I have been unable to integrate hosting my sister's visit with continuing to write every day. When she and I are out, we laugh and walk so much that, by the time the day is done, I'm too pooped to think or write. She's only here for a week, so instead of fretting about going back on the oath I took at the beginning of the year to write each and every day of 2008, I ammended the oath to allow family to take precidence when necessary.

And that brings up the issue of writing vacations in general. When I say "writing vacation" I'm not talking about planning out two weeks in a shalet in Colorado where you wake up each morning and the only thing standing between you and a full day of intermittent writing and gazing thoughtfully out the window is the need for another cup of coffee and ADHD--though that sounds like a delicious two weeks. I'm talking about a vacation from writing. A day or more to let the batteries recharge or to allow oneself to look at the work, consciously or subconsciously, from a different angle or at a slower pace. Are writing vacations acceptible or even necessary or are they harmful? If they are acceptible, then when are they so and how long should they be? And how frequently should they be taken? For the sake of the article, I'll assume they are at least acceptible.

So what are the arguments in favor of writing vacations? I've already mentioned the battery recharging aspect and the fact that taking a few steps back allows one to view the current work(s) with a bit more ease or from a different angle. When the greats in the 19th century wrote, they may have written voraciously for the time, but in this modern time of ubiquitous voraciousness, their habits may have been more relaxed than we've been taught to remember them. A cannonball reponds well to being shot out of a cannon; however, most things in the world need careful handling, air and time to develop. Think of bread.

Or consider the men in an army unit. Can they march every day and be expected to fight in their best form? Maybe for a while, and there's a lot to be said for pushing oneself to leanness, but eventually fatigue sets in. The same holds true in writing. At least, speaking for myself, the time I've taken away from writing--four days now--has shown me a couple important things: I have a strong hunger to return to it the moment her feet are on the plane back to Tennessee and when I do return to writing, I have some very clear goals that I don't think would have occurred to me in the midst of the every-day march. Though I didn't set this time aside on purpose, it has both lightened and enlightened me.

So how long and how frequent? My wife and I discuss this topic regularly, but back to writing. If my sister's visit is any good indication, four days seems to be ample to take away from writing if you feel the need. Maybe three days would be better, because when I think about it, the first day was spent in a puddle of guilt. Once I resolved my guilt was unfounded, I could enjoy the next three days as a true vacation.

Keep in mind that time away from writing is not time you never think about writing. You're a writer. You're going to think about writing with the same frequency you always do. That is, you always do, right? What I'm saying is you don't have to get any physical writing done. And if you want to, do it. You're not forbidden to write. A writing vacation is a smallish block of time you let yourself off the hook. If the vacation rolls around and you feel like writing, write, but you can't complain about having written and you must wait until the next writing vacation (which you should already have planned before the current one is over) before you take a day off again.

As far as the frequency, your guess is as good as mine. I'm sure it would differ from writer to writer. I have considered taking every Wednesday off, for instance, or every other Tuesday. Maybe I could take off four days every seasons. The combinations are endless, but I think it should be something that you look forward to. Knowing there's a day out there that you can just drift with ideas instead of build another row in the wall is, for me, a good thing. In the 70s, there was the band Loverboy who preached that everybody is working for the weekend. I think that's sound advice. Writing is a beautiful gift and I love writing every day, but there's work involved and that's the part I personally need a break from once in a while.

I'd love to know how others approach this idea.