The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 150 - Exploring the World (and Hopefully Finding Inspiration)

It's that time again - my annual "get out of the U.S." trip. Don't get me wrong. I love the comforts of home. Compared to some of the places I've been, life in New York City is a complete luxury. Still, I find it crucial to my development as a writer to get out there and see the world, and that's what I'm doing right now.

The itinerary is three countries: Egypt, Jordan, and Cyprus. I'm taking one of those all inclusive tours (with the exception of a few meals here and there), which is a first for me. The downside is that they rush us through everything before we really have time to take in the sights, and there's little flexibility to stray from the set plan and see other things. The upswing, on the other hand, is that there's very little planning I actually have to do. As long as I'm where I'm supposed to be, when I'm supposed to be, the rest is taken care of. If only someone would chew my food for me, I'd be all set.

Enough about that, though. This trip also comes at a good time for my writing health. As you might remember from last week, I'm developing new ideas again. I still really like a handful of older ones I have, but it seems that - without source material such as a graphic novel to back it up - the market's just not secure enough to risk sending them into now. On top of working out new things, everyone involved in the post-Apocalyptic spec is still strategizing for that. This past and this current week would be too much sitting around, constantly checking email and waiting for my phone to ring for updates. Not being able to access email or phone, in fact, not being in the country, makes the wait much easier.

Sometimes, the best thing a writer can do to get back on the proverbial writing horse is to get as far away from writing as possible. One of the stories we used to hear a lot in school was how one of our professors poured everything he had into one final script while he was trying to break in, then took what little money he had and went to China. He wanted to get as far away from it all as possible. If nothing came of the script, then fine. He'd tried with all his might. But, as it would happen, his agent managed to track him down in China, and one day, that writer got a call telling him to get on the next plane back to L.A. His career had begun. I'm not expecting something like that to happen now, but it just goes to show you - sometimes distance is what the doctor ordered.