Keystone Lake
Posted: May 1st, 2010, 9:07 pm
With about 2/3 of the work done on my second book, I found myself hitting a brick wall. I was really busy at work, and in 2008 I had a two-year-old and a six-year-old, so writing at home was difficult too. I really felt like if I could just get away for a couple of days, I could finish the book up. So that's what I did, at Keystone Lake.
Keystone Lake is about two hours northeast of here, just outside of Tulsa. They have reasonable cabins, so I rented one for the weekend. The kids and wife stayed home, while I headed out with my laptop in tow.
I always enjoyed the Chevy Chase movie Funny Farm. I like the idea of a writer "getting away" for a while to write a manuscript. Of course in this day and age with jobs and bills and writing being more of a hobby of mine than any real form of income, taking a month or even a week off from work to write a book was out of the question. Most of my writing took place on nights and weekends, but just like Chevy Chase's character, I thought if I could hole myself up somewhere I could produce a great book. I don't know if the book was great or not, but it was a neat experience.
Most of the writing took place at the dinner table, looking out a large window at the lake. During the day, I took the laptop outside to the picnic table that sat just outside the cabin's front door and did some writing there. That idea sounded better than it was. It was hot that weekend, there were bugs, and picnic tables aren't particularly comfortable for long periods of time. Still, laptops give us that luxury, and I enjoyed moving around a bit.
As you get older, getting away from work and family (especially kids) gets harder and harder. One of the reasons I have so many unfinished writing projects at the moment is because I just don't have the free time available I once did. As I find myself spinning my wheels and not making any progress on my current projects, I'm starting to think another weekend at Keystone Lake may be in order soon.
Keystone Lake is about two hours northeast of here, just outside of Tulsa. They have reasonable cabins, so I rented one for the weekend. The kids and wife stayed home, while I headed out with my laptop in tow.
I always enjoyed the Chevy Chase movie Funny Farm. I like the idea of a writer "getting away" for a while to write a manuscript. Of course in this day and age with jobs and bills and writing being more of a hobby of mine than any real form of income, taking a month or even a week off from work to write a book was out of the question. Most of my writing took place on nights and weekends, but just like Chevy Chase's character, I thought if I could hole myself up somewhere I could produce a great book. I don't know if the book was great or not, but it was a neat experience.
Most of the writing took place at the dinner table, looking out a large window at the lake. During the day, I took the laptop outside to the picnic table that sat just outside the cabin's front door and did some writing there. That idea sounded better than it was. It was hot that weekend, there were bugs, and picnic tables aren't particularly comfortable for long periods of time. Still, laptops give us that luxury, and I enjoyed moving around a bit.
As you get older, getting away from work and family (especially kids) gets harder and harder. One of the reasons I have so many unfinished writing projects at the moment is because I just don't have the free time available I once did. As I find myself spinning my wheels and not making any progress on my current projects, I'm starting to think another weekend at Keystone Lake may be in order soon.