In mid-May I’m going to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory, to live for three months in a tent, to try to actually finish writing a book.
Here’s the thing. During this six months of Thailand, I spend about seven weeks on an isolated island trying to write. I had some success – first in 10 days I wrote the rough beginnings of a novel, 21,000 words – and then later, in a 17-day stint, I pumped out the first draft of a second novel, 34,000 words. Since then though I haven’t gotten back to the writing to really finish any of it.
So here’s what I’m thinking. I need to do this. I need to get this done. It’s now or never; if I don’t write a book now, if I just go get another job and go back to normal, mundane, boring life, it’ll never happen. It’s come down to this. I have the time; I have the funds to live for another few months; so let’s get it done.
And if the final draft turns out to be shit and nobody reads it, that’s fine, I’ll at least have gotten it done.
Why Dawson you say? It’s isolated, it’s cheap and it’s a beautiful place to draw inspiration from. The town only has about 2,000 people, sits on the east side of the river, and is 540 km from Whitehorse. It’s way up there, two degrees shy of the Arctic Circle, and from when I arrive until the end of July, it’ll be light all night.
The campground/hostel I’ll be staying at is on the west side, and because of the ferry, takes about 45 minutes to get into town. Fairly isolated. It’s a cheap place to stay ($252/month), and though I’ll be camping, has all the facilities I need (kitchens, bathrooms, common rooms, lockers, etc.). There’s no internet, phone or even electricity, so a lot of distractions I face elsewhere will be eliminated.
Two or three times a week I’ll go into town to use internet at the library and charge my laptop, but otherwise I’ll have blissful isolation and no excuses to bar me from writing.
Anyhow, that’s my plan. Does this all sound like a crazy idea or should I really go through with it?
