Having Summer Fun: The Writing Way

Image Source: https://twowritingteachers.org/2017/05/05/keep-the-learning-going/

In America, summer doesn’t actually correspond to the dates indicated by the calendar, or at least, not the “official” dates. Rather, like a story, summer in America has a traditional beginning, middle, and end, and those dates are marked by holidays. Here in America, Memorial Day, the day when we celebrate the fallen military heroes and veterans who have served in the Armed Forces, is actually our start to summer. This is mandated by federal law as the last Monday of the Month of May and is often called, “the unofficial start to summer,” especially in order news media. Independence Day, on July 4th, basically acts as a mid-point to the summer season in America, while Labor Day, the day set aside to honor the contributions of workers and laborers in the US, acts as our ending date (as most schools, K-12 along with college are back in session either before, by, or right after this holiday).

I set all that up to let you know what I’m terming as “summer” for this blog. Summer, to me, has always been one of my favorite times of year. Yes, the insects are often ferocious and the summer heat and humidity are legendary here in the southern US, but it is a time where both my body and mind truly feel alive. I have, in the past, done a fair bit of writing in the summer (my first published short story and article were written in the Tennessee summer heat). So, whenever possible, I also try to figure out strategies of maximizing my summer writing output.

And I’m back at it again this summer!

Rough Draft (1993)–Rough Drafting by Hand in a Legal Pad

My first ever published short story begin its life in a yellow legal pad at the old, decommissioned library at U.T. Knoxville one winter day during the Spring semester way back in 1993. I was taking a creative writing class and we did multiple genres: poems, plays (scripting), short stories, etc. I needed to turn in a draft in about a couple of days, but couldn’t think of anything, so I went to the building, which I’d just found about 2-3 week prior and started drafting. Anime had just become a thing and I’d seen an Americanized episode of DragonQuest (animated show?) that had an incredible magic duel between two wizards/magic-using characters and I wanted to write something similar.

So, my first draft, written in my yellow legal pad and in red ink (an affectation I had at the time), was written in a night (approximately an hour or so), with very little description, and mostly dialogue. I was probably less than 250 words in total. A couple of days later (or maybe the next day, I can’t recall), I went to the “real” library (the current one with all the glass and right angles), and typed up my story. While I added a little, here and there, especially in dialogue and description, the story itself was essentially the same that I’d wrote in my legal pad–just typed up and expanded slightly. I’d estimate it was approximately 450-500 words in total.

I turned it in and it was workshopped, and low and behold, I got an A- on it! The professor’s main objection was the “neatly tied-up” ending, which she would have preferred to be a little more ambiguous to reflect real life. I was over the moon! However, with the demands of the class and other classes and other assignments, I didn’t really do anything with the story.

But I did get an A in the class!

Rough Draft (2021 Edition)–Rough Drafting By Hand in a Journal

Although this approached worked, I went away from it, moving more and more to writing on the computer. Sometimes I wouldn’t even do a rough draft, but just start on the draft. I was moving away from writing with a journal and rough drafting altogether, but I wasn’t really happy with the quality of my drafts. It wasn’t until I started rough drafting more that I began to see the quality go up and I began to publish more often.

And that brings me to Summer 2021. I’m actually back to writing in journals (I’ve been buying them for a couple of years now, but not really using them for creative writing, more as a more compact to take class notes rather than the unwieldy legal pads which don’t seem to have the same quality and sturdiness of the ones I was able to buy in the mid 90s-mid 2000s). Over this summer, however, I’ve written in them pretty consistently most of the year, even if my creative writing output is less than I’d like.

However, over this summer, I’m actively writing in them creatively by trying to break my stories into 3 discrete parts and then, writing each one of those parts down in the notebook. I’m just handwriting them with any old pen that I have handy (I prefer pencil, but pen shows up better when I photocopy the notes to put in the project’s folder). Then, over the weekend, I’m transferring the handwritten drafts to the computer (much like I did in the summer of 93). Like my first story, I have permission to lightly edit, add in material, and shape it, but I can’t go crazy, more like an “adjustment” than straight on “revising.” I’m allowing myself two (2) notebook pages of handwritten material (front and back of the page for around 250 or so handwritten words). When typing, I’m allowing myself even more room, but I’d like a rough draft of anywhere between 750-1000 words. Nothing major, just enough to flesh out plot and dialogue with a hint of characterization.

So far, I’ve completed 2 rough drafts of stories this way (well, 3 if you count To Sail the Sea of Storms which wasn’t written in exactly this fashion, but was close enough that it could count), so far. I hope to write many more before the Labor Day holiday.

It’s 8pm. Do You Know Where Your Stories Are?

My preferred writing time in the summers (especially this summer) is 8pm. In the winter, I’m usually playing video games at this time as it is already dark, and usually has been for at least an hour or so. However, in the summer it is still light as the sun’s light is visible until around 9pm until summer solstice and then it is still light up until 8pm where I live well past the Labor Day holiday.

While it’s a bummer to stop playing early, I generally feel the most productive creatively in that general time frame of right after dinner, but sometime before bedtime (when tiredness and general fatigue from the day set in). For the past two weeks, I’ve been fairly consistent about the 8pm time slot and making sure to grab my notebook and put down 1-2 handwritten pages from a story that I want to do at random.

I would love to sit outside and draft as I would often sit out on the porch at that time period during my childhood, but the mosquitos are ferocious at that time of day and I’d spend more time dodging them than actually getting any writing done (they were pretty bad when I was a kid, but as a kid, you just shrug that off put up with the mosquito bites and the “itchies” they’d bring in order to play and have fun ).

I’d love to get to a place where I could have a gazebo or screened patio/deck area to write in the fading summer light, but I guess that’s a dream for when I can support myself as a writer/when writing actually pays the bills. For this summer, sitting inside and actually writing is a blissful experience unto itself.

It’s 8pm. Do I know where my stories are? Yes, I do. They’re getting transferred out of my head and on to the paper, and I’m back to having fun in the summer sun!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (June 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
2021 Revision: Completed.The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress.