, or possibly this week at all. And I would like to say that’s “despite my best efforts,” but to be honest, the vacation posts, along with my usual daily posts, plus trivia night, and Pokemon Go have all sidetracked my plans to sit down and write this damn chapter!

But Doctorow is right. I can’t keep saying I’m going to write this, or planning to work on it and then finding something to distract myself with. I just have to do it. No matter if it’s tomorrow, or this weekend, or next week, this chapter WILL get written. So watch for that coming soon.

Today’s artwork is an awesome Dragon Clock created by Joseph Trafficante and available on his Etsy shop at JT Scrollworks. I know I’ll be watching the clock every day until we leave for vacation! Joseph has tons of other cool creations on his site available for puchase, so go check him out! Take care and stay creative all!