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Summertime. . .and the writin' is easy
I suppose it’s a nice thought. Even if it’s a little unrealistic. So, why is that?
If you have school-aged children, the obvious answer is that they are home and need more of YOUR attention. Children that are still young enough to need entertaining, supervision and direction eat up your days – which are longer, too. So, by the time they are finally in bed, you’re looking at the clock and wondering where (your writing) time went.
If your children are old enough to be involved in activities during the summer, you might spend a lot of time being the taxi driver. If you wait at the pool during swimming lessons, or at courtside during tennis lessons, do you slip a little writing in while waiting? Or do you spend the time relaxing?
What about the teens? Is your house the neighborhood hang-out? Do you have the pool everyone gravitates to? Or the backyard all the water fights happen in? Or, are your teens at work all day – leaving you with more time on your hands than when they are in school?
I have college students. What does that mean for my writing in the summer? During the school year, they live in the dorms, so I have plenty of time to write. During the summer, when they aren’t working, or being camp counselors, or taking trips, they are at home. That means meals together that I usually don’t have to think about. It means sharing vehicles, and planning shopping trips around schedules I don’t have to worry about the rest of the year.
Of course, much of the above changes dramatically if you have an outside day job. As one who does, my summers get very hectic because the evenings I normally have to write end up being the only times I interact with the family. When it’s just my husband and I, writing most evenings is just fine. But, with the kids home for the summer, my evenings become unpredictable.
Then there is the weather. I love the warm weather and sitting inside at my computer is not my idea of a perfect summer evening. I’d much rather be out walking, playing tennis, or doing something else. I spend enough time indoors all day – when I get home it’s the last place I want to be.
So, what about you? How does your routine change when the kids are out of school and the warm weather outdoors beckon?
Denise
Heaven begins with an HEA
http://freewebs.com/denisepatrick
That’s what bugs me about summer – there is no routine – everything changes. During the school year, it’s just school. Drop off, go to work, pick up, go home (I work part time). Come summer, there’s a mad scramble to find fun/educational/not horribly expensive camps and programs to stash the kid in while I’m at work. You should see the Samantha Summer 2008 Tour sheet – one week here, one week there, two weeks somewhere else, grandmas fighting to schedule the week they want…
Or maybe I just like to complain. That’s probably what it is.
I’m with you, Denise. I don’t like sitting in front of the computer during the summer. Our ‘computer room’ is hot and miserable…not to mention my children all seem to ‘need’ activity they can’t get at home.
This is probably the worst season for me when it comes to writing. But sometimes you just have to make yourself do it.
I like the summer. My kids actually get to play outside. Ok, summer is only about three weeks here in the Pacific Northwest, but hey, ya take what you can get.
Since I work away from home and right next to a library with a study room, I can still get my two hours of writing in there before I get home.
So, I still have a schedule. Unless, of course, the kids call and want me to take them to the beach. Then, I pass up the library and head to the beach with my laptop.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
See, I’m a teacher, so summer vacation is GLORIOUS! I get up in the AM, do my email, clean up a bit while the dh gets ready for work, then take my laptop into the back yard and go crazy!
Love summer.
I do have a teenager, but he’s working this summer with my brother, so….freedom!
Holly, it sounds like your summer is very busy with the kids going here and here. That’s the way mine usually is, with my daughter scheduled nearly every week somewhere different.
Oh, Meg, you are sooooo right about making yourself do it. That’s what I just have to remember. It needs to get done, so you just have to find the time – and maybe reward yourself with some outdoor activity later.
Tina, I have to admit I’m not at all jealous of heading to the beach with a laptop. Maybe the park, but never the beach. That said, I need to take my laptop out more often.
Well, MJ, at least there is someone who enjoys some freedom during the summer months. Of course, during the rest of the year you have to hear the rest of us complain when you have little time. Enjoy your summer and writing to your heart’s content!
I like summer because I get to spend more time with the kids. I have trouble in summer with writing because I get to spend more time with the kids. If I were smarter, I’d try and work around summer so I didn’t have projects to work on. snort that never happens.
I just need to sit down and “get ‘er done.” Somehow I will.
Don’t we all, Mechele. Like you, I just need to “get ‘er done,” but somehow life tends to get in the way more in summer than other times – and I don’t have small children!