It felt clunky and awkward. Words fell onto the blank page only to disappear in fury of eraser bits and dust. Writing without a laptop or iPad was surprisingly difficult. I couldn’t edit as easily, I couldn’t grab a word and move it up in a sentence. I couldn’t make it work… at first. And then the scratching of the lead against fine wood fibres began pulling me back into the art of writing old school.

Mosquito Creek Hostel provided the perfect writer’s retreat. (Photo: M. Kopp)

Spending a long weekend away from the distraction of internet a mere keyboard click away forced this writer to focus on getting the ideas down, rather than editing or breaking the flow to deal with the business aspects of being a freelance writer. Long after the lights of the hostel dorm dimmed, my headlight shone brightly on the notebook tucked firmly in a little corner of my bunk. The blue pencil flew across the page as thoughts and impressions and ideas poured from mind to page.

Productive? Definitely.

Do again? Absolutely.

When was the last time you took a break from writing with a computer?

Let’s face it, freelance writers often have to toot their own horns and beat their own drums. November and December are notoriously quiet months, work wise, but I sold a travel story to a new to me market this past week. I don’t have a horn and can’t keep a beat, but this a cappella version of Little Drummer Boy from Pentatonix should do the trick! It inspired me to celebrate this writer’s quiet season.

Seems this is turning into a month of Christmas v-inspiration!

What inspires you to write?