Summer Stretch! When more time is not the solution to your writing problem

Welcome to the summer stretch. Today my youngest completed his final week of school, which is essentially half a week of half days, and I honestly could not tell you anything they did other than watch movies, throw parties, and play games.

I’ve been without teaching for a couple of weeks now. I’ve stopped checking my emails five times a day. I have stopped thinking on Sundays, “I hope my lecture materials are ready!” I have stopped wearing my academic professional clothing.

And now I look at the sprawling summer days before me thinking, “This is it. Now I have time to write whatever I want!” Honestly, one of the primary reasons I love being an instructor is because I have these breaks that allow me time to write.

The illusion is I will have three months of summer to be a full-time writer. that sounds like it’s 12 full weeks.

But let’s break down how much time there is on a summer break:

• College educators in my state end their teaching days the first week of May. Grading goes on for another week.

• August is when my new contract begins. August 1st in fact.

• So that means I have roughly 10 weeks of free time to write.

• Except I’m married to a man who likes to travel. The most reasonable time for all of us to travel as a family is in June. So a whole week is removed.

• Fine. Nine weeks.

• Oh, and summer is the only time that I can go visit family.

• Okay. Eight weeks.

But that’s if everything runs smoothly.

Massive travel requires a certain amount of recovery from climbing onto planes and in and out of Bucky’s. I have a house full of humans who could get sick at any moment – even though it’s usually me. And then my youngest is already pushing me for more pool days, coffee shop days, shopping days … you know, because I’m not “really” working.

What’s even funnier is because of this illusion that the days are open, when all the days look free, there is not always a push to make sure I make my writing goals every day. It is an adjustment to keep a regular schedule or to reach any real goals. Working from home makes it difficult to maintain healthy boundaries between productivity and fun.

Also, much like my students, when my days are unscheduled, it’s easy to just lay around a rot. I’ll tell myself that I’m going to write, read, organize, storyboard, or contact other writers. But instead, with no set schedule, no specific demands on my time, and no one prodding me for new pages, it’s incredibly easy to watch Netflix all day instead.

When more time is not the solution to your writing problem, it could be because -- in some ways -- it’s just a different type of procrastination problem.

My husband loves to remind me that he doesn’t get a summer break. I understand that even eight-ish weeks of freedom to write is an incredible privilege. But I don’t want to live for the summer because that means any disruption of the writing time would be met with enormous resentment. Resenting your kids is one of the ways you end up with a tell-all biopic about you. And it’s also unrealistic for my life to binge write over the summer break because my next project is too ambitious and I need things like sleep and hugs from my children.

As a result, I must accept my academic routine as the primary routine, with the main change being I am not standing in front of a group of students twice a week for four hours.

Here is what I have to do to make sure that I stay productive over break:

• I don’t change my schedule. I didn’t reset my alarm to Summer Hours. If I sleep in, it means my entire routine is off and the whole day gets away from me. I also try to go to bed at the same time.

• I run through my scales. When a musician sits down, they practice their scales or warm up in one way or another. I warm up by writing in my journal. It is a way to kick off the writing day. Once the first words are written, it’s a lot easier to write more words. There is a theory about momentum that says to start before you are ready because the action will kill the anxiety and then your job is just to maintain the momentum you already created. The first step is always the hardest. Running through my scales is the kick off to the day.

• I set a timer. I am no stranger to distraction and sometimes if I know I have a break factored in, I will actually be more focused during that time frame. It’s the Pomodoro Technique. I set my clock for 20 minutes and when it bings, I will pause and stretch. Usually I like what I’m doing and where it’s going, so I will return to my desk and sign up for another 20 minutes.

• I shut down at a specific time. When things are gong well, it is difficult to stop, but if I don’t stop, I won’t get the necessary rest I need to come back the next day.

• I remind myself that this is my first-love job. Being a full-time writer is something I dreamed about for a long time. So I have to remind myself, “This is your dream job! This is your dream job!”

And what’s helpful about this is that it’s a system that works for me regardless of the season. I know that I don’t need eight weeks of free-time in order to write novels. I don’t have to wait for retirement. I can write in the margins and in between other projects.

XOXO,

B.

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