Just got back from a well earned break on the Isle of Skye. It was wet, it was windy, it was cold ... and I loved every minute of it! We walked rather than climbed, which was a shame but we did get out quite a bit. The children chilled out away from the internet - although not exactly away from computer games or the other distractions of modern life. As a bonus the dogs got a break from fireworks for a whole week.
I got a little bit of writing in too - not vast amounts but I worked through some difficult bits which may or may not get into a final story but helped resolve some character issues. I am finding that it sometimes helps to develop characters by bashing out a thousand words or so of dialogue between them so that I can understand how relationships are developing and perhaps how they feel about the pivotal moments in their lives that may not be known to the other characters. It can be mundane stuff or it can be intense but it may well be that it does not advance the story enough to get more than an oblique mention. Alternatively it may be so illuminating that it opens out a new passage within a chapter.
My only problem was that looking out at Skye's rugged treeless landscape was not helping scenes set in a Welsh woodland and after a while I found it easier to work on a side project, before coming back to my current project. It makes me wonder how I manage when I'm sitting on the number 39 bus!
