Episode 118: Go With The Flow for Summer
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Summer has a way of changing the rules. Your routines you’ve had since January or maybe only from Spring Break are about to get upended once again. The weather gets remarkably warmer, you want to be outside more, schedules become less predictable, and the longer days mean everybody’s up later if you have kids at home.
So, when do you find time to write?
This is a good question to ask yourself. By meeting yourself where you are right now, and preparing for what’s to come, you relieve a lot of tension. It’s so common to start the season with good intentions, then find yourself frustrated because your writing life doesn't look the way you expected it to.
But, if you prepare yourself for what’s to come then you’re less likely to just have “good intentions” on your mind, but actual, actionable tasks for yourself.
Summer and it’s ability to upend everything is what inspired this week's podcast episode: Go With the Flow for Summer.
So, instead of fighting with the season, or letting it stress you out, what if you worked with it?
What if summer isn't asking you to keep the same writing rhythm you've had all year?
You might write less for a while.
You’ll read more and this is something that comes up in this week’s episode.
You’ll spend time collecting ideas rather than feeling the pressure to have everything on the page.
Maybe you'll have bursts of creativity followed by weeks that feel slower and less structured.
All of this doesn't mean you're falling behind.
It means you're showing up in different ways to your creative process.
Your mind may be so set on thinking that drafting is the most important part of writing your novel, but reading, observing, thinking, and living are part of it too. Sometimes the experiences you have during a less productive season become the things you draw from later.
It’s so common to put pressure on yourself to force consistency through every season of life. What I still love about the conversation I watched between authors Abby Jimenez and Meghan Quinn, is both of them talked about being behind on their deadlines and that there are as many different approaches to writing as there are writers. So, this idea of there being one way or that you have to grind on the “hamster wheel” of writing is not realistic for everyone.
Creativity rarely moves in a straight line. That’s what’s so beautiful about being a creative person. You move at your own rhythm.
When you think about this Summer, it may be inviting you into a different relationship with your writing. So, if your writing life looks different over the next few months, give yourself permission to follow where the season leads.
Allow for more flexibility.
Maybe find opportunities for curiosity.
You can leave word counts behind and focus on another measure for your progress.
I highly encourage you to read the book that's been sitting on your nightstand. I flew through two great books recently by taking this leap.
I read: Good People by Patmeena Sabit and The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez.
Take a long walk and dictate your ideas into your phone.
Fill your notebook with observations or from eavesdropping on conversations (I love this one for fiction writing).
Write when you can. Forcing the creative process never works.
Trust that you're a writer, even when your creative energy takes a different shape.
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