Summertime and Writing Discipline

   Today is the 'unofficial' start of summer. Some of us visited a beach for the first time this year, had our kick-off barbecue of the season, maybe took a bike ride or jog in the park, all the while looking ahead to sunnier warmer days.

    The lure to spend more time outdoors after a long snowy winter might cause an interruption in our writing, but it doesn't have to be that way if we juggle around our writing schedules a bit.

    For example, if during cold winter days, we wrote early in the morning, and now that the weather is warmer, we want to use that time for an outdoor walk instead of on a treadmill later on, then we simply switch the writing time with what would have been the treadmill time.

   Changing over to a laptop for writing is another good idea during the summer months.  We can then write on the beach, our deck, or by the pool. This way, there won't be any compromising good weather for writing or vice versa.

    If children are living at home, once summer vacation begins, we want to participate with them in certain activities...take them to the beach, to a friend's pool, go to a theme park, the zoo, etc. It's important to be mindful of our need for fun and some vacation time with family and friends and still remain dedicated to our craft.
   One way is to take a short break now and again and have children write in a journal about their summer vacation...their favorite parts of the day...what they like about summer, etc. And we can do the very same thing in our own journal. Some of our vacation/family/friends experiences can later be used in one of our stories. The best part is, that while the children write, we can write.    

   Perhaps we can write earlier while having breakfast, before the rest of the family wakes.

  
  If you have a backyard or a deck, create a small writing area there. A bench, a  small table and chair under an umbrella, or on our porch is perfect. If using an umbrella, some netting over it (found at most home goods stores or online) can enhance the writing time with the absence of nipping bugs.

   I once read that writers have the wonderful advantage of being able to do their job anywhere...office, beach, train, hotel room, in a green pasture under blue sky and fluffy white clouds...you get the picture.  Hmmm.  Now that I reflect on it, we are indeed fortunate to be able to take our craft wherever we go, especially with today's great compact technology.
    Sitting in an Adirondack chair with my laptop and a backdrop of mountains. Not bad.  Not bad at all. Enjoy!