Summer vacuum (or the time of little writing)

Summer relaxationHooray! Summer is here; warm, lazy days, extra wine, days out with the family and friends, a holiday away, mmm.

But you still have a deadline looming, your fans are waiting, your muse is bashing away in your head with fantastic scenes you simply must write. And then you are speaking or attending conferences and festivals. No time to have time off. Guilt sets in…

But let’s get some balance here…

1. Nobody can work 365 days of the year. Well, they can, but what a dull person they’d be, and probably an early inhabitant of the graveyard.

2. Set realistic goals; halve your usual target and prepare for that goal to be disrupted as friends visit, children return from university, or neighbours invite you to barbecues every few days.

3. Sales dwindle in the summer, so don’t stress about the sales figures.

4. View your holidays as research trips, if your conscience is bothering you. Not just castles or mosaics, but an opportunity to watch people out of their normal environment or see other environments altogether. And swimming in the warm, salty sea gets you in touch with your tactile side.

5. Snatch time when doing other things to do small writing tasks like looking things up, sending an email to a blogger, drafting a dialogue. Amazing how you can think through a scene while mixing a salad!

6. Work on a little project. I’ve just put together ‘The 500 Word Writing Buddy‘. It’s a compilation of articles from the past three years of my writing and publishing column in The Deux-Sèvres Monthly.  I’ve worked on it intermittently over the past month. Now I’ve printed out some paper copies for selling at local fairs and fetes and sold three yesterday!  It will be going up on Kindle once I can snatch a half-day to format it for ebook. 😉

So, relax a little while the sun is shining and read a good book or two…

 

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, and PERFIDITAS. Third in series, SUCCESSIO, is now out.

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4 comments to Summer vacuum (or the time of little writing)

  • Non-stop guests are what’s blown my writing time lately, together with sis with her broken foot. Everyone in my life needs looking after, it seems, and the relatives are due tomorrow. Then German friend has booked in for week after next.
    So at first opportunity will take your advice and relax with a good book or two. But when do I get any writing done?
    Good tips though, Alison!

  • Alison

    I think the thing is not to stress about it. We have to dip back into Real Life for a few weeks, but once the last visitor has gone, you *will* be able to catch up.

  • Totally agree with this one Alison! Save your comment of course about the sun…………..where did that go?