Reflect, Recharge, Rebuild...Jen Doktorski

 

 

The past eighteen months have been a whirlwind of rewrites and edits as I prepared for the release of my first two YA novels in May and July. When summer began, I had every intention of making huge dents in my works in progress -- a third and fourth novel at different stages. But two things happened. First, I got caught up in the necessary promotion that comes with the release of two books.(Of course this includes checking my Amazon ranking hourly.) Second, I started feeling a tad burnt out. Getting words on the paper has been harder than usual for me this summer. To that end, I took to heart the message on my new favorite tee shirt, from one of my all-time favorite places to eat between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It was time to rip a page from the Jack Johnson playbook.

 

Back in July, I blogged about how summer begins and ends for me at the New Jersey shore. This year was no different. I spent the last two weeks of August in Seaside Park, New Jersey. My happy place. It was the perfect time of year and location to recharge and get ready for September, that magical month when things seem to begin again even if it has been ages since I sat in a classroom.

So...how did I recharge? Well, for starters, this blog post is the most amount of words I've strung together since July. (I hope my agent doesn't see this.) I did read lots of books, though, and I thought about writing, which practically is writing, right?

Other than that, I sat in this chair -- a lot -- watching pods of dolphins swimming by...Osprey fishing in the surf...my daughter boogie boarding with her cousins and friends.

 

 

I went crabbing on the bay. My husband says I'm a natural. I'm not sure how to take that.

 

I rode my bike and jogged here.

And ate fish tacos with guac and chips here.



Recharging was getting addicting.

On Labor Day I got a Goodreads message from a librarian who wanted to tell me how much he enjoyed my books. It was good timing. He ended his note by saying. "Please tell me you're writing more books." Umm...riiiight. More books. Time to say "goodbye" to this. Fold up my beach chair, and get back to work.