Jacquelyn Dohoney

Traveling

(It's not just for vacation anymore!)

Sunday, January 23, 2022

It’s no secret that I love traveling. And I know what most of you are thinking: you can’t because you have small children running around, or maybe you think you don’t have the time, or even the money. You think that there are other things that are way more important than traveling. And to a point, you might be right.

I used to think that way. In fact, aside from being born in England, up until the age of 32, I hadn’t traveled anywhere aside from Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tijuana (which I honestly don’t cont because it’s pretty much an extension of San Diego). But then I met my husband and he took me on a cruise to Mexico. A cruise?! Seriously?! Who has time for that?! And who has money for that? I’ll tell you a secret: You do. In this situation, we took a very short five day cruise and we booked it on Vacations To Go, which means we actually spent about a quarter of the price they normally charge. If I remember correctly, it was a mere $250 each for a shared room. After that, I was hooked.

So why is that important? It’s important because as a writer, you have the ability to work from anywhere. I mean that quite literally. I’ve written everywhere from my bed, to a hotel room in Ireland, to the back of a motorcycle during Sturgis bike week, as well as in the middle of the desert in Mexico. Again, why is that important? Well, have you ever heard an agent or a published writer tell you not to stay locked up in your house forcing yourself to write? To go live your life and the words will come to you? Guess what? It’s absolutely true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come up with a great idea for a story on my travels. In fact, that’s how one of the characters for my first novel came to me. We took a trip to Ireland where we rented motorcycles for three weeks and rode them everywhere. It was amazing. And it was there that I formed the character, Fionn Donnelly, in my novel The Death Clock, based on the people I met and how they spoke. 

And the best part is, I’ve done that in some way for each of my novels. One of them I finished writing during Sturgis. One of them I edited up on a beautiful mountain property where the only thing I could hear was the sounds of birds chirping (and my dogs chasing them and failing miserably to catch them). I find that most of my ideas and “a-ha” edits come to me on the back of a motorcycle. That may not work for everyone, especially the motorcycle part, but it works great for me.

What about those of you that have kids? Easy. You take them with you. One of the ways I found that traveling with kids was easier for us, was by getting them involved. We used to bring themed masks with us. One time we used luchador masks. Another time we used bird masks. The kids thought they were getting away with something when they sneakily put their masks on to take a goofy family photo in front of the Mona Lisa. And it was FUN. And while we were having this mask fun, it allowed me to do research for my novels. At the time, I didn’t realize that I was doing research, but I was.

And now I use those tools all the time when I’m writing or researching for writing. The moral of the story is don’t work your ass off to travel. Make the traveling work its ass off for you. 

So pack those bags. Go on that adventure. And tell me all about them when you come home!

Jackie