Find Your Inner Thoreau

All this week, I’m discussing writing vacations and writing-related things you can do on family vacations.

Today: Finding your Inner Thoreau

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In 1845, Henry David Thoreau left it all behind and retreated to the woods on Walden Pond. He had very little contact with others for two years.

Thoreau wasn’t the only writer to seek a place away from the hurried pace of everyday life to think and write.

For most of us, though, leaving it all behind for a couple years isn’t an option. We have families we love and obligations we need to attend to. Many of us would cringe at the thought of being separated from the Internet, television, or Starbucks for weeks. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get away from everything for a long weekend.

Solitude is much closer than we think.

Behold, the State Park

I live in Texas. Many of our state parks and natural areas are packed on weekends. Try climbing Enchanted Rock on a weekend when the weather is nice and you’ll scurry up with a line of people. Go during the week, though–even when the weather’s nice–and the evenings and mornings are all yours.

My wife and I have had quite a few state parks almost all to ourselves–all day long–simply by taking a Monday and Tuesday off from work.

The first time my wife went canoeing (at Caddo Lake State Park), it was just us and the alligators.

You don’t need to make like Thoreau and cut yourself off from everything. Most state parks offer varying degrees of solitude.

If a primitive campsite isn’t your style, many state and national parks offer affordable cabins with many of the amenities you’re accustomed to. You can hike alone with just your thoughts during the day and return to the cabin to write on a laptop all evening.

Family and Friends

It’s likely that somebody close to you has their own little getaway they don’t always use.

Maybe it’s a friend with a hunting lease or an uncle with a vacation home.

Most loved ones are willing to give up their keys for a long weekend when they aren’t using their cabin or small home.

It never hurts to ask.

A Place of Your Own

A more expensive getaway is buying a plot of land a little bit away from it all and building a place of your own.

Maybe you start with a tiny house or a trailer and one day build a larger home on the property if you make it writing full time.

Maybe you’ll build a cabin and leave it as a quiet place for you and family and friends.

Even a writing shed or tree house in the backyard can be a place where you can get away from it all. (There’s an artist a couple towns over who has a tree house studio–that’s just too cool!)

Having your own place waiting at the end of a long week at work is the perfect way to let stresses melt away and focus on what you love: writing.

The Benefit of Solitude

It doesn’t matter if it’s just a long weekend at a state park or having your own getaway–it’s a nice thought that while everybody back home is fighting traffic, you’re hiking scenic trails with only a walking stick and your thoughts for companionship.

Without ringing phones, beeping car horns, and blaring TV noise, you’ll find the words falling into place and return home not only relaxed, but also well on your way to completing that next big project.

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Tomorrow it’s all about a way to recoup some of your vacation costs…by writing about your vacation.