June marks the start of summer break, which always feels like a very different creative season than the rest. My kids are home, I generally scale back on work, and I am big on summertime adventuring. Camping, hiking, lake days, pool days, anything that gets me outside and away from a screen - which means a lot less writing gets done.
I think that’s a good thing. This is my regenerative season. I need this time away to let my mind wander, to realign with what I actually want to accomplish, and most importantly, to rest. When my kids are back in school, the creative energy I have is undeniable. And it’s because summer is not my time to hustle and produce — it’s my time to be.
I’d love to hear your reflections about entering summer. What do you know to be true? What are you reflecting on from the previous month — or the previous summer season? What do you want this season to feel like creatively?
Let’s discuss here, and when we meet again on June 11th for our next meeting.
Last month felt way too full (as May always does with the 100s of school emails and dozens of end of year events) AND I still finished a draft of my manuscript yesterday. There’s still a conclusion to write, but I was able to send it off to early readers who agreed to give me feedback over the summer.
I want to finish up a full draft with the conclusion this week before my kids are out of school, and I have a freelance piece to finalize, but then I want the rest of June to feel free and summer-focused.
You finished!? Woooooot!! Way to force yourself to do the most miserable bit of it because you'll be glad you did someday but for now holy hell is it terrible!
I haven't come up for air (or made it to group) in a long while. I've been helping my 11 y/o navigate the last few weeks of school, with a change in classroom(!) an eviction from a club(!), an apparent attack campaign from another parent (!?) and then all the normal end of year shit- beach field trip all day tomorrow, 8th grade graduation nonsense for the other kid, band concerts, etc, etc, etc. Summer is a lot of time with kids at home where I am the primary caregiver, but it's also a little traveling and a a few weeks where we'll be down to 1 kid, and a few weeks where they're both in camp and I've carved out just writing time for myself. I'm trying to get traction on the rewrite of the romcom I shopped a few years ago- the one I had y'all read the first chapter- still haven't JUMPED off on that one, am kind of treading water. Meanwhile, I'm ready to give up on the middle grade queer fantasy I'm writing with a dude friend of mine because said dude friend is flaking in ways that feel too much like a bad marriage and also I'm just not that into the genre and don't think the book is all that good. The big said whale horse book is out to agents, 2 reading full MS's right now. I don't know, man. Like Mitch Hedberg said, 'I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later.' ;)
that sounds like a lot! i want to hear the club eviction story! in high school i got kicked out of newspaper club because i called the supervising teacher a bitch after she was controlling about some edits. having that on my disciplinary record also kept me out of national honor society. anyway i guess i'm just saying maybe the ones who get evicted from clubs might be the kind of ungovernable people i want to know.
There are so many traits that this kid has that will serve them later in life, but for now, when being obedient is kind of the key to survival in school and other organizations, it's tough. It turned out in this Girls on the Run running clerb, we weren't all fam. One of the coaches is a mom of a kid Wolfe has been in class with periodically over the years at another school and she's basically decided that Wolfe is the source of all of her kid's emotional issues. So when Wolfe was moved to the new class May 12th- where this girl is, the mom had an absolute fit which more or less evicted Wolfe from the running club right before the culminating 5k that they were really excited to run with their teammates and had been training for for months. It's all fucked up and exhausting. BUT that kid and her mom are going to a private school in Palo Alto next year for school and we're optimistic that Wolfe will be placed with the 6th grade teacher who is a HUGE queer ally, which could make next year a very different, healing experience.
When do you have your kid free time this summer? Are you just at home, or giving yourself a little retreat during it? I hope the writing feels amazing during that time.
i just realized i commented on others but never wrote my own update. 🙃 i guess that itself speaks to my level of distraction and overwhelm rn.
my main priority is finding a new studio space. my shared lease is up aug 31 and my studiomate wants to take over the whole lease, because she has outgrown her half. this studio is a lot closer to her house than mine, and she has an aspirational attachment to one of the past tenants (jessica hische: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/the-creative-spark-title-case-typographic-artisans/studio-tour).
i feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. i could fight to stay and make *her* move, but i don't have the energy to swim upstream. so knowing where i will work next is the foundation i need to get in place. i'm currently in talks about a space in my neighborhood that would be bikeable and very near my community pottery and pilates studios, so fingers crossed i can get a lease signed in the next two weeks before i go abroad for most of july.
despite this wrench in the works, writing-wise i've been making progress on blog posts about my wall hanging with gemma, publishing one per month:
as you can see, on my IG posts, i feel more compelled to illustrate them to keep people's attention on such a visual medium.
i have drafts for the next three (july: purple rain, aug: heavy cloud no rain, sept: both sides now) basically done, which feels like the one thing i am on top of at the moment.
accepting suggestions of songs that reference rain, clouds, thunder, lightning etc.!
Hello all! Summer is full of energy for me, it can be a tad overstimulating but I'm riding this wave as long as possible! Goals are to keep writing - it used to be enough to write in my journal or a little poem or blurb here and there. Now I want to churn out large volumes, rewriting what's there, filling in what isn't, coming up with new viewpoints I hadn't thought of before. Still running, reading, working (of course!) and going to the pool with my son, it's been fun and positive so far ☺️ Excited to hear from everyone else as well!!
There's a lot going on over here as we try to expand my husband's practice. It's easier for me to spend time on that stuff, since it has immediate financial reward feedback haha.
But I'm still trying to carve out time to write and chip away at having any kind of social media platform.
I'm working on finishing a pilot script my sister and I have been writing on and off for a few years now. That's been a fun change!
I’ll start us off:
Last month felt way too full (as May always does with the 100s of school emails and dozens of end of year events) AND I still finished a draft of my manuscript yesterday. There’s still a conclusion to write, but I was able to send it off to early readers who agreed to give me feedback over the summer.
I want to finish up a full draft with the conclusion this week before my kids are out of school, and I have a freelance piece to finalize, but then I want the rest of June to feel free and summer-focused.
you did it!!! excited for you to get to enjoy your summer and revise your next draft in community!
You finished!? Woooooot!! Way to force yourself to do the most miserable bit of it because you'll be glad you did someday but for now holy hell is it terrible!
I haven't come up for air (or made it to group) in a long while. I've been helping my 11 y/o navigate the last few weeks of school, with a change in classroom(!) an eviction from a club(!), an apparent attack campaign from another parent (!?) and then all the normal end of year shit- beach field trip all day tomorrow, 8th grade graduation nonsense for the other kid, band concerts, etc, etc, etc. Summer is a lot of time with kids at home where I am the primary caregiver, but it's also a little traveling and a a few weeks where we'll be down to 1 kid, and a few weeks where they're both in camp and I've carved out just writing time for myself. I'm trying to get traction on the rewrite of the romcom I shopped a few years ago- the one I had y'all read the first chapter- still haven't JUMPED off on that one, am kind of treading water. Meanwhile, I'm ready to give up on the middle grade queer fantasy I'm writing with a dude friend of mine because said dude friend is flaking in ways that feel too much like a bad marriage and also I'm just not that into the genre and don't think the book is all that good. The big said whale horse book is out to agents, 2 reading full MS's right now. I don't know, man. Like Mitch Hedberg said, 'I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later.' ;)
that sounds like a lot! i want to hear the club eviction story! in high school i got kicked out of newspaper club because i called the supervising teacher a bitch after she was controlling about some edits. having that on my disciplinary record also kept me out of national honor society. anyway i guess i'm just saying maybe the ones who get evicted from clubs might be the kind of ungovernable people i want to know.
There are so many traits that this kid has that will serve them later in life, but for now, when being obedient is kind of the key to survival in school and other organizations, it's tough. It turned out in this Girls on the Run running clerb, we weren't all fam. One of the coaches is a mom of a kid Wolfe has been in class with periodically over the years at another school and she's basically decided that Wolfe is the source of all of her kid's emotional issues. So when Wolfe was moved to the new class May 12th- where this girl is, the mom had an absolute fit which more or less evicted Wolfe from the running club right before the culminating 5k that they were really excited to run with their teammates and had been training for for months. It's all fucked up and exhausting. BUT that kid and her mom are going to a private school in Palo Alto next year for school and we're optimistic that Wolfe will be placed with the 6th grade teacher who is a HUGE queer ally, which could make next year a very different, healing experience.
ugh that's sooo gross. i'm glad for your sake that family is peeling off. i hope wolfe gets that teacher!!!! that would be incredible. 🤞🏳️🌈🧑🏫
When do you have your kid free time this summer? Are you just at home, or giving yourself a little retreat during it? I hope the writing feels amazing during that time.
If my little one can last at these camps, I'll have portions of lots of days free to myself to actually catch up on my stuff. Here's hoping!
That's great news about your book being read by two agents! So exciting 🥰 I believe in your romcom, go for it!!
Thank you!!!!
And thank you for your insights- already helping!
i just realized i commented on others but never wrote my own update. 🙃 i guess that itself speaks to my level of distraction and overwhelm rn.
my main priority is finding a new studio space. my shared lease is up aug 31 and my studiomate wants to take over the whole lease, because she has outgrown her half. this studio is a lot closer to her house than mine, and she has an aspirational attachment to one of the past tenants (jessica hische: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/the-creative-spark-title-case-typographic-artisans/studio-tour).
i feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. i could fight to stay and make *her* move, but i don't have the energy to swim upstream. so knowing where i will work next is the foundation i need to get in place. i'm currently in talks about a space in my neighborhood that would be bikeable and very near my community pottery and pilates studios, so fingers crossed i can get a lease signed in the next two weeks before i go abroad for most of july.
despite this wrench in the works, writing-wise i've been making progress on blog posts about my wall hanging with gemma, publishing one per month:
april - it's raining men
- blog: https://equalclay.com/blogs/news/its-raining-men
- IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIhdxhuzQYM/?img_index=7
may - somewhere over the rainbow
- blog: https://equalclay.com/blogs/news/somewhere-over-the-rainbow
- IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJfC5mITT1b/?img_index=1
june - have you ever seen the rain
- blog: https://equalclay.com/blogs/news/have-you-ever-seen-the-rain
- IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKdhuesojZB/?img_index=1
as you can see, on my IG posts, i feel more compelled to illustrate them to keep people's attention on such a visual medium.
i have drafts for the next three (july: purple rain, aug: heavy cloud no rain, sept: both sides now) basically done, which feels like the one thing i am on top of at the moment.
accepting suggestions of songs that reference rain, clouds, thunder, lightning etc.!
The first song I thought of is Dreams by Fleetwood Mac 💕It doesn't have rain words in the title of course but the song has plenty in the lyrics!
Hello all! Summer is full of energy for me, it can be a tad overstimulating but I'm riding this wave as long as possible! Goals are to keep writing - it used to be enough to write in my journal or a little poem or blurb here and there. Now I want to churn out large volumes, rewriting what's there, filling in what isn't, coming up with new viewpoints I hadn't thought of before. Still running, reading, working (of course!) and going to the pool with my son, it's been fun and positive so far ☺️ Excited to hear from everyone else as well!!
i am envious of your pool time! that sounds like amazing memories. can't wait to read your large volumes!!
I have LOVED reading these!
There's a lot going on over here as we try to expand my husband's practice. It's easier for me to spend time on that stuff, since it has immediate financial reward feedback haha.
But I'm still trying to carve out time to write and chip away at having any kind of social media platform.
I'm working on finishing a pilot script my sister and I have been writing on and off for a few years now. That's been a fun change!