I hope you all had a great Fourth of July weekend, especially if you're in the U.S. of A. It's a big travel weekend here, and my fam and I hit the road to visit Hamilton, NY. We travelled with four of my husband's siblings, their spouses, and their kids--including ours, 13 kids. And we all stayed in the same hotel. Doesn't sound like I got any writing done, does it? Well, I didn't. BUT ...
1. My husband lured me to his hometown with the promise that I could visit Colgate Bookstore, the largest independent bookstore in Central NY. It's owned by Colgate University and the profits go to student education there. Look at how beautiful it is. What a great selection. I was won over when I walked in and saw the huge Sarah Dessen display. They had a great graphic novel section, too. http://www.colgatebookstore.com/2. I explored my husband's old school, which is K through 12. Yup, really. There's nothing like seeing a totally different high school experience than my suburban Long Island experience to give me new story ideas. Walking on the football field (that didn't even have bleachers), I could vividly imagine a boy sitting in the grass by himself and noticing that the field lines weren't straight. I could imagine a girl sneaking off behind the maintenance shed to smoke cigarettes. I got home and made notes for a new story. Hmm, maybe I will do NaNo this fall.
3. There were tons of gliders out for the weekend. You'd never get me up in a plane without an engine! But it was just the twist my new story needed. What kind of person would be a glider fanatic? An interesting one!
Travelling, to me, means reading books in the downtime. It means seeing new landscapes, talking to new people, and collecting ideas. Nothing stimulates new ideas like new places. Every time I go away, I come back with a new story idea. Not that they're all good, but hey, the law of averages says some of them have to work, right? So the more travel, the more ideas, the more chances to hit a good one!
-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages
4 comments:
I loved to travel just for this reason...to get new ideas. Sounds like you had lots of fun Kate. But man, that's alot of kids. I'm amazed you survived.
While I was on Conesus Lake with John's fam on Sat, I was totally picturing a Finger Lakes novel....
Emily, we're so used to having that many kids around. Most of them are teens/tweens now so it's not as difficult as it used to be.
Deena, I'd read a Finger Lakes novel! But yeah, I do that everywhere I travel. An Adirondacks novel! A North Carolina novel! Whee!
I agree! Traveling does waken the senses and juices. Have fun!
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