Inspirational journeys

It’s really difficult to understand how it can take 30 minutes to write a post today, and how on other days, I don’t have any inclination to write anything at all.

But with my current novel as close to ‘complete’ as it has ever been and my editor’s notes slowly being answered, I finally write this post in anticipation of my next trip to Vietnam in a few short weeks.

You see, writing (fiction or otherwise) and editing in one’s spare time is a challenge at the best of times, if sometimes a welcome one. Cycles of inspiration and the lack thereof, becomes the norm. However, I know that one such cycle will be in a few weeks’ time, when I go back to Vietnam. And I take some comfort in the thought, that there is something quite fitting about working on the final stages of my book in far-away places, just like I planned my novel while being overseas at the start.

I think the statement I’m about to make, is an obvious one. I love travelling. But the preparation, the painstaking preparation – I can take or leave… Someone once said that travelling overseas is as stressful as moving house or… I’ve forgotten the other something… In any case, you’d think it gets easier after all these years, but I still have things that are only sorted out at the very last moment, I mean 11 pm-on-the-night-before-we-go moment… Just two minutes ago I realised that we probably need more insect repellent, the strong kind.

But in reality, as long as your passport, visas, tickets and travel insurance are sorted, the rest will just happen, somehow.

I do love the feeling you have when you jump on to the plane at the beginning… usually accompanied with the prospect of a set amount of time that is your own, to do whatever you like… together with the thought of experiencing amazing cultures, food and living in shorts for three weeks, while moving from one place to the next.

Likewise, the feeling I have when we come back is always exactly the same. At this point, I’m looking forward to going back to work and normality, I am missing vegies and dying to cook a roast, I am tired of insect repellent and moving from one place to the next.

But the memories always stay and hopefully this time, I will have fixed another chapter – for good – ready for a trusted friend’s opinion.