Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

With the summer almost here, many of us will soon be traveling. Vacations can be wonderful times to relax and refresh. When you work a stressful job, getting away from work and home can help save your sanity.

Back when I worked a “day job” full time, work was the last thing I wanted to think about when I was vacationing.

Now that I am primarily an Indie author, the situation has changed. I really enjoy writing. While I can get stressed about book marketing and sales, the actual act of writing is both fun and relaxing. For this reason, I have no problem combining writing with travel. If I’m in the middle of writing a book, I don’t want to lose momentum by taking a long break.

If you’re an author who needs time away from your writing to avoid burnout, then ignore everything I am about to say. Take that vacation and enjoy it. Don’t even think about writing your book!

But for those authors who are like me, here are a few random thoughts about writing and travel:

1. Writing provides a great activity during those times when you’re stuck on an airplane or a train with nothing to do. It’s also good in the evening if you’re bored in a hotel room.
2. Obviously, having a laptop makes it easy to write while traveling. If you don’t want to carry a full laptop, you can buy bluetooth folding keyboards for your tablet or your phone.
3. Make sure you back up what you’ve written, so it does not accidentally get deleted. I usually email my current draft to myself every couple of days, just to be safe.
4. As you travel to different areas of the country or the world, pay attention to the way people speak and their mannerisms. Those details can help round out your characters in your future books.
5. If you see something that could provide inspiration for a future book, take a picture and make notes about it so you will recall it after you get home. Don’t assume you will remember it.
6. And above all, don’t get so caught up in your writing that you forget to enjoy the rest of the trip!

-Susan 6/5/2026