Julie Lence's Blog - Posts Tagged "routine"
Back From Summer Break
Hello Everyone:
School is back in session, which means it's time for me to get back into my writing routine. I hope you all had a wonderful summer break, made time to enjoy those lazy summer days and spent quality time with your children. And if your tots aren't back to school yet, enjoy the next few weeks with them. The first day back is always the hardest for me. I just get used to having my son home and then he's gone again.
I can't believe how fast June and July went. I think I blinked and missed a few weeks somewhere. We traveled back to New York to visit with family. Thankfully, we saw everyone and spent a Saturday in Lake George watching the fire truck parade and browsing the shops. Since I don't like to fly, we went by car and I can tell you the heat and humidity in the mid-west are more over-bearing than I remembered from when my husband and I lived there in the 80's. The times we'd stop for gas and food, I couldn't wait to get back in the truck and blast the AC. My son had a grand time staying at the hotels and swimming in their pools. He's like a fish, and thoroughly enjoyed the week with grandma and grandpa. Of course, they didn't spoil him too much, .
Back on the home front, the heat in July was nasty. This is the first summer out here where I can honestly say the weather really bothered me. (Must be an age thing.) I spent most of the month inside with the air on. Even the dog couldn't stand the heat and kept to her cool spots in the house. We did get the pool set up--for about a week until it sprung a hole in the seam. Had to order another liner and then my son and his friend had a blast in the water. Then they'd come inside and play Xbox, which was fine with me. While they kept themselves entertained, I wrote the first five chapters of my new book.
I don't have much news to tell as far as writing goes. I did sign the contract for the third book in the Weston Family series. Hopefully, No Luck At All will be released later this year. The story involves the youngest Weston brother and his bride. Creel has earned his doctor's degree and returns to Wooded Acres with Racine, a Boston socialite desperately in need of his bed-side manner. I've also joined Facebook and am learning my way around that site. Asylett Press has had new releases over the summer. Check them out for some good reading. And I'd like to extend a BIG congratulation to fellow Asylett author, Mark Ozeroff. Mark's novel, Days of Smoke, has won the Military Writer's Society of America gold medal award for historical fiction. The Asylett family is happy for Mark and wishes him continued success in his writing career.
Now, for the all important questions: How did you do with your summer writing? Did you finish a novel? Begin a new one? Work on promotion? Or did you take the summer off? There are only a few weeks left to enjoy lazy evenings and weekends. Before you know it, football season (minus pre-season) will begin and you'll need to get back into a routine. Think about what you want to accomplish for the remainder of the year. Set reachable goals and a realistic schedule. Christmas will be upon us shortly, along with the nightmare of shopping for everyone on your list. At that point, I plan to be more than halfway through this book.
Until next week, may the fates be kind to us all.
School is back in session, which means it's time for me to get back into my writing routine. I hope you all had a wonderful summer break, made time to enjoy those lazy summer days and spent quality time with your children. And if your tots aren't back to school yet, enjoy the next few weeks with them. The first day back is always the hardest for me. I just get used to having my son home and then he's gone again.
I can't believe how fast June and July went. I think I blinked and missed a few weeks somewhere. We traveled back to New York to visit with family. Thankfully, we saw everyone and spent a Saturday in Lake George watching the fire truck parade and browsing the shops. Since I don't like to fly, we went by car and I can tell you the heat and humidity in the mid-west are more over-bearing than I remembered from when my husband and I lived there in the 80's. The times we'd stop for gas and food, I couldn't wait to get back in the truck and blast the AC. My son had a grand time staying at the hotels and swimming in their pools. He's like a fish, and thoroughly enjoyed the week with grandma and grandpa. Of course, they didn't spoil him too much, .
Back on the home front, the heat in July was nasty. This is the first summer out here where I can honestly say the weather really bothered me. (Must be an age thing.) I spent most of the month inside with the air on. Even the dog couldn't stand the heat and kept to her cool spots in the house. We did get the pool set up--for about a week until it sprung a hole in the seam. Had to order another liner and then my son and his friend had a blast in the water. Then they'd come inside and play Xbox, which was fine with me. While they kept themselves entertained, I wrote the first five chapters of my new book.
I don't have much news to tell as far as writing goes. I did sign the contract for the third book in the Weston Family series. Hopefully, No Luck At All will be released later this year. The story involves the youngest Weston brother and his bride. Creel has earned his doctor's degree and returns to Wooded Acres with Racine, a Boston socialite desperately in need of his bed-side manner. I've also joined Facebook and am learning my way around that site. Asylett Press has had new releases over the summer. Check them out for some good reading. And I'd like to extend a BIG congratulation to fellow Asylett author, Mark Ozeroff. Mark's novel, Days of Smoke, has won the Military Writer's Society of America gold medal award for historical fiction. The Asylett family is happy for Mark and wishes him continued success in his writing career.
Now, for the all important questions: How did you do with your summer writing? Did you finish a novel? Begin a new one? Work on promotion? Or did you take the summer off? There are only a few weeks left to enjoy lazy evenings and weekends. Before you know it, football season (minus pre-season) will begin and you'll need to get back into a routine. Think about what you want to accomplish for the remainder of the year. Set reachable goals and a realistic schedule. Christmas will be upon us shortly, along with the nightmare of shopping for everyone on your list. At that point, I plan to be more than halfway through this book.
Until next week, may the fates be kind to us all.
Getting Back Into The Routine
I thought last week--a three day school week--was hard; getting up at 5:45, making breakfast and lunch and getting my son to school. This week was worse. I do like being up early, because I have more time in the day to get everything done. It's the getting out of bed part that I hate, especially after a long summer of sleeping in. But what's even worse, my writing for the week did not go as planned.
Getting back into the routine was the easy part. Getting the muse to cooperate was the hard part. I had a very good day on Monday reviewing what I'd already written over the summer and fine-tuning the chapters. It all went south on Tuesday. Starting the next chapter was rough. My muse had deserted me. Where it went, I don't know. But I stubbornly kept at it all that day and Wednesday, and with the help of Stacey, my critique partner, I managed to make it all come together on Thursday. And now, late Friday afternoon, I'm actually looking forward to writing on Monday.
You can do the same in your writing, if you hit a stumbling block. Take a few deep breaths, remember you're coming off a long, hot summer and cut yourself some slack. Take it slow, outline a few ideas and your muse will kick in. I found that several cups of caffine will help with this. Plus listening to my critique partner and cutting the garbage from my work that needed cutting. So it is with great appreciation and gratitude that I thank Stacey for jump-starting my muse and pointing out where I ventured off course. If not for her, I'd still be pounding out the same words on the keyboard and wallowing in the anxiety I experience when I can't get a scene right.
Now, I'm going to put my feet up and enjoy the weekend. Yeah, right. There's yard work, taking down the pool, helping my son with his homework... The list goes on and on and on, but Monday will be here soon and then I can get back to my characters and their world.
Getting back into the routine was the easy part. Getting the muse to cooperate was the hard part. I had a very good day on Monday reviewing what I'd already written over the summer and fine-tuning the chapters. It all went south on Tuesday. Starting the next chapter was rough. My muse had deserted me. Where it went, I don't know. But I stubbornly kept at it all that day and Wednesday, and with the help of Stacey, my critique partner, I managed to make it all come together on Thursday. And now, late Friday afternoon, I'm actually looking forward to writing on Monday.
You can do the same in your writing, if you hit a stumbling block. Take a few deep breaths, remember you're coming off a long, hot summer and cut yourself some slack. Take it slow, outline a few ideas and your muse will kick in. I found that several cups of caffine will help with this. Plus listening to my critique partner and cutting the garbage from my work that needed cutting. So it is with great appreciation and gratitude that I thank Stacey for jump-starting my muse and pointing out where I ventured off course. If not for her, I'd still be pounding out the same words on the keyboard and wallowing in the anxiety I experience when I can't get a scene right.
Now, I'm going to put my feet up and enjoy the weekend. Yeah, right. There's yard work, taking down the pool, helping my son with his homework... The list goes on and on and on, but Monday will be here soon and then I can get back to my characters and their world.
