How to Write as you Travel

Hope’s Hacks
(some ways to break up that writer’s block)

This month’s cure: Travel Writing  
What the cure is: Finding time to be productive as you travel   
Why the cure will help: Summer usually involves some sort of travel. Whether you go to the Outer Banks with your 20-30 extended family members each year or decide to take a trip up to a major city in your State for a food festival or fair, you will probably leave the house at least once. Check out the following ways to make the most of your time away from your work desk:

People watch: Need dialogue help? Easy. Just watch people at fairs, airports, and outside tourist stops. You’ll get plenty of material. Trust me.
Bookstores: Airports and various rest stops have them. So whether you plan to plane or road trip this summer, make sure to stop by these and pick up a read. Or, just support an author friend who released a book recently. If someone else drives, you can download their book on your kindle or read a paperback copy. Reading helps writing always.
Notebooks: Bring a notebook (or your notepad in your phone) along with you. Don’t have much time to write full chapters? Fine. Just outline for the time being. But something tells me you need something to do during that seven-hour layover.
Experiences: I wrote an entire book after I studied abroad in England for a month. New experiences can spark an idea your brain has longed for months or years. Even if you don’t have much time to write, let the experiences guide you. You might burst with plots and characters by the time you get back home.
Network: Why not? Might as well make some use of that time on the four-hour flight, while sitting next to a stranger. Talk to people; exchange business cards. For all you know, you might’ve just bumped into a potential reviewer, reader, or influencer. Plus, it’s good practice for future conferences.

Hope Bolinger is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a recent graduate of Taylor University’s professional writing program. More than 300 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer’s Digest to Keys for Kids. She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams. Her column “Hope’s Hacks,” tips and tricks to avoid writer’s block, reaches 2,700+ readers weekly and is featured monthly on Cyle Young’s blog, which receives 63,000+ monthly hits. She is excited that her modern-day Daniel “Blaze” just released with IlluminateYA (an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). She enjoys all things theater, cats, and fire. You can find more about her at www.hopebolinger.com