During summertime, it may seem that motherhood, grandmotherhood, wifehood, vacations, and the needs of others take precedence over personal writing time. That may be very true, and that's fine; there are other times when writing will take the ascendency again. After all, we must strike a balance between the needs of others and our need to write.
Here are some wise words from Elaine Fantle Shimberg, author of How to Be a Successful Housewife/Writer, “Although writers always are absorbing something they can use for a character, article, etc., make certain you spend time off with your family--and when you're with them, be with them, not half-thinking about that lead you're having trouble with. Listen to your husband when you're with him. Give him your full attention. You'd resent his replaying the Super Bowl in his mind while you're relating your run-in with an editor.”
Mrs. Shimberg continues, “Other jobs (i. e. real work in offices) give vacation time off. You deserve it too. Take pictures for future stories, make notes (if, and because, you must), but break your writing schedule. You'll be more refreshed when you get back to it.”
Summer is a great time for observing, for developing a writer's eye, a nose for news, an ear for voices and spoken words and phrases. It is a time for sharpening the senses. It is a time for planning what is to come when there is more time available for writing. Enjoy summer, for it is a time of growth and development.
Do not resent time spent away from writing if you have a project going. Sometimes stepping back from the project gives us a new perspective on the work, new insights into directions to take, places to research, angles to explore in articles, scenes to write, characters to beef up.
Read books on writing forms, genres, styles, and techniques. Use the public library resources, especially the Dewey Decimal System 800 section, which deals with writing of all kinds.
Learn to use the Internet as a resource. Use a search engine to find everything you can use under the topic “writing” or “writers” or “poetry” or “nonfiction” or “writing & contests” or whatever field interests you.
By typing www.yahoo.com and following the links in their Arts and Literature section, I have found a whole other line of learning: writing conferences all over the country, poetry contests, electronic newsletters, writing groups, magazines, and a whole lot more. And I don't surf the “Net” but a fraction of the time that I would like to do so!
Enjoy summer, for all too soon, autumn arrives and the children go back to school, vacation time has flown, and it is back-to-work time for us all.
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© 2002 - 2008 Marsha Ward