summertime and the living is sweaty
in which I stress out about my summer schedule
This is the time of year when all of my characters start bitching about the temperature. What can I say? Life imitates art, and it’s currently 99º in DC. (According to my weather app, it “feels like” 103º out there. Fun!) Basically all my conversations revolve around how hot it is, how hot it is going to be, and how I’m going to avoid melting into a puddle on the pavement.
It’s safe to say that summer is HERE, with all that entails. 🔥 My kids finished up school last week, and as I got them ready for summer camp yesterday morning, my son looked over at my husband, who was packing his own lunch.
“Why is Daddy packing a lunch?” he asked.
“Because Daddy’s going to his office after we drop you off at camp,” I explained.
“Daddy has to go to work in the summer?” he asked, wide-eyed.
I confirmed that, yes, Daddy is expected to show up for his job even though it is summer, and then blew his mind by noting that *I* also need to work during the summer.
But needing to work and actually working are two separate things. Time is so scarce this time of year. During the school year, kids are generally at school from 8:15-5:30. There’s the odd day off here and there, and some afternoons when I need to pick one or both up them up early for activities, but I usually have a big chunk of time in which to write and conduct my coaching business. I know some authors who can write entire novels in the Notes app on their phones while they shuttle their kids around, but I have not mastered that skill. I’m not sure that I ever will, although it seems handy!
During the summer, though, the kids need to be picked up from camp by 4:00 at the latest. And that’s just the weeks that they’re in camp. My daily usable hours significantly contract during the summer months.
To be clear, I love summertime with the kids. We get ice cream after camp; we meet friends at the pool. We take walks after dinner and look for lightning bugs.1 But wow does summer make me anxious about getting my work done.
Because—and you may not know this because I’ve been so quiet and reserved about it (lol yeah RIGHT)—I have a book coming out on September 1. I poured my heart into Both Things Are True and love it so much, and I’m committed to giving it the best shot possible of reaching readers. Which means doing ALL THE THINGS. I’m lucky to have a fantastic publicist helping me, but there’s still a lot that I need to do on my own. (Hello, Substack!) And that’s challenging because I (like many writers) am an introvert who would prefer to be behind my laptop, creating new stories (lowercase s), rather than facing the camera, posting Stories (uppercase s). And that’s all especially hard right now because … well, because of *waves hands generally* everything.
Did I mention that I’m also trying to write another book? lolsob
Anyway, I don’t mean to imply this problem is unique to me. Or even writers! Parents of all stripes (mostly mothers, let’s be real) struggle when summer disrupts the kids’ routine. So let’s crowdsource. I’ll list a few things that are helping me stay sane, and you add some in the comments, okay?
Time blocking. I keep a paper agenda (Passion Planner ftw) and literally write everything down. All of my commitments, all of the kids’ commitments, all of my lists and goals. Then I use my pencil to mark out chunks of time each day, and I do my level best to keep to that schedule. It keeps me on track and stops me from spending all my time on “fun” projects and neglecting the “less fun” (read: more difficult) ones.
Sprinting. Almost every day, I meet with my friend Jenna over Zoom and we do writing sprints. We commit to a specific goal (like a specific scene we’re going to write or a character we’re going to develop) and then work quietly (and steadily!) for thirty minutes. Then we check in and do it all over again. Knowing Jenna is at her desk as well keeps me focused, and reporting on my work to her keeps me accountable. (Jenna and I met through a writing sprints course, and our instructor, Lori Gold, recently released the excellent book Romantic Friction!)
Exercising. It may seem counterintuitive because the sixty minutes I spent in a yoga class are sixty minutes I’m not spending on my work, but nothing clears my head and refocuses me like exercise.
Do you have fresh ideas? Please share them!
Currently …
📚 Reading: I just finished Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood, which was a lot of fun. (And, to answer the question others have asked me, no, I don’t think you need to have read Not In Love to enjoy it! I have read Not In Love, but I have the memory of a goldfish and didn’t remember anything about it, and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of PSR at all!) I’m getting ready to start Watch Us Fall by Christina Kovac, coming December 2. #galleybrag, sorry!)
🎧 Listening: I’m listening to Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan, which has been on my TBR forever and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get to it!
📺 Watching: I just finished watching Your Friends and Neighbors, and I have thoughts! I’ll keep them to myself, though, to avoid spoiling it because it’s a fun watch. Also! I stayed up past my bedtime last night to watch my dear friend Johanna Maska on Abby Phillip’s show—if you’re interested in politics, give Johanna a follow.
I’ll leave this passage here as proof that not all of my books are just characters complaining about the heat. (Both Things Are True is a rom-com, after all … those characters might be 🔥hot🔥 for another reason.)
Stay cool, friends!
Literally as I was writing this sentence, I got a Substack notification that my friend Erica Wright published a post called Fireflies Versus Lightning Bugs. Head over there to vote in her poll and check out the gorgeous cover of her forthcoming poetry collection!