A summer schedule
II stepped away from my WIP a couple of weeks ago but I didn’t stop writing. I just wrote other things…and I settled into the non-schedule of summer. (And thanks to everyone who was so generous with their kind words and comments on my New York Times online piece.)
I’m enjoying the break from homework stress around here, but I don’t like not knowing when someone might be coming or going.
My kids are doing what kids do in the summer – laying low, laying back, laying on the sofa.
And it’s contagious.
So I need a summer schedule – something I can stick to that allows some wiling away, weeding and chauffeuring an almost 14-year-old – as well as spending time with her when she has no plans. It’s important to work – to keep up the momentum I’ve got going – but it’s more important to not let the summer slip by and only have looked at the monitor – and not what’s going on around it.
I’m trying a new schedule today – of writing and working out and playing. It includes making lists so nothing – including time off – slips through the grates of the grill.
When everything gets turned upside down – how do you stick to a writing schedule?
I’m dipping back into some mom-blogging, just in case reading me here isn’t enough.
Summer is easier for me. I schedule workout, I schedule some playtime, but really, all I do all day is write. It’s my main focus and first priority. So everything else happens in between writing, and when I meet my daily quota, then I can kick back and relax. (Well, except this summer, where kicking back and relaxing means packing, getting ready for a huge garage sale, and moving.)
This is such a timely topic. I am having a hard time finding the time to write. As a new-ish blogger, I’m dying to write every day. I crave it, and can’t wait to get to it. But we’re trying to get our house ready to sell, alpacas require more work from me in Summer, and the 4 kids are home underfoot. Ahhh!
I just try to wake up before them all and get to the computer first! Some days it works, some days not so much. I love hearing about what professional writers do! Thanks for posting.
With my crazy life, I’ve never really been able to maintain a schedule, so summers aren’t much different.
Congrats on the launch of SuburbanKvetching (and hope I got the blog name right just from memory.)
I can identify, even though my kids are much younger. A schedule is a must have for me. Some of my tricks are getting up super early for work time. The kids also go to daycare two mornings a week. I do have scheduled playtime with them in the afternoons as well. It works very well for me, but I love schedules…even in the summer
I’m having a hard time finding a pattern, especially now that I’m in this weird sort of editing phase before querying. I’m not really doing a whole lot…
Since my schedule doesn’t change in the summer (except my daughter goes to daycare instead of school), I pretty much just do the same. But man…I wish I had the summer off!
Just read your lovely NYT Online piece and zipped over to your mom blog (the sushi line made me laugh–I can relate!) and then back here. For us, summer is just a different kind of chaos, so I’m trying to reach some kind of balance, too. I haven’t gotten into the good groove I need yet, though. By the time I do, it’ll be August, I fear…
BTW, I just saw your name as the winner on Nephele’s blog
. I so hope you’ll like the story!
oooh, the summer schedule is a GREAt idea. i should try it to!
Yeah, I pretty much rot on sticking to a schedule. The time I want most to write is like…right now…when I’m at work. At work and blogging. Not very good, I know. Now if I really thought about it, I’d could tell myself that if I have time to blog at work, then I probably have time to write at work, but I really don’t. I do this because it’s quick and I can get back to work at a moment’s notice. I keep saying I’m going to set up an hour at home in the evenings after all the chaos dies down, to “punch in” and work on my novel or query my other novel or something, and structure it that way. But it hasn’t happened yet. I basically do it here and there lately. I need a personal trainer.
My summer writing schedule has been shot due to an unexpected injury. But I’m able to write a little in the morning before the kiddos get up and in the late afternoon when they’ve burrowed in their cooled corners to escape from the day’s heat. Any writing completed is a small step forward and maybe you’re meant to spend more time with the kids while they are home? Won’t be too long and they’ll be grown and gone. If you find something that works, bravo! I find that any encouragement is good for the soul.
I’m still out of work for a few more weeks (going back to my old job at some point in July), and I’m loving it. I love the ability to sleep in if I want, take long walks, have a swim and breakfast, all before the shower. I love the lack of homework, the idea of taking my daughter to a movie or out for lunch, though with being out of work since Feb, there’s not a lot of money for these things. But enough, they can happen a few times before I start back. I should keep looking for a different job, but I’m not quite there yet. I’m accepting that fact for now.