{"id":679,"date":"2012-07-22T23:23:02","date_gmt":"2012-07-22T23:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/index.php\/2012\/07\/22\/blog201215-2\/"},"modified":"2012-07-22T23:23:02","modified_gmt":"2012-07-22T23:23:02","slug":"blog201215-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/blog201215-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Traveling Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo\"I believe I’m living, breathing proof that writing doesn’t have to be done at a desk. Or in a den. Or even in an enclosed room at all. I’m fortunate in that my job allows me to travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually my job requires me to travel. Okay, okay…my job IS travel. And while the jet-setting lifestyle, the white sand beaches, the crystal clear pools, the gourmet food, and the cold drinks are nice, they sometimes get in the way of my real love, writing. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Wait. Strike that. Those things ROCK. <\/span>
 <\/span><\/p>\n

Truth be told, anything that gets in the way of writing is just an excuse. Writing can be done anywhere, anytime, any way a writer can. And in today’s 21st century, tech-filled world, that’s never been more true.<\/span>
 <\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve written some of my best work on an iPhone in a hotel lobby, and some of my worst work on my laptop in a dead-silent dining room. I’ve written some of my best work in Evernote on an iPad, and some of my worst in Scrivener on a Mac. The place and tools don’t matter. But I admit, the location does tend to stir my creative juices a bit.<\/span>
 <\/span><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I was on a cruise ship sailing out of the port of Taormina, Sicily, headed for Greece, and while my wife was getting ready for dinner, I sat on the upper deck with a bottle of Peroni, my laptop, and sunglasses. Three hours later, after Sicily had faded into the background and the open Med stared back at me, I had two complete chapters written. <\/span>
 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, maybe I won’t quit the day job anytime soon…it’s actually helping my writing endeavors…<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Umstead\" <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Umstead<\/strong><\/span> has been the owner of a Caribbean & Mexico travel company for the past ten years, but never forgot his lifelong dream of becoming an author. After a successful stab at National Novel Writing Month, he decided to pursue his dream more vigorously…but hasn’t given up the traveling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve lives in scenic (tongue-in-cheek) New Jersey with his wife, two kids, and several bookshelves full of other authors’ science fiction novels. More information is at SteveUmstead.com<\/a>, and you can always find him on Twitter (@SteveUmstead).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I believe I’m living, breathing proof that writing doesn’t have to be done at a desk. Or in a den. Or even in an enclosed room at all. I’m fortunate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c40-myblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}