Recently, Niece 2 requested a trip to visit sea lions. I pointed out that sea lions would be hard to find this time of year, but she insisted it was something she REALLY wanted to do. Not sure why a One Direction/hormone-driven/pom-pom wielding kind of girl would make such a request, which is probably why insanity curiosity made me take a day off from writing. But I really didn’t.
See, the thing with being a writer is that the brain doesn’t shut down. At least, mine doesn’t. Which can be super annoying, particularly to non-writers. 
(Note: I have a habit of verbally analyzing movies. On the upside, Hubby can now identify the “Black Moment” in a film. Not sure how that’s an upside, but . . . *shrugs*)
So as we trekked over mountains to get to where the sea lions are in our part of the world, La Muse busily smoked cigars, downed a couple shots, and watched and listened and absorbed everything – from the changing landscape, to the semi-trucks on the road, to conversations between me and my nieces, and even the playlist they’d chosen for the drive. 
(Given the songs I’d been subjected to, it was about two hours too long. But that’s another post!) And then she spun scenes for me. Fun scenes. Intense scenes. Scenes that helped torture the hero and heroine in my WIP. Nice of her to do it while I’m driving and not while I’m staring at a blank screen, huh? Particularly since there was no pen and paper anywhere in the car so someone could take notes. *Insert overly dramatic sigh*
Which just goes to show that sometimes a writer needs to take a break, to do something that allows La Muse to recharge. Okay, okay! That’s the story I’m telling myself. . .. 🙂
And the sea lions? Here’s the closest we got to see them that day:
LOL!
While words didn’t make it onto the page, La Muse gave me direction, and I spent some quality time with family. A worthwhile trade, in my opinion. (Only next time, I’m choosing the playlist. Be warned, nieces, be warned!)
Whether or not you’re a fellow writer, everyone still needs to recharge. What do you do?
Happy writing,
Melia
