Writer's Life Tip #3

TAKE A VACATION

It's so easy these days to get caught up in everything. With the internet at our fingertips, we're either online at home, at the office, in the car (you know who you are! bad, bad, bad!), or in the restaurant/hockey rink/library/grocery story/airport terminal/park/wherever! We spend TOO much time in front of some electronic device, surfing and chatting.

I challenge you to take a vacation.


It can either be a literal vacation where you leave your home and spend a few days someplace else. Or, it can be an internet vacation where you turn off all of your devices and just be, like how you were back in the 80s.

Recently (like two days ago), my family took a quick trip to an indoor waterpark. The boys (read that as my kids and my husband) had a blast whooshing down water slides and pointing water guns at each other. A wave pool attracted the younger ones, while the grotto hot tub attracted us older types. It was bliss. The hotel didn't offer wifi, so my iPod Touch was just an mp3 player and a hand held gamer. My phone does not have a data package, but my husband's does. On the second day, where neither of us adults wanted to get wet, my husband surfed the net while I watched the commotion (uh, fun filled times) around us. Just being in the 95 degree area with 99% humidity made me feel groggy, but it was a pleasant grogginess. I did a lot of people watching, which is great for creating characters!

It was nice to get away from the gray and cold, even if it was for only two days.

If you don't have the cash, then why not stay with a family member or friend over night?

Don't want to hang out with family/friends? Well, turn off your computer. Pick up a great book. Write in journal. Take a walk outside. Walk around a mall. Go window shopping in your downtown or a town that you've always wanted to visit.

Get away and unplug.

You must take time for yourself, or you'll get too overloaded.

Trust me; I know!

Writer Life Tip #1

MASSAGE DAY!

Here's my tip to you: Invest in a good massage once a month.

As a writer you spend A LOT of time sitting in front of a keyboard. All that tension from the hours at the desk settle in your shoulders and creep down your arms. It's amazing how much the muscles can bear before you actually realize that you're doing damage.

A massage will help cure the muscle fatigue as well as move all of those toxins out of your muscles and into your blood stream- thus being able to be released. If you get a really, really, really good massage, you'll feel so relaxed, it's like you're drunk!

We have to take care of ourselves by eating well, getting exercise, and having a good emotional outlook on life. A massage will help with the last, although my massage guy tells me that after one of his massages, my body thinks I've run about 3 miles!

Have you ever had a massage? Too ticklish? Too shy?