Vacation Vibes Racing Toward Relaxation

An “Out of Office” Note

It’s that time of year again, when my family packs up a car, drives south and makes no real solid plan for return (aside from “Yeah, we know school starts on September 5th!”). This is one of the great joys of the teacher/writer lifestyle. Especially in the summer, we get to really ride the vibe of the day and throw schedules out the window.

Photo by Janne Simoes on Unsplash

This is why the July calendar of events was crammed so tight, and why there will be no August events until later in the month.

For those of you who have been around Stop Writing Alone for awhile, this has all become a bit routine, BUT we shifted it up a bit this year: I am writing this to you on my phone from Amtrak’s Autotrain, a fabulous offering to those of us who frequent this east coast jaunt — instead of driving the whole way from New York to Florida, why not put your car on a train in Virginia and ride the rails the rest of the way?

Since I had to stop driving way back in 2009 thanks to my annoying disease’s attack on my vision, the moment I was reminded of the Autotrain’s existence two days ago, I moved heaven and earth to make this happen. If I can no longer share the driving responsibility, then it’s about time I do something else to shrink them!

So far the train experiment is a huge success! My son’s exuberance over his first real train ride is beyond contagious! Seeing my husband relaxing — right now even sleeping — instead of white knuckling his way through 1,200+ miles of maddening variations of weather, traffic and vehicular expertise is the great payoff I was hoping for. However, it does not end there! From a writer’s standpoint, this little ride is bubbling with inspiration around every corner — the cast of characters, the captured conversations, the blur of trees and terrains! I am elated I packed my new copy of The Practicing Poet by Diane Lockward (thanks, a thousand times over for this recommendation, Sara A.!) with two journals.

What a wonderful time! One notebook is for my work from The Practicing Poet, the other has been a little home for an ongoing word bank. Both are getting pretty inked up, and I swear I feel lighter with every drop of ink spilled.

What will all these words turn into?

I don’t know.

I also don’t care. I am on vacation from thinking about such things. Isn’t it so interesting that’s the exact moment the words show up to play?

All of this is to say, the August calendar of events will be late, but this time it’s totally intentional.

See you all soon! Happy writing!

~Nicole :)