Packing Books for a Vacation

By
Scott D. Parker

We’re all readers here, right? This is a safe place where we can disclose our most treasured secrets about books and our habits. Well, tell me if you do something similar.

Last weekend the family and I traveled to Texarkana, Texas, for a late summer vacation before school starts. None of us had been up there and we used the town as home base as we scoured flea markets and antique stores. We also headed up to Arkansas to dig for diamonds and quartz.

Whenever I travel, I like to find a book set in or around the region of the vacation. Last year when we went to Big Bend, I read RETURN OF THE RIO KID by Brett Halliday. What would I bring this year?

Texarkana is on the border of the piney woods of East Texas and the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. I’m reading a lot of westerns as I write my own (THE KILLING OF LARS FULTON was released this week) so I had the perfect book: LONGARM AND THE OZARK ANGEL. I hadn’t read it and with it set in Arkansas, what better book to read?

But I’ve also been in a contemporary bestseller mood this summer. I read a couple of Janet Evanovich novels and wanted to keep on that trend as well. The latest paperback from John Grisham is THE WHISTLER. I haven’t read a Grisham novel in a long time, so when I was at Kroger stocking up on supplies, I threw a copy into the basket. I shrugged. As much as I like to pack light, I still want to have my bases covered if a particular mood strikes me on the road.

That was also where my Kindle came into play. I’ve got the Paperwhite chock full of westerns and a brand-new-to-me author Avery Duff and his book BEACH LAWYER. Sure I wasn’t’ going to the beach but I had a good summer read on hand.

I think I had most bases covered. I even threw in my latest copy of Men’s Journal. I brought my laptop of course. I am between books, but I wanted the Mac on hand if lightening struck.

Well, lightening struck, but not in any of the aforementioned ways.

We stopped in Jefferson, Texas, and shopped at a few antique stores. Our favorites were the ones with air condition! In one of them, I hit the jackpot. I found a motherlode of old paperback westerns, maybe two hundred or more, all for a dollar each. I ended up buying a couple. One of them was FOUR MUST DIE: A WALT SLADE WESTERN by Bradford Scott.

And that’s the book I read on my vacation. It’s a slim volume, 127 total pages. I read 110 in Texarkana and finished the morning after we returned. I reviewed it yesterday.

So much for all that pre-planning on reading material. I’ll get to those books, especially the Longarm one since the countryside of Arkansas is fresh in my mind.

Do y’all spend almost as much mental activity on what book you’ll read on vacation as you do on everything else? And do y’all stick with that reading material or find something along the way?

Moving on

by: Joelle Charbonneau

This week I turned in the second revision of GRADUATION DAY to my amazing editor.  She is giving it a read and if the manuscript is as strong as I hope it is the book will be off to copy edits!  With A Chorus Line-Up turned in a week before, I am officially finished writing all 7 of the books that went under contract in 2011 (most of which went under contract in the final month of that year).

Phew!  There are days I thought I would never see the light at the end of that tunnel.  It is a wonderful tunnel to travel, but a scary one because there were times I truly believed I wouldn't make it.  I was certain on each book that it was the novel that was going to stop me from getting to THE END.  The only reason I did make it each time was because I told myself I had never failed to get to THE END before.  And I have to admit that hitting THE END on the last of those books was the best feeling ever.

This week I have allowed myself a few non-writing days.   Not to say I've been completely on break.  Last week I was lucky to do two events, an NPR radio interview, signed books at all the Barbara Bookstores in O'Hare airport (so incredibly cool) and a follow-up interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.  But while I did those things and answered a few e-mails, I forced myself to take the majority of the week off from writing.

Wow...that was hard to do.  I'm a writer.  Writers write.  Rarely in 2 years have I taken more than a day off in between projects so this self-imposed writing vacation was a new experience.  And while I have enjoyed reading, teaching and playing marble works and dominoes with my son--the time has come for me to sit down at the computer and start the next project.  I have an idea.  The story is calling.  The terror that I won't reach THE END will begin, but so will the excitement that comes with building this new world and the challenge of telling a new tale.

I've heard some writers talk about getting stuck on editing a book over and over again or having trouble letting go.  A few have asked me if I have trouble giving up a book to the production part of the publication process (Copy edits, page proofs and finally the finished book!).

Strange, but the answer is no.  Perhaps it is my performer background that makes it easier to let go of one story in order to tell the next.  An actor is always looking for their next show.  Kind of like the writer is always looking for their next story.  I will admit it is a little odd to be finished with Cia's journey just as so many readers are starting it, but it is time to move on.  I'm a writer and there is a new story to be told.

Open document.

Begin....

All artists need to find their next project and have to choose to Move On as perhaps best expressed by the incomparable Stephen Sondheim in his writing of Sunday in the Park With George.  If you haven't seen this show or know this song I encourage you to listen!

Do you think it’s difficult to take a vacation?

By: Joelle Charbonneau

I don’t know about you, but taking a vacation sounds like a great idea.  Time to read.  Time to relax.  Time to do all the things there just isn’t time to do while work is getting done.

And yet, I would argue that while people take vacations, it’s harder that it used to be to get away from all the things you need a break from.  While you might take time off from going into the office, the office is only a computer log-in away.  Or a phone call.  Or a text.  People know you have your cell phone handy so it doesn’t matter if you are at the beach or strolling along Downtown Disney.  The age of technology means that no one is ever able to leave the office at the office.

For us work at home types, I would argue that vacations are even harder to take.  Even on the days where I vow to take off there are e-mails from my agent or editor or publicists to answer, blog posts to write, and pages that have to get done by my deadline.  I find it hard to ignore the call of work because it can travel wherever I go.  E-mails and social media can be accessed on my phone.  My laptop can come anywhere that I travel and that deadline (no matter how far) always feels like it is just days away.

And it isn’t just work that we often need a vacation from.  It’s anything that causes stress.  For some that might be family.  For others it could be politics.  It used to be that the minute you got to the airport or arrived at your vacation destination you were free of all of the things you needed a break from. 

Unfortunately, airports are armed with televisions playing CNN 24/7.  Social media, phone calls and e-mail keep you updated on everything you might want to ignore.  Stress intrudes even when you need a break from it all.

And I don’t know about you, but I need a break!

So, as soon as my current deadlines are met, I am going to shut off my cell phone and internet for a day to take a respite from it all.  No news programs.  No radio updates.  If someone needs to talk to me they can call my landline.  (We still have one!)  I plan on reading books.  Spending time with my family.  Enjoying life without the plugged-in feeling technology gives us. 

And I’m wondering if I’m the only one that feels this way about technology.  Do you find it difficult to “get away” even when you are technically on vacation?  How do you deal with the every day demands that can intrude when you need a break?

Vacation Reads

It's Dave, taking over the Tuesday posting slot because Jay has... I don't know... a job or something.

Anyway, I'm back safe and sound from Cabo, and as I like to do, I'll recap my vacation reads.

AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman: Simply one of the best books I've ever read. Gaiman mixes crime, fantasy, romance and horror together for a fantastic book about immigrants bringing their gods to America. There's more to it than that, but you have to read it for yourself if you haven't already. It's funny, charming, full of emotion. Just a well done modern classic.

GAME OF THRONES by George RR Martin: I gave up on the TV show two episodes in and wanted nothing to do with the novel. But a friend of mine let me borrow it and insisted I'd love it. And you know what? I was pleasantly surprised. There are a ton of characters, and it's hard to keep track of them all. The writing, however, is smooth and compelling. When I was done, I wish I had brought the second novel with me as well. I'll be starting that soon.

CARTE BLANCHE by Jeffery Deaver: The newest Bond novel. I don't have much to say about it. It's an entertaining novel in it's own right. I've read all the Fleming novels and seen the movies multiple times. This felt like Deaver went out of his way to modernize the Fleming Bond, but it was missing something for me. I loved the twists and turns and the action, however. Finished it in a day.

Also started GOOD OMENS, but am not anywhere deep enough to give my thoughts yet.

I also scanned what others around the pool were reading. When we were on our honeymoon last year, I noticed a ton of "THE GIRL WITH THE---" series. This year, there didn't seem to be one popular book. A lot of airport paperbacks, and some non fiction.

Not many e-readers around either, which I found surprising.

Is there a BIG BOOK out this summer?