Feeling No Guilt
Terry Odell
As I mentioned in my last post, I was headed out for a Mississippi River cruise vacation, with some extra time in New Orleans. We arrived on schedule, checked into the hotel (and because I always try to stay at the same chain, I’d accrued enough points to be a Diamond Medallion member) and they upgraded us to a suite. With TWO bathrooms! Also free breakfasts and a couple of comped drinks at the bar. And a bottle of wine in the room. And fruit.
But I digress. That’s really not what this post is about. I got home Monday afternoon, a day later than scheduled due to severe weather grounding flights for many hours. We were gone for almost two weeks. I’d brought my Surface to keep up with email and anything else that might need my attention. I figured I’d check things once a day. I also have an iPhone, but I have never gotten comfortable doing anything requiring I go to websites on that tiny screen. I used it primarily as my backup camera. I also have an iPad mini tablet, which is usually my go-to ereader, and not much else.
I printed out my current wip to read for continuity. This one’s got more threads than all my needlework projects, and I wanted to search for dropped threads and make sure my timeline was accurate. Yes, yes, I know I should have been doing this all along, but best laid plans—
Truth be told, I opened my Surface two times on the entire trip—the first being after I discovered that I had a wonky section in my printout and needed to go to the original file for those messed up/missing chapters. The second time was on the boat when we had time before our shore excursion and I did a quick run through my usual sites to make sure I hadn’t missed anything critical. I also read through a couple more chapters of the printout.
However, I made the decision that I was on vacation and being cut off from cyberspace wasn’t going to alter my life. I had already decided that trying to keep my head in the wip would be a lost cause, so I felt no guilt about not making any forward progress. Not to mention, the keyboard on the Surace screws with my muscle memory, and typos abound.
In fact, I finished my read-through on our last day while waiting for it to be time to go to the airport. And that’s the only work-related activity I did on the trip.
I’m subscribed to a number of Substacks and mailing lists. I confess I hit “delete” on just about all of them, since I was getting them via my phone, and I didn’t think the world would be any different if I didn’t read, like, or comment. I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I was absent from my usual commenting on TKZ posts.
I normally post a ‘word of the day’ game on my Facebook page. I didn’t for the duration of the trip. Other than occasional pictures posted to my Facebook accounts, I did nothing with social media. Put my blog on hiatus, too.
The cruise was fantastic, and I suppose if I were on a deadline, I might have squeezed in writing time. I know many authors who find/make the time to work while away. On this trip, I didn’t. And I felt absolutely no guilt. Sometimes time away from the work—literally away can help recharge batteries, provide new insights and if the absence is long enough, make one antsy to get back to the writing.
So, here I am, back on my mountain, dealing with all the myriad tasks that have accumulated. And there are no hotel or boat crew people to take care of them. No more simply walking into the dining room and telling someone what you want to eat. No more walking into the bedroom and finding the bed made, clean towels, and special treats on the table.
If anyone’s interested, I HIGHLY recommend the American Cruise Line for a riverboat trip. The crew bent over backward to make sure we were happy. So much so, that we’ve already booked another trip on the Columbia and Snake Rivers for next year. I’ll be recapping my adventures both on my blog and my substack. Both are free.
And yes, I took pictures, which will have to be sorted and processed. Here are just a few, taken at the zoo (because I’m an animal person) and on our swamp tour (because I’m an animal person).
Oh, yeah. I have a manuscript to get back to as well.
Your turn. How do you deal with going away? Comments are open.
New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings
When breaking family ties is the only option.
Madison Westfield has information that could short-circuit her politician father’s campaign for governor. But he’s family. Although he was a father more in word than deed, she changes her identity and leaves the country rather than blow the whistle.
Blackthorne, Inc. taps Security and Investigations staffer, Logan Bolt, to track down Madison Westfield. When he finds her in the Faroe Islands, her story doesn’t match the one her father told Blackthorne. The investigation assignment quickly switches to personal protection for Madison.
Soon, they’re involved with a drug ring and a kidnapping attempt. Will working together put them in more danger? Can a budding relationship survive the dangers they encounter?
Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.
Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”
The farthest I’ve traveled in the past five years was to downtownish L.A. for my HS reunion. Next year will be the 70th reunion. I’d like to get away to Ojai for a week, but my wife can’t travel.
Sorry you’ll have to miss a trip, JG. Ojai is a great place–or at least it was back when I lived in LA.
Welcome back, Terry. Glad you have a great guilt-free trip.
I HATE air travel these days. Every trip gets worse with more restrictions and new hoops to jump through. The only good thing is uninterrupted reading time with a physical book.
Vacations are necessary to recharge creative batteries. I don’t feel guilty at all for taking occasional breaks from writing. And, you’re right about feeling “antsy to get back to the writing.” That’s when you know you’re recharged.
Gorgeous photos!
Thanks, Debbie. I use my e-reader on the plane. I’ve found holding physical books open (why do they run print into the gutters?) is becoming a problem.
On a slightly more positive note, even though the delay on this flight was weather related, I let the airline know I was upset that the gate agent never gave any information about why. They gave me a bunch of FF miles in apology.
Sounds like you had the perfect vacation, and came back relaxed and refreshed. I’m glad you had fun, which was the point, right?
I got back from a trip last week in a place where there was no WiFi or Internet or phone service. After getting over the shock of that, I turned my phone and iPad off and had a trip like old times when we just experienced the area. It was relaxing. I did use the time as research for an under-construction novel where the protagonist is stuck in a dead zone. Before instant communication was the norm, we traveled all over the country, calling our parents every three or four days. Otherwise, no one knew where we were. It was great. 😊
Thanks for sharing your experience and the great photos. I always enjoy seeing the world through your lens.
Thanks, Becky. The Hubster had always wanted to do a Mississippi River cruise, and this was a perfect getaway. Also, most of my logins and passwords were home on my PC–another reason to stay away from reality. It was relaxing to be away from the news!
I am too much of a 21st century person to be disconnected. That being said, work calls go to voice mail and work email sit unread.
But almost everything is tied to an app. This Saturday I will be at a Women’s Professional Tackle Football game. The tickets are in my AppleWallet. Two years ago we went to an away game. AirBnB, dinner, game, all in the phone.
My ‘vacations’ tend to be tied to something else now. This time last year oldest child graduated college. Vacation was a long weekend in Kentucky. The nice thing is even with COVID, we hit several distilleries while in Kentucky.
It looks like summer 2026 will be the last vacation shot as a family. The youngest child graduates and will have a job someplace. I want to take them to Disneyland. I have a friend who works for Disney. Employee passes might be good if we can make it to LA before he retires.
The boat had an app that provided information about everything from choosing what you wanted to eat, to when it was cookie time, to shore excursions, etc., so I did use my phone for that. I’ve accepted that boarding passes are in my phone’s wallet, and other processes of the times, but on this vacation, I was unconnected from almost everything. Hope you get to Disneyland. My family went there the year it opened.
Sounds like you had a great vacation! I do imagine our humidity took a little getting used to.
Gorgeous shots of the animals. I’ve gone down the Mississippi on a tug boat pushing a string of barges, but never a cruise where someone takes care of everything! That sounds like heaven.
There were plenty of strings of barges. Easy to see how much commerce the Mississippi handles. I lived in Florida for 30+ years, so I’m no stranger to humidity, but I never got used to it. One of the few things about the south I don’t miss.
Welcome back, Terry! I did miss your TKZ comments, but assumed you were on the Mississippi River cruise you had posted about.
Being disconnected from all the busyness in our world is good for the soul. The pictures are wonderful. Is that a crocodile or an alligator? How close were you when you took that picture? (It was nice of him to smile for the camera.)
Glad you enjoyed the pictures, Kay. That’s an alligator. No crocodiles in the Mississippi (or there shouldn’t be). Rounded snout is a giveaway. I wasn’t very close for that picture, although I have others from the swamp tour where the critters came right up to the boat. Telephoto lenses make for good safety precautions.
Love your travel blogs, Terry. I try not to miss reading them. That way, I don’t have to travel . . . yeah, pathetic, right? And your pictures this morning made me smile.
I’m just not a traveler. My kiddos are, all three of them. They think I’m from another planet because I like staying home. 🙂
But, we live in a spectacularly beautiful valley in central WA state. Surrounded by foothills and orchards, 5 acres situated on top of a hill, only 3 neighbors within walking distance, and on a rutted dirt road which repels looky-loos. What could be better?
And I’ve been a few places, Vietnam, Atlanta, Texas, Mexico, so it’s not like I’ve never.
I’ve said it before. If I could be beamed somewhere, I might consider going there.
But not until.
Glad you had such a workless vacation. We all have to practice that.
Have a great day getting back into the swing of things!
Thanks, Deb. I love where we live, but I also like exploring other parts of the world. Some of them even show up in my books!
YAY!!!!!
Good for you. You know, sometimes you just really have to unplug. It’s good for you and your work. And I mean really unplug. That’s the beauty of vacations. I love to travel. I’ll go anywhere at the drop of a hat. (cliche, I know). And it’s mainly just to get away from reality for a while. And in my case, to plug back in to the “unreality” of reading for pleasure.
I’m leaving for Paris in 3 days, 32 hours and 9 minutes. (If Delta is on time). I have written my blog posts ahead of time and the only technical thing I am taking is my ancient iPhone. Have one book packed and will hit the Abbey Bookshop on the Left Bank to pick up more.
Will I feel guility? Hell no.
Enjoy! Hope your flight is uneventful. As my retired flight attendant friend said, “If you have time to spare, go by air.” Which is why we always plan to arrive at least one or two days before any scheduled events. Learned this the hard way after missing a trip to Antarctica.
Yup, I agree. I’ve always had great luck flying. But these days, who the heck knows. One thing for certain, I won’t fly if I have to make connections. Or I leave hours between. And yeah, never schedule anything on arrival day.
Or you have to make a connection and hope an hour and a half will be enough, but then there are storms and a tornado in Denver which closed the airport so you end up spending 7 hours in Salt Lake City.
Sounds like a fantastic trip, Terry. Love the pics.
To answer your question, I don’t deal with work while I’m away, even for the weekend (as some may have noticed on TKZ). I prefer to relax & enjoy offline activities, like watching wildlife (because I’m an animal person). 😁
Offline is good. I don’t know what a weekend is anymore, but if I’m out of town, I don’t worry about being connected.