The Writer's Busman's Holiday : Natascha Biebow

In his recent blog post about how many illustrators like to sketch when they're out and about and on holiday, Garry Parsons asked: "Now I’m left wondering if authors do this too? Do they sit on the beach on holiday in Minehead conjuring poetry, psalms or haiku just for pleasure? I’m curious!"



Intrinsic to our craft is the fact that authors, like illustrators, never really take time off - our minds are constantly finding ideas and fine-tuning characters, plots and story arcs. On holiday, we sit on airplanes, trains, diners, cafés and at the in-law's dinner table listening to dialogue, experiencing situations and new scenery that will very likely, one day re-emerge in our books.

A few of the bloggers in the Den have commented that they carry around a notebook and jot down ideas and snippets that will perhaps later become books. Others, said they have a go at drawing too. I do both those things, but find that the notebook musings come second to a whole bunch of other activities (see below).

Being freelance comes with all kinds of challenges to do with when you are actually on a designated holiday and when you're supposed to be working. But I do try to take time off. Because it's important to just 'be' and let new vistas come and refresh the page. I love being close to nature and walking.

I took this snap on a holiday in RSA to celebrate my mum and my birthdays

I am not yet lucky enough to count myself as a full-time writer, and so I find myself actively having to carve out time to write. Having recently embarked on picture book non-fiction– and then actually having sold something in this genre – I discovered that I can suddenly spend my holiday time researching all kinds of seemingly useless information in the name of being a writer.  This is actually really quite fun.

So, this summer, whilst on holiday in Pennsylvania, I:

The mini-golf course was filled with unexpected hurdles . . .

- played mini-golf with my family in a place called Bird-in-Hand (boy, this shows up personalities that make for good characters!)

- went to the library and checked out a dog-eared young fiction biography of Elizabeth Blackwell,  first woman doctor so I could see if it had any nuggets in it (and because she's a lady Judy Moody admires and I knew nothing about)

- read the fascinating story of William Kamkwamba, who changed his people's world by inventing and building a simple windmill with scraps, despite the famine and because of the village library (and that his story is now a bestselling sensation because of a blogger)



- studied a whole bunch of non-fiction picture books and studied how other people who get paid to do this stuff do it well

 

- watched a few episodes of Frasier on TV (to research humour of course)

Staring contest from 'Frasier' -Eddie wins

- spent several hours in the hammock reading Judy Moody, Hank Zipzer and several other American young fiction series (again, for research of course)

- visited the Crayola factory to see how they make crayons in real life (I know, how cool is that!)

- spent copious hours the floor of the children's section of Barnes & Noble and any other bookshop my family would let me near . . .

I also:

- hiked in beautiful Valley Forge National Park with the dogs (and worked out plot problems and suchlike)

- bought a vivid set of Crayola pastels and swirled some backgrounds for my new author website

- was lucky enough to be invited by my lovely new agent to a weekend retreat in Vermont to hang out with fellow clients. Sitting by the peaceful riverside, we each shared a work in progress with the eight other retreaters. Though I found this daunting because I'd never met any of them before, it was a very useful experience and the feedback invaluable. We ate, laughed and hiked, plus discovered that Victoria Wells Arms is a master chef.

- oh and sometimes, I wrote. Yes, when I'm on holiday, I can do that. 

What did you do on your summer holiday?

________________________

Natascha Biebow
Author, Editor and Mentor

Blue Elephant Storyshaping is an editing, coaching and mentoring service aimed at empowering writers and illustrators to fine-tune their work pre-submission. Check out my small-group coaching Cook Up a Picture Book courses! Natascha is also the author of The Crayon Man (coming in 2019), Elephants Never Forget and Is This My Nose?, editor of numerous award-winning children’s books, and Co-Regional Advisor (Co-Chair) of SCBWI British Isles.