On the Road

Taking a break from work but not from creativity

It's official now. Vacation season has finally started. Many of us will be hitting the road with our families to enjoy a time of "rest" and recreation. At the risk of encouraging workaholic behavior, I thought I'd present a few ways that you can keep your creative muscles limber while still enjoying your vacation:

Who Lives There?

This is a nice game to play to encourage imagination for both children and adults to take the place of "Are we there yet?" One person acts as the director of the game. They choose a house and someone in the car and say, "Blue house on the right. Johnny, who lives there?" Johnny, then, has to tell a story about the people who might live in that house. Variations include: "Who's in that car?" Or in an airport "Where are they going?"

Travel Article Ideas

Destination Pieces. Keep a notebook of interesting, but little-known travel destinations. The major ones have been done to death, but, perhaps, you have found the perfect uncrowned getaway. Take a few pictures, pick up brochures, and get a contact number. When you get home, call back for an interview with the owner. Remember, this is a vacation, don't take time away from your family to cover the story.

Survival on the road pieces. Maybe, while traveling, you found the perfect way to keep the kids amused or to eat healthily while on the road. Jot down the idea in your idea book, and then work on it later at home.

Picture prompts

You are going to be taking a bunch of pictures anyway. Why not take pictures of interesting locations that you might use in your stories? Take provocative pictures like the 50-foot tall chef in front of a restaurant or the old man and his grandson sitting on a park bench in the theme park eating ice cream. When you get home and need something to get you writing, you can pull out one of the pictures and begin writing about it.

Devotional ideas

I've gotten so many ideas for devotions while traveling. The road itself is a metaphor for life and things like accidents, detours, signs, country roads, and highways all teach us something about living if we keep our eyes open for the lessons.

I remember driving by a big old second-hand shop. It stretched almost a block. At one end was a sign that read: "We buy Junk" At the other end was another sign reading: "We sell Antiques." I got a lot of mileage out of that one over the years.

Another time, I saw this huge man walking with his three or four-year-old son. The kid was pulling this mountain of a man around everywhere. The guy looked so tired, but at the same time the kid looked so happy, and you could tell that also made the father happy. I thought about God and us. We think we are pulling God around, but, really, he just lets us have our way up to a point. I knew if the kid started to run into the street, the mountain would pull back.

Newspapers

I always pick up a newspaper in every town I go through. It's amazing the writing ideas you can find on the feature pages or the business section. I imagine they might even be found in the sports page, but that's not my thing.

Maybe a local business won a national award or the local high school has an unusual program for teaching art to inner-city kids. Maybe a church celebrates its 100th anniversary as the first church of that denomination in the state.

So, these are some ways to take your vacation without taking a vacation from creativity.