Refilling the Well by Annette Dashofy

Last weekend, I typed those two amazing little words on the last page of Honeywell Mystery #4.

 

The End.

 

I sent the completed second draft off to my beta-readers and took a deep breath. Note: it’s not due to my editor until December 1, which is coming up fast, but at this stage, I’d usually have about six more weeks before that deadline. To have more than two months feels luxurious.

 

For most of the last decade, when I completed one book, I immediately jumped into the next, since there was always another deadline looming. Yes, I do have another book under contract (Honeywell #5), but it’s not due until December 2025. It sounds better than it is when you realize that I have no real clue what that one’s about. I had an idea, but the ending of #4 threw a monkey wrench into my plan.

 

Anyway, I’ve sent off my WIP and find myself with no clue about the next book as well as a few weeks of mostly down time. What to do with myself???

Leaving on a jet plane

 

As I’m writing this, I am relaxing in Aztec, New Mexico. Those of you who know me or who have read No Way Home (Zoe Chambers #5) are aware that one of my dearest friends lives here. I used to come out for a week or so every year. Then the pandemic hit, and some other issues followed. This is my first trip to the Four Corners since 2019.

 

Note: it’s not a long stay because I left Kensi Kitty at home with The Dad, and she is not happy. But she is getting her pills.

 

I’m not doing research while I’m here. I have no immediate plans to set another story in Anne Hillerman territory. That’s not to say it won’t happen, but it’s not on my writing radar. What is on my radar is a lot of relaxing and catching up with my friend, Leta. We’ve pretty much been talking nonstop since I landed.

 

I’m refilling the well. Writing book after book after book eventually depletes the creative reservoirs. I’ve taken a day here, a day there to get away from my computer for a few hours, but it’s been ages since I’ve really kicked back and did nothing.

 

So, I’m doing (mostly) nothing. We’ve eaten out a couple of times at a local restaurant here in Aztec, and we drove up to Durango, Colorado, for lunch at the Strater Hotel, which apparently is haunted. We’ve driven the back roads and taken in the scenery.

The Diamond Belle Saloon at
the "haunted" Strater Hotel, Durango, CO

Exceptional Fish & Chips at
the Diamond Belle Saloon

Rubia's in Aztex, NM

 

And I haven’t written anything except this post.

 

But…

 

I can feel the juices starting to flow. With a clear mind and a rested body, a new plot is starting to gel.

 

The creative well is refilling.

 

Fellow writers, do you take time off between books to do something…anything…other than writing? Readers, what do you like to do when you have a week off from real life?