should I get a hotel room?

[Aesposito]

I have a few unfinished books floating around on my hard drive. The problem is, between paying freelance gigs, my "real" job, and three annoying children (four if you count my husband, LOL), I have no time to mess with what amounts to writing on spec.

So, I'm considering getting a hotel room for some upcoming weekend, just me and room service and a hefty bill (to increase the guilt factor). No kids, no distractions. I'll spend the whole weekend doing nothing but finishing these books, pounding away, uninterrupted (or at least coming a step closer to finishing).

Anyone else ever try that? Any thoughts?

Audrey

[BlueExcelsior]

Well, I can't speak for you, but as for me, whenever I set aside a time completely dedicated to writing, that's the one time that my muse is absent and I am completely uninspired and unable to write, or if I do, it's crap. Remember Murphy's law!
That said, if you feel confident and you have a clear direction, and the only thing standing in your way is peace and quiet, it might be a good idea.

[JoNightshade]

I'd suggest choosing one of your projects and just focusing on that. If you actually accomplish something with the weekend, it'll feel that much better to have it all in one place.

I once went away by myself for two nights. I was studying in England and had 2 roomies in very close quarters... sharing a bathroom, kitchen, and living room with about 20 other people. Finally I had to get away. I got a room in a B&B where I was the only guest and the guy who owned the place waited on me hand and foot. I spent those two days wandering around that quaint English country town, exploring churches and shops and gardens, and in the course of two evenings I hand wrote something like the first 50 pages of my novel. It was, in a word, divine.

[Tracy]

One of my writing friends does that. She rents a room in the local Holiday Inn, by the day, and goes there and writes. Swears by it.

[JamieFord]

I used to call in sick to stay home and write. I highly recommend it. (Cough...cough...)

[Garpy]

I go and sit in Starbucks, with my ipod on. That way I don't feel so lonely. I'm also working on a laptop that doesn't have Wifi, so I'm not tempted to keep checking emails and Amazon stats.

[loiterer]

Often taking a short bit of time away from everything just to write can really work wonders. If you do so, though, promise yourself you will NOT think of your husband/kids/work/hotel bill/etc. This would be very detrimental.

Also, make sure the hotel isn't too nice! I say this as someone who has taken time out of normal life to write at my parents' holiday home in a small town by the beach. Since they have furnished it so nicely and it has an excellent stereo/TV/DVD, not to mention the gorgeous empty beaches nearby, I am too easily distracted.

I got much more writing done when my parents borrowed the house back briefly and I was forced to go stay in some cockroach-ridden motel with neighbours that kept me up all night. Wrote like a dervish then.

[Penguin Queen]

I think thats what Maya Angelou does. Goes to a hotel somewhere with no distractions and writes writes writes.


I dont think I could - I need a distraction to pit myself against as it were, to achieve concentration. But it obviously works for some people, so it might well work for you. Go for it. :)

[job]

Some folks are binge writers, I think. They can get 28 hours of writing packed into two days.
Renting a hotel room makes sense to them.

Some folks are 'I can do five hours a day and then I dry up' writers.
They're the ones who go to coffee shops from 7 am till 1 pm, four or five times a week.

Some folks manage to work at home.
I dunnoh. Maybe they lock themselves in the attic and put up razor wire.

[Ardellis]

Some folks manage to work at home.
I dunnoh. Maybe they lock themselves in the attic and put up raxor wire.

I wish! I have to settle for getting up at 4:30am when no one will disturb me.

Seriously, Audrey: if a change of venue and a spot of quiet is what you need, go for it.

You might look for a hotel with a mini fridge, though, so you can bring some of your own food and keep the calls to room service to a minimum. Not only might it help a bit with the expense, it'll reduce the amount of contact you have to have with the outside world.

[glendalough]

I can't speak for you, but I can speak for myself...I'd end up reading, watching tv, sleeping....lol

Is there any way you can change your schedule to accomodate writing? Get up earlier (not for the internet!) or stay up later (not for tv!) or uh...use the phone less? Perhaps you could find a thing for the kids to do (playstation for 2 hours as long as you are quiet and I can write...) or somewhere for them to go (a friends, a class) while you write?

[LaceWing]

Ha! It could work if you let your mc chose the place. You know, like a special date.

[maddythemad]

I go and sit in Starbucks, with my ipod on. That way I don't feel so lonely. I'm also working on a laptop that doesn't have Wifi, so I'm not tempted to keep checking emails and Amazon stats.

I love this too. Except I don't have an ipod, so I'm just listening to the people around me... sometimes I write down their conversations. :D

[Pagey's_Girl]

That would pretty much guarantee my muse would go AWOL...

[DamaNegra]

Last week, I went with my father on a business trip and stayed at a hotel where you had to pay for the WiFi. Obviously, we didn't pay for the WiFi, and during the 4 hours I spent locked up in the hotel room while my father gave a conference, I wrote 5000 words.

So neener neener :e2tongue: to all those who think it can't be done!!

Go for it! You'll see how great it is! The new environment will also stimulate your creativity. Trust me.

[Julie Worth]

Well, I can't speak for you, but as for me, whenever I set aside a time completely dedicated to writing, that's the one time that my muse is absent and I am completely uninspired and unable to write, or if I do, it's crap.


That's the truth! If I go for a walk, I get ideas. If I take a notepad with me, I don't.

[Julie Worth]

Last week, I went with my father on a business trip and stayed at a hotel where you had to pay for the WiFi. Obviously, we didn't pay for the WiFi, and during the 4 hours I spent locked up in the hotel room while my father gave a conference, I wrote 5000 words.

Cheaper just to stay home and unplug your Internet connection.

[Mud Dauber]

So, I'm considering getting a hotel room for some upcoming weekend, just me and room service and a hefty bill (to increase the guilt factor). No kids, no distractions. I'll spend the whole weekend doing nothing but finishing these books, pounding away, uninterrupted (or at least coming a step closer to finishing).


Audrey, this has been a longtime DREAM of mine!:tongue I think any mom can relate to your idea, especially now that school's out for summer and the kids are home, 24/7.:e2poke:

Let us know if you end up doing it... and let us know if it works.

[Jamesaritchie]

I've rented both hotel and motel rooms. Once rented a motel room for a month during the off season, and got it dirt cheap.

But an apartment worked better. Until I had room for a home office, I rented a cheap apartment just for writing.

I think the value of a private place and quiet time can't be overrated.

[Adam Israel]

What may be a cheaper option, if there's one available in your area, is a writers retreat. I know that there is one at the University of Kansas coming up in a month, where writers can simply rent a dorm room and write. I don't know how common that is but it may be worth looking into.

[Gillhoughly]

I've a friend with the same problem. Spouse and three kids were convinced they would die if she wasn't available 24/7 to see to their every need. (Honey? I can't find my sock drawer! Mom--he's looking at me funny again, make him stop!)

She made a writing area for herself and she made rules. In her chaotic, dysfunctional family, she MADE RULES. She enforced them.

Number one was "When the door is shut I am not mom--LEAVE ME ALONE. NO EXCEPTIONS."

Unless it was actual arterial blood pumping from a wound and gunfire was involved they were to look after themselves for the duration. It taught them responsibility and she was able to write.

I had to train my spouse on this point when I was married. After spouse walked in a couple times without knocking and got a verbal decapitation the message finally penetrated. When spouse was doing something requiring concentration I kept out of the way in turn.

A cheaper alternative for you is to go to the library and write there for a few hours a day. You'll get plenty of work done.

I understand Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in a library typing cubical. I typed in one myself when growing up in order to get away from my family. I'd haul my old portable in and tap my way through another thousand words of drek on my way to publication.

It was soooooo quiet! http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Writer2011]

I myself have never done that, but contemplated the idea :)

[ChaosTitan]

What happens when the weekend is over? Are you going to go back next weekend? And the next? And the next? Never spend the weekend with your family, because you can't manage to carve writing time out of your regular days?

Going away for a few days is something I dream about, but that's only because I don't have money for travel.

Something that is said over and over on this forum is that writers write. We find the time, even if it's one hour at 2am, right before bed. Or getting up at 5am, before everyone else, and getting in ninety minutes. As Gillhoughly suggested, make some rules for your family. Let them know, in no uncertain terms, when your writing time is and that you are not available unless someone is on fire.

Working writing time into your everday life creates better habits and makes you responsible for how you spend your time. If I don't squeeze my writing in every day, it is no one's fault but my own. No weekend at a motel beats out self-discipline.

[Death Wizard]

A weekend wouldn't be long enough for me to accomplish much. I'd need an entire week, at least.

[FennelGiraffe]

Find some friends who are going away for the weekend and ask how they would feel about you staying at their house. That would give you an opportunity to see whether a weekend alone would be productive for you, without the expense of a hotel.

Not your next-door neighbors, of course, :D. That would be too close to home.

[erinbee]

I did this when I was finishing a long-overdue book proposal. It was a nice indulgence...I sprung for a gorgeous room, room service, and high thread count. :) True, it doesn't necessarily instill writing skills for long-term use, but sometimes it can clear the brain to finally silence the nagging of unfinished projects.

[DamaNegra]

Cheaper just to stay home and unplug your Internet connection.

:Shrug: The company paid for the room. Dad was going to go there anyway, so I just went with him and wrote.

As I said, sometimes all you need is a change of scenery, especially if you're too used to procrasinate in your home/office/whatever. I've turned of the Internet at home, but by the time I get home I'm so tired I can't even think of writing. A vacation was just what I needed.

I need another vacation....

[gem1122]

I think any mom can relate to your idea

I think any stay at-home parent (like me, a dad) can relate to this idea. BTW, I have three kids, if you count my wife.

That being said, I've been thinking about this lately, too. It is soooo hard to find time to write at home. I'm trying (again) the early morning thing. Yet, here I am, pushing midnight....I've never been a morning person, but I'm giving it a shot.

Neither kid is in school yet, so there isn't much opportunity to say, "Go play for a while..." during the day. I'm lucky if I get 30 seconds alone to check email before someone yells, "DAD!!!!"

Anyway, I've been thinking about renting office space or a hotel room for a writing binge, but I think I'll try the libraries around here first. However, I live in a rural community, so they're all very small and kid-oriented, so I don't know if they'd have a cubical or a quiet study space available.

I wonder if you could request to have the TV removed from a hotel room? And I wonder how much I'd have to schmooze up to my wife before she agreed to something like that?:D

[justpat]

Get the room for just one night to start and give it a try. See if it works for you first before you pay for an entire weekend. Step two is convincing your husband that you are there alone.:)

[Mud Dauber]

I think any stay at-home parent (like me, a dad) can relate to this idea.


Absolutely!

(Sorry, gem, didn't mean to exclude the SAHD's.:o ) I couldn't even get into a writing groove until my youngest was in kindergarten and my oldest was in 2nd grade. I give anyone who can pull it off while the kids are at home a ton of credit. And I am all about the "Mom needs some time to herself so she can be a better parent" philosophy, but I've yet to see my kids agree with me! LOL

Back to the hotel idea... As others have said, it's the actual change of scenery that's miiiiighty appealing. Some place different to provide a new headspace, where I'm not looking at the same things in my house, or more importantly hearing the same, "Mo-om, he's bugging me!" complaint over and over and over. I don't need anything fancy--you can stick me in a Motel 6--just give me some plain old solitude and I'd be a happy girl.:e2BIC:

[JoNightshade]

Suggestion: Rather than spending money on a hotel room, ask some (preferably childless) friends who have an extra bedroom if you can shut yourself away there for the weekend. Just tell them to ignore you. I'm sure many people would be happy to let you do this. Just make it clear that you're not there to "visit." :)

[gem1122]

(Sorry, gem, didn't mean to exclude the SAHD's.:o ) I couldn't even get into a writing groove until my youngest was in kindergarten and my oldest was in 2nd grade. I give anyone who can pull it off while the kids are at home a ton of credit. And I am all about the "Mom needs some time to herself so she can be a better parent" philosophy, but I've yet to see my kids agree with me! LOL

Back to the hotel idea... As others have said, it's the actual change of scenery that's miiiiighty appealing. Some place different to provide a new headspace, where I'm not looking at the same things in my house

That's okay, Mud. It wasn't just you excluding us SAHDs....and it's understandable. We are a small but proud group who tend to be wayyyy too sensitive. :)

You make a good point about leaving the house; even when I do have some time at home alone, the laundry, dishes, and yard work stare me down and end up becoming a bigger priority than my writing. I think I just need to leave, to avoid all those domestic distractions.

Thinking more about this, I believe the type of writer we are is based so much on our environment. I'd love to write every day for an hour or two, but it's so difficult. However awkward it may seem, the 'binge writing' idea may be the best thing for me.

[AllyWoof]

whenever I set aside a time completely dedicated to writing, that's the one time that my muse is absent and I am completely uninspired and unable to write, or if I do, it's crap. Remember Murphy's law!

Every book I've read on writing says you should always have a set time and place for writing. No exceptions. No excuses.

[CaroGirl]

I don't think anyone else mentioned this idea. Why don't you ask your husband to take the kids on a vacation somewhere? It's still only one hotel room (all staying together) and you get to have your usual space at home. They get to visit a museum and hang out at the hotel pool.

[Aesposito]

Everyone,

I can't get over how helpful you all were... I came back to two pages of replies! Some funny, all chock-full of tips!

To address some of your questions: I have a developmentally disabled child, so unfortunuately just "telling" the kids to leave me alone doesn't really work. Shooing her away so I can check email during the day is nearly impossible, so I do much of my correspondence after bedtime, when I'm exhausted (I'm writing this as she is at the dentist, LOL).

And I would definitely have to get a room w/o internet, or I'd be too tempted to surf instead of write.

Thanks for the minifridge idea too... I could see myself wasting several hours looking for a good restaurant, LOL....

As for what I'd get done over two days, or that fickle muse, I type 90 wpm, so as long as I have the ideas, I'm good to go!

thank you again everyone! I think I'm going to do it... mid-July maybe when DH is less busy. I'll keep you posted!

Audrey

[scarletpeaches]

Every book I've read on writing says you should always have a set time and place for writing. No exceptions. No excuses.

I agree. If you want the muse to appear, you have to be ready to welcome her.

[DamaNegra]

Every book I've read on writing says you should always have a set time and place for writing. No exceptions. No excuses.

I've tried this. However, my schedule is very erratic, since it depends on too many factors. The only stable thing is my job (8am-12pm on Mon, Wed and Fri) and my Capoeira lessons (1 pm, same days as job). However, since we don't live in the city, mom usually wants to get everything done in just one trip, which means I have to go with her to doctor appointments, payment of bills and stuff, so the time I get home varies every day. I also have to keep my schedule open for Capoeira exhibitions (yesterday we had one, tomorrow there's another), so that's more time lost. And since we're packing for the move, most of the time I spend in the house I spend it packing.

The earliest I get home is 4pm, but I've been getting home at 9pm. I'm always exhausted from my tight schedules, so I'm drained by the time I get home. Getting up earlier to write is also forbidden because I already have to et up at 5 am to make it to my job and with the insomnia I've had recently, that's about 4 hours of sleep every night. I'm not cutting away any more sleeping time.

So what I do is, whenever I'm not totally exhausted or have a Tuesday or Thursday without an event (which means I get to stay home all day), I write as much as I can, often resulting in about 5000-6000 words in one single day.

I can't set aside a set hour for writing, but I make my writing time be really worth it. If I could pay for a hotel, I'd try to do it at least once every two weeks. It's great to have a different environment and having all the time in the world to do nothing but rest and write. Ahhh...

[Jamesaritchie]

Get the room for just one night to start and give it a try. See if it works for you first before you pay for an entire weekend. Step two is convincing your husband that you are there alone.:)

I don't think this is a very good idea. I can almost never write anywhere the first night I'm there. It sometimes take a while to settle in, get used to the new surroundings, and actually get it to work.

[justpat]

I can almost never write anywhere the first night I'm there. It sometimes take a while to settle in, get used to the new surroundings, and actually get it to work.

Good point, but it might be different for her.

Personally, I can never sleep my first night in a hotel room (even when I'm alone).

[NeuroFizz]

I have a few unfinished books floating around on my hard drive.
Hey, Audrey. I would get on board with everyone else and suggest this might be a good idea, but the first statement in your original post (above) bothers me. If you would have said you have an unfinished novel, and then went on to ask about getting a room, I'd encourage you full on. But with a "few unfinished books floating around" I think privacy is not your major problem. Finishing a novel length story is. If you did go to that room, which one would you pick to finish? Would you work on this one and that one, or concentrate on a single piece? See the problem? Sorry to be blunt, but I think you need to work on the discipine of finishing a single novel, know you can do it, before you start blaming everyone under your roof and running up the credit card bill. You first have to get over the distractions coming from the person in the mirror.

[DamaNegra]

You first have to get over the distractions coming from the person in the mirror.

The phantom of the opera?

[Aesposito]

with a "few unfinished books floating around" I think privacy is not your major problem. Finishing a novel length story is. If you did go to that room, which one would you pick to finish? Would you work on this one and that one, or concentrate on a single piece? See the problem? Sorry to be blunt, but I think you need to work on the discipine of finishing a single novel, know you can do it, before you start blaming everyone under your roof and running up the credit card bill. You first have to get over the distractions coming from the person in the mirror.

Sorry for the misunderstanding... when I say unfinished, I mean done but unedited (in one case) and all-but-done (in another case). There is a third that's three pages in, but I think I'd leave that one for now <g>.

The discipline of finishing a book is not my problem.... the discipline of my family is, LOL....

I've thought about it, and I think I'd spend the weekend working on a reread/rewrite/edit on the "done" one first.

Audrey

[Ziljon]

I like your idea, but don't forget the other great getaway that's quiet and free: your local library, (where I am right now btw [not yours per se, but you know.])

Have a nice weekend.

[Siddow]

I have the same problem with editing. I can write a novel with all the noise of my 4-child house, but finding long blocks of uninterrupted time for editing those novels? No way. Not gonna happen. So I'm merrily plugging away on writing new material, and once they're all in school (um, 2009?), I'll pick one to revise/edit/submit.

I'm salivating right now thinking about a quiet house from 7am-2:30pm, M-F, nine months out of the year.

[NeuroFizz]

when I say unfinished, I mean done but unedited (in one case) and all-but-done (in another case).
Congrats on the great productivity. Good luck with the editing. Make them shine.

[DebMcTexas]

Since we are a homeschool family, my prime writing time is the summer and holidays. And since solitude and quiet are important to my writing, a hotel sounds great. I've traveled a time or two with dh in order to enjoy a hotel room for a day or two. It is great, but, as someone else said, my muse often disappears when I'm under a time crunch. I much prefer for everyone else to disappear from the house for a day or two. That way I have my writing tools, books, and research close to hand.

My youngest is about to turn seventeen so I don't have to entertain, feed or supervise him as much as with little ones. A few years ago I put a sign on the office door....

Mom's Writing.
Do NOT Disturb
unless you are
Bleeding, Barfing, or Burning.

It always gets a laugh from my boys and reminds them to wait until after three o'clock or so.

I reminded my son today of the old sign as a cheerful warning not to interrupt me. He immediately went to get a knife and *pretended* to prick his finger so he could talk to me. LOL! Smart-alec kid.

The key to any of this is to find a way to work within your life. Whatever works for you!

[wordmonkey]

DO IT!

DO IT NOW!

Make the booking!

Quickly! Before I run out of exclamation points (marks - for our English viewers).

Last year I went to a convention. Just did an over-night. Headed back to the room after eating dinner and decided that I owed it to myself to just relax. Couldn't do it. Tried to sleep, tried to watch TV, had to write.

Wrote until about 2am.

Woke up the next moring at 7am and felt great. Went for a walk, ate and got back at about 8am. Wrote for another three hours then packed my bags, checked out, hit the convention for a few more hours, then drove home.

It was amazing just how much I got done in that time. The silence. The calm. The shower where no-one pulled the flush as I rinsed shampoo out, or had taken all the hot water before I got there. The toilet where no-one wanted to use the facility when I was mid... well, you get the idea.

DO IT!

Your muse will show up. There's room service. Show me a muse that doesn't like delivered food and free HBO.

[Parkinsonsd]

I don't know. I keep thinking about doing this, but I find there's more to writing than just getting away from the family.

That is the first part of course, relatively uninterrupted peace and quiet. But then I need a coffee machine. Not so much to drink coffee, although I do, but rather to make coffee. It's my mindless activity I do when I'm thinking.

And then, sometimes I walk outside just to get some fresh air.

Or open a window. Or turn around and face a different direction.

And then you have to turn off the damn phone. Throw it out the window.

I don't know if you can do all this in a hotel room. I don't know if I could.

Maybe I could. I should check the flights to Vegas and see.

[Legionsynch]

I'd get so little work done in Vegas, it's not even funny. It's a great excuse though. "I'm going to Vegas to get some writing done." Met with a lot of winks, nods, and "Uh huh, suuuure."

I really like the idea of squirreling away in a hotel room somewhere to get through a final push on some project. I wanted to do that the last time the roommate and I went on a road trip. Just hole up in a hotel somewhere for a night or two in the middle of nowhere.

[Aesposito]

Your muse will show up. There's room service. Show me a muse that doesn't like delivered food and free HBO.

LOL! I'll do it then, although I'll avoid the HBO..... the muse likes Sopranos re-runs too much....

Audrey

[justpat]

Free HBO? That could definitely ruin her plans for the weekend. Ask for a room without a TV.