Back from Mexico with Zen on the brain. In particular, the phrase, “There is no Zen on the mountain you don’t bring yourself.”
After 5 weeks in the sunny world of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, I can testify to the truth of that old saying. Pefect weather won’t bring words out of your head, nor will long, leisurely walks on the beach. (I’m not saying those are bad things.)
But your writing life is not about saving up all your ideas until your vacation, waiting until the time is right and the Muses hover protectively. (Boy, I could really write good then.) Your writing life is about writing every day.
If you’re waiting until you can take that favorite getaway to really unlock your creative spirit–to Zen out, as they say, my advice is: KNOCK IT OFF. Write where you are. Right where you are. And do it now.
It’s not your external environment that drives your creative engines, it’s your inner writer’s soul. And that baby is functioning all the time, whether you realize it or not.
It’s comforting to think that you could really write good if you could just get over there by the ocean and . . . But that excuse is a killer in disguise.
As they say in the NFL, you have to learn to play hurt, to write when you don’t want to, when you don’t feel good.
You have to learn to summon that creative genie out of the bottle and onto the page. Yes, that genie can be trained–by an appropriately demanding master. That would be you.
So hit those keys–at what velocity? ABSOLUTE TOP SPEED, por supuesto.
John
WriterCare with Dr. John 
Yes! I have recently learned to overcome my problem of needing to sit at the kitchen table with no one else in the house (pillow on the chair, laptop posed just so) you get the idea. I’m getting better now, yes I can even write with people walking and talking around me! Amazing. Always a pleasure to read your posts.
Mandy