Thursday, May 23, 2013

Summer Vacation for Writing

Today was the last day of school for my kids and I realized that even as an adult (who is not a teacher), I could still feel that excitement for the end of the year and the start of summer too. My excitement is for different reasons though.

Summer is a more productive time for me in terms of my writing. With my husband (who is a teacher) home more, I have more child care. More child care allows for more writing and that is awesome.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome!! *happy dance*

Ahem. I've been waiting all day to do that.

Not only do I hope to make significant progress on the WIP, I want to use this summer to plan my writing time better for the next school year.

I am at a different place than I thought I'd be a year ago, which is both good and bad. Let's start with the bad--the frustrating, the guilt-inducing--because I want to end this on a positive note.

The bad: tomorrow is the deadline I'd set several weeks ago for the rough draft of my WIP. And, I'm not even close.

There. That felt good to rip off that bandaid. Okay.

Other bad stuff? Well, I'd hoped I would have photos to go along with blog-posts by now. And I don't. I'm figuring out the whole Creative Commons thing because I believe in giving credit and I'd rather not get sued. If you haven't read this post by Roni Loren, now's a good time. BTW: she has LOTS of fab advice for writers on her website too. :)

And, I missed a blog post. (But am doing it now.)

Huh. Not so terrible, particularly as my writing goal was set by me and, at this point, for me. I have a renewed appreciation for the difficulty of cranking out a story, a long story, AT ALL, much less when you have a day job. For any beloved author whom I've whined (to myself) wasn't churning out books more often, I totally apologize. Do what you do so freaking well and I'll be there to auto-buy happily.

Good stuff? I'm blogging! WTF?! I am loving writing and tweeting, and I even have a domain name. (Creating a website is on my to-do list, but not necessary at this point.) I bought a writing program, am working through more books on writing, etc, etc. Plenty of good stuff.

Some days I'm more confused and guilt-ridden about how to balance my life with writing than I'd like. And the insecurity about it is totally annoying. I'll spare you. But, I know I can learn from what worked and what didn't in this past year. It's humbling to realize how far I need to go, to see how deliberately I need to stay focused on making time to write in order to make the progress I want to see. But I will.

What are your writing plans for the summer? Any tips for clearing time to write?



2 comments:

  1. Exactly my thoughts as my kids finished up school this week. Only for me this means much LESS writing time, not more. I'm trying to ease up on my goals, actually - focusing perhaps more on reading and revising that 1st draft than working on new stuff, since I know I'll be constantly interrupted!
    And hey, I nominated you for a Liebster Award! Pretty cool! Or not, depending on how you feel about it! ;) http://margaretlocke.com/the-liebster-award/

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  2. Thanks for the nomination! I think? :) Ha-ha. It looks like fun and a great way to get connected to other new, small blogs.

    You are also my Very First Commenter. Woo-hoo! Thank you for commenting (and not being spam).

    And, yes, I think my situation is a little unique in that summertime is a more productive time in terms of writing for me. I agree that modifying goals is important. You have to find what works for you. Good luck on the revision process.

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