Summers Off (Sydney Salter)

I'm sneaking outside on the weird little deck off my bedroom to write this. Shh.



A few years ago I put a little table on the deck so I could run away from my children and write during the summer. I finished a painful Camp NaNoWriMo on this deck, written in too quick, wildly unfocused bursts, and I've never looked at that miserable half-novel again, but I was living the dream: writing in the summer!

I still have one child at home, but she's seventeen, and I pretty much have to beg her to spend time with me these days. My own children aren't the writing obstacle anymore. Now my niece and nephew whose parents teach overseas come stay at my house for several weeks each summer - it's the only time I see them each year.

Summer means early morning board games, Lego building marathons, baking cupcakes, walking the dogs, water fights, and lots of talking. I can barely snag a few minutes to read, and I'm certainly not writing.

But I don't mind it one bit. My WIP will wait patiently for me to finish my Lego project.

The romantic version of summer loving has always proved to be a similarly unfulfilled dream. I just take summers off.







Comments

  1. I find summers so frustrating because of kids at home, especially since I've become a teacher and summer is my only consistent free time. I admire your attitude of patient acceptance. Me, I'm all "Get out of my hair!"

    Now that my kids are teens and less inclined to need attention, it's the house that takes all my time. "Let's paint!" it says. "Let's redo bathrooms!"

    *sigh*

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  2. Sydney, that's an adorable little deck! I now have an adorable patio (finally), but do I ever make the time to sit on it, let alone write there? Noooo...

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  3. Manuscripts are like that. They lovingly wait for us to return. Enjoy your summer. That's what it's FOR. :)

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  4. I like your version of summer very much. I haven't played with Legos in years, but I remember how much I enjoyed it; it was fun to build whatever I wanted with the Legos.

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  5. ooo, summers off -- what a concept! I had a 7/1 deadline that I missed so -- no summer off for me.

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  6. Sometimes (in all seriousness) Legos are truly the most important thing. ;)

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  7. I love your little writing spot! Can't say I was very fond of Legos, since a trip across the room (at any time of year) inevitably included painful contact between foot and Lego!

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