By Martha Reed
As you may know, I’ve taken the month of July off from
active writing. Yes, I am participating in Nancy Martin’s manuscript editing
boot camp, which is keeping my hand in but I’m not working on creating anything
new, just polishing up what I already have before I send it out to find a
buyer.
It’s been insightful to me how many hundreds of hours open
up when I’m not actively working on a manuscript – evidently enough to paint my
kitchen and to finally get the backyard in order again but I have to admit that
I’ve still got my creative eye on the horizon. Once boot camp is over and the
kitchen is done I’m jumping back in!
The other insight is that I’m in tune with the seasons
again. Last July I was in the middle of constructing my mss. I don’t remember
noting much about the summer – other than to make sure the air conditioning
unit was installed in my office window. This year has been different – I’ve
been getting up early to finish the outside chores before the heat settles in. Working
this way reminded me that I love hot weather. I come by it honestly; I lived in
Texas for a decade and you don’t do that unless you like it hot. Working in the heat also reminded me of some southern memories and humor and I had to look up an old favorite, Jerry Reed. No relation.
I’m only hoping that my boot camp
partners and I have as much fun working together as these two knuckleheads do! Happy
Independence Day! Enjoy the summer.
5 comments:
Oh, Jeez, Martha. Now I want to dig out my old electric guitar and start practicing again . . .
I struggle between the "you must write every day" and the "sometimes you need some distance and a break" methods of writing. I finally submitted a short story I had been fiddling with, and decided to take an entire day to work on a non-writing project yesterday. It felt like a vacation and now I'm anxious to get back to the writing... so enjoy your active writing break, Martha, and I predict you'll come back even stronger afterward!
Thanks so much for the link, Martha. I loved Jerry Reed. I used to have several of his records back in the dark ages when records were vinyl, not digital.
I think I need a break to clean my house and weed my garden, but don't see it happening any time soon. (OK, maybe I'll run the sweeper real quick during my lunch break.)
The funny thing is for all my squawking about the time and effort it takes to finish my mss, now that it's done I can't wait to jump back in. I've got an idea for something completely new (women's fiction/humor) and I want to explore it. I think taking the break was a good idea although I admit I was a little afraid to walk away - what if I couldn't come back? That worry is gone now because I know that writing is where I want to be!
I always seem to have deadlines in the summer. Last year it was September 1, this year it's October 1. So I'm always writing during the summer months. But that's OK; I don't like it hot. After 18 years in Tennessee you'd think I'd have gotten used to it, but no. I spend most of my time inside and moan when I have to cross the threshold. Course, I spend most of the time chained to the desk the rest of the year, too... Enjoy your time off, Martha!
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