Summer Writing
Eek! It's Monday!
Holiday weekends always throw me off.
So today is Memorial Day, which means school is out in less than two weeks. This will be my third work-at-home summer, and is shaping up to be the most challenging.
First, I have been doing a lot more nonfiction and editing/proofreading work than I was last year, which means I'll need to have a much less laissez-faire attitude about keeping up with e-mail, and scheduling my paid work as a high priority.
Next, my kids have busier schedules, mostly Number Two. She's got strings camp for five weeks, and soccer camp for a week, and soccer training in July and August. Number One is going to Holland for 9 days in July, leaving the day after her birthday, so she "plans" to have her annual slumber party the weekend before that. They have cousins coming up from Florida late in June, just after the annual dance show and one final soccer tournament.
The day after Number One gets back, I leave for San Francisco for the RWA conference.
Somehow, in all of that, I need to keep up with my fiction. Luckily, I don't have any pressure at the moment. No deadlines, and my agent has two books to read through before she has time for anything else I do. But the next three things I have on my plate are revisions of books already written, and that's not good summer activity.
Writing new drafts is easy in the summer. I use my Alphasmart Neo and carry it everywhere, and keeping up a 1,000- or 2,000-word-a-day pace isn't too hard, writing a few paragraphs here and there between activities. But for revisions, it's difficult to keep breaking concentration, and keeping track of what I've done where gets to be difficult.
It will be easier when I get to the two projects that haven't been reviewed by anyone else yet. I will read through them, making notes for things I have to adjust as I get there, and it's usually a pretty linear process. The first book, though, is edits suggested by my agent, and they're big picture, requiring a lot of changes in a lot of different places, with cascading consequences. It will probably require multiple passes.
One thing I might do is work late again. Not sure if that will work out, because lately I've been way too tired much earlier than usual. But if I'm not working during the day, I might have the mental energy to do it at night, especially since my summer wake-up time is 7:30/8:00 instead of 6:20 a.m.
How about you? How does summer affect your writing schedule?
Holiday weekends always throw me off.
So today is Memorial Day, which means school is out in less than two weeks. This will be my third work-at-home summer, and is shaping up to be the most challenging.
First, I have been doing a lot more nonfiction and editing/proofreading work than I was last year, which means I'll need to have a much less laissez-faire attitude about keeping up with e-mail, and scheduling my paid work as a high priority.
Next, my kids have busier schedules, mostly Number Two. She's got strings camp for five weeks, and soccer camp for a week, and soccer training in July and August. Number One is going to Holland for 9 days in July, leaving the day after her birthday, so she "plans" to have her annual slumber party the weekend before that. They have cousins coming up from Florida late in June, just after the annual dance show and one final soccer tournament.
The day after Number One gets back, I leave for San Francisco for the RWA conference.
Somehow, in all of that, I need to keep up with my fiction. Luckily, I don't have any pressure at the moment. No deadlines, and my agent has two books to read through before she has time for anything else I do. But the next three things I have on my plate are revisions of books already written, and that's not good summer activity.
Writing new drafts is easy in the summer. I use my Alphasmart Neo and carry it everywhere, and keeping up a 1,000- or 2,000-word-a-day pace isn't too hard, writing a few paragraphs here and there between activities. But for revisions, it's difficult to keep breaking concentration, and keeping track of what I've done where gets to be difficult.
It will be easier when I get to the two projects that haven't been reviewed by anyone else yet. I will read through them, making notes for things I have to adjust as I get there, and it's usually a pretty linear process. The first book, though, is edits suggested by my agent, and they're big picture, requiring a lot of changes in a lot of different places, with cascading consequences. It will probably require multiple passes.
One thing I might do is work late again. Not sure if that will work out, because lately I've been way too tired much earlier than usual. But if I'm not working during the day, I might have the mental energy to do it at night, especially since my summer wake-up time is 7:30/8:00 instead of 6:20 a.m.
How about you? How does summer affect your writing schedule?
posted by Natalie J. Damschroder at 3:33 PM
3 Comments:
Summers have been much easier since my teenagers started driving a couple of years ago. While they remained involved in various activities, they drove themselves rather than depending on me to drive them. Also, they feed themselves, which makes another big difference. No breakfasts to prepare and no dishes to wash.
So, I guess that means it hasn't made much difference the last few years. If anything, summers became easier than the school years.
Cathy Mc
Summers are BAD for me. I don't really know why. I get thrown off by the fact that my office is like a furnace in the afternoons so when I go to work after 6pm its still super uncomfortable. It's why the DH is putting in an electrical box next to the trailer so I can work there in the peace and quiet and with COOL air conditioning going. I can't wait.
We've wifi so if I need research I can do that, email won't be too much of a distraction since I've gone no mail on almost ALL of my loops.
So I'm hoping for a more productive summer. I've been excited about a rewrite I'm doing, but when the office is uncomfortable (got TWO fans going while I work)it's hard to write.
I look forward to those days, Cathy!
Monica, I can understand the discomfort being a big obstacle. Good luck with your new A/C and the rewrites! :)
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