Before you comment on how writers cannot write without living, and cannot live without writing, I just want you to see this wink here: see?
I am just having fun with false dichotomies. Doesn't the title provoke a stronger response in you than "how I plan strike a balance between writing and spending time with the kids this summer"?
So anyway, as many writers with school age children have commented on their blogs recently, summer time poses a question for us. Should we continue to write? Or should we take time for our children?
For example, The tollboothers exhort us to take a break and enjoy our summer. I agree. Kids grow up in the blink of an eye. Summer is a time to be enjoyed outdoors, with a leisurely attitude. (Nat King Cole is singing in my head right now: "roll out the hazy, lazy, crazy days of summer....") There is a certain rhythm and cycle to life; and taking a break is very much part of that.
But I know I can't take the whole summer off from writing. Not possible. Not even conceivable. What I plan is to carve aside an hour in the morning (as the kids read or draw or do quiet desk things) and an hour in the afternoon (as they get their screen time) to write.
I'll let you know how that works.
3 comments:
Kids first. That's my summer rule too. I've been writing madly for this reason alone for the past few months. End of school = writing deadline. And yes, it's hard to walk away from writing, so I hope we do get time for it too!! But I'm not going to sweat it if it doesn't happen.
i might actually have more time to write in the summer, since my school librarian job gives me a vacation and the kids will be at camp half a day. Still, it sometimes seems that being home with kids is more work that being at work... if that makes any sense. I plan on enjoying the moments and taking it slow.
Good luck - to be honest, I don't know how you parents do it, I really don't.
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