Waking up in my dark van in the morning, I am often disoriented. It happens a lot to us nomads. When you travel full-time, you can easily forget for a moment exactly where you slept for the night. And, no, alcohol is not involved. It only takes a moment to realize you’re in a campground, a friend’s driveway, a rest area, or even a Walmart parking lot. It’s also easy to lose track of what day it is. After checking outside, I grab my phone to check the date and time. And the weather. Checking the weather is very important when you are a nomad. Then I recall what my plans are for the day. Am I traveling or sitting still for a few days? If I’m in a parking lot or rest area, then I know I’m on the move. Do I need to make time to stop and refill my water tank or dump my waste tanks? Do I need to find a laundromat? Buy groceries?

Either way, I get up and get ready for the day like anyone else. My cat, Moxie, gets her morning treats. If I have enough time, I make coffee and sit and write for an hour or so. If I need to get moving early, I hop into the driver’s seat of my van and get on the road. My destination for the day may be a campground or another parking lot. In between, I might stop to visit an attraction, a scenic overlook, or a museum. I have seen some of the most glorious things in my travels, and I have learned much more than I ever learned in school.

Such is my life as a full-time nomad and writer. The only time my days are the same is when I stay in a campground for a week or two. That’s when I clean the van and do the bulk of my writing. But whether I am on the move or staying still, I write every day. It might be in the morning before I leave a place, or in the late afternoon once I’m settled for the night. I may work on a new novel or short story, or on a travel piece for Winnebago. But I do write every day.

Being a nomadic writer is different, yet the same, as being a writer who lives and works in a stationary location. I still have to write. I still have deadlines. The difference is that my office changes almost daily. Sometimes I work outside under tall pines while looking at a stunning lake. Other times, I work in my van at a pull out desk, which also affords me a view of what is outside my door. Once, in North Dakota, I was working in my van and a bison sauntered by! In a desert location, I might see a coyote trotting along in the distance. The focus on my work doesn’t change, just the geography. Right now I’m watching people launch kayaks into a lake in Texas. Tomorrow, I’ll be working at a lake in Oklahoma. But I’ll still be working on the same novel. I don’t find this change of venue distracting. Some writers need a consistent place to write, but this ever-changing scenery suits me well. It keeps me fresh and on my toes.

Sometimes, though, I fear I am turning feral. Other times, I feel I am becoming carny folk. But I am always a writer.

I Sleep Around, The Humorous Memoir of a Nomadic Writer
Genre: Memoir
Release: June 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

With no camping or RV experience, author Sue Ann Jaffarian decided to chuck her life in Los Angeles for a life on the road in a van. Newly retired from her long-time career as a paralegal, she got rid of most of her belongings, packed up her laptop, and embraced a new adventure of traveling the country and writing full-time, adding travel writing to her career as a popular mystery novelist.

Not always sunshine and unicorns, her experiences gave her more self-reliance, a new appreciation of nature, and a love for the quirky, interesting, and thought-provoking. I Sleep Around chronicles her first two years on the road and the time leading up to taking this bold step. All while her friends and family thought she had lost her mind.

About the author
Sue Ann Jaffarian is the author of the popular Odelia Grey mysteries and the Ghost of Granny Apples mysteries, as well as other novels and short stories. Her latest work is I Sleep Around, a memoir of how she came to chuck her long-time career as a paralegal to become a full-time nomadic writer, traveling the US and Canada while living in a camper van. She is also a free lance travel contributor for Winnebago and sought after as a motivational speaker.