Writing on the Road: Campervan Love and the Joy of Solitude

This is so much more than a collection of campervan adventures in Scotland. It's part meditation on the writing life, part nature writing filled with observations of wildlife in the western Scottish Highlands, and part recovery story from relationship breakdown. If you enjoy reading about how books are actually written, about women travelling alone and all the things that can go wrong (and right), about strategies for facing fear, dealing with creepy crawlies and noises in the night, and about surviving all that life throws at you—especially when you are over a certain age—then you will probably love this book.

As the mother of two and step-mum of four, Sue Reid Sexton needed to escape her hectic household to create space to write her two novels. Her solution? Turn her campervan into a mobile office. Whether camped by a beach overlooking the Atlantic in the Kintyre peninsula with buzzards, golden eagles, deer, seals, and surfers for company, or in the hills around Glasgow, on Skye, Morvern, the Cowal peninsula, or even in southern France, her main aim was always to switch off her phone, get out her laptop, and write. Thanks to her practice of taking notes as she travels, we too can now enjoy her campervan experiences.

Sue writes candidly about the many practical difficulties of campervan life she's had to overcome: locking herself out at night miles from home; coping with local byelaws and negative attitudes to women travelling solo; driving a hundred miles with a window open before she could empty a cracked toilet; and discovering the wrong (and the right) way to buy a campervan. This book will inspire anyone looking for encouragement in the expressive arts to get creative, and persuade any would-be campervanners to get out there and enjoy the freedom of life on the road.