Vacation with the Characters

My family and I are heading to the beach today. We'll be gone for about two weeks. It's usually a pretty sad time because my daughter will start school immediately when we get back. Our vacation is always planned for the end of the summer because we spend it at my in-laws beach house and it is rented much of the summer. Not being a beach fan (I know, I'm a freak), it's not my favorite time of the summer. But, I do enjoy being on vacation with my family and having my husband off work.

When I return, I will no doubt be in a bit of a depression. Vacation over, summer vacation over, daughter back in school and my tan will fade.

BUT, I have these great new characters to keep me busy. The family from the late 1950's. For a writer, I'm having a hard time explaining how much I enjoy the writing process during the creation of characters and story.

Last night as I did some nightly reading, Sarah Dessen's Dreamland, I had to keep hopping up to write a thought in my idea book. Finally, and yes I'm a little dense, I brought the book with me to the couch where I continued to scribble my revelations. The margarita helped, I'm sure. After so much packing, it was nice to relax.

The open space to create a brand new set of characters with quirks, issues and individual qualities that will interact with each other is well, just so much fun! I still stop sometimes and pinch myself knowing how lucky I am to be doing this.

So, the 7 hour drive will be spent thinking, scribbling and trying to do a little reading without getting nauseas.

Talk to all of you in a bit. And, here's to all of you having a productive two weeks!