writing after a break

"May you have fair winds and following seas."

I saw a sign with those words as I was eating my last meal of vacation in Maine. I'm pretty sure there is no good way for a vacation to end (because who wants it TO end at all), but it felt like a good sign to get back to non-vacation life and a writing routine.

So, today, when I opened up NIGHT SOIREE, I was ready. Until I looked at my revision outline and had a moment of sheer panic.

WHAT WAS THIS?!

I couldn't remember what I was working on, where I was in the story, what had been cut or added or re-written. It was a shock to the system, not unlike a swim in the ice cold Atlantic on a Maine beach. I went back and read a few pages, then a few more, and slowly I started acclimating to the NIGHT SOIREE world once more. Even though I'd been away for a little while, it was still all there. Waiting.

When I eventually figured out exactly where I had left off in my edits, I found a note, reminding me what I needed to do in that section as the witches made some difficult choices about the Sixteen Fountains and Lord Umbra.

The takeaway for writing after a break no matter how long? Give yourself some time to acclimate to the story, the world, the characters again. And, leave yourself as many notes as possible in your doc to reference.

I'm excited to hopefully finish up the second draft this month, which is my big JULY GOAL.

How do you handle vacations from writing?!