There are many things to love about the summer. There's the shorts-all-the-time weather, barbecues, the possibility of a cross-country vacation. No matter how you choose to spend the 2 1/2 to 3 months of school-free bliss, the point is is that there's time. 2 1/2 to 3 months of time to do just about anything you please. It's a pretty special gift, especially if you're a writer like me.
I write all-year round, obviously. Days, nights, in between classes or shifts at work, I do my best to write whenever I can. There are some weeks, particularly during the school year, where I may get only an hour total of productive writing time. There have even been entire weeks that have gone by where I've barely written a word.
That all changes during the summer, though.
During the summer, I'm free. Well, free-er. I still have work, make time for family and friends and binge-watching TV shows (I just got into True Blood and am loving it!), and yet I still have time. So much of it. And with that time, I write.
So far this summer, I've been working on(and reworking) my latest manuscript, a YA novel that takes place in Hollywood. I started on the very same project last summer, finishing most of the first draft before the fall semester began. It's been great to focus my time and energy on this story and these characters I have spent the past year knowing and loving, but like I said, with it being summer, I have so. Much. Time. I can work on my novel AND have time to work on a short story set on the last day of summer in 1986 that I put aside ages ago. I've brainstormed other short story ideas, also, and there's a great possibility that I'll work on some of those before summer is over. Then there are stories I've completed drafts of that I'm now revisiting, revising them in the hopes of maybe sharing them with a wider audience in the neat future.
As a writer in the summertime, the possibilities are nearly endless. My mind is free to wander, no longer tied down and dedicated to cranking out essays for school or answering weekly message board posts. I'm able to do what I love more often: write, and read the work of others. I'm not the fastest reader, but it is a glorious freedom to be able to read what I want and on my own schedule, devouring books I have put off reading for months because I simply didn't have the time to do so before.
Don't get me wrong; I make the time to read and write regardless of the season and how much I have on my plate. I'd probably go insane if I didn't. But it's the seemingly unlimited space of these 3 months that excites me. For these 3 months, I almost feel like I get to do what I hope to do for the rest of my life: reading the words of others for pleasure, while creating my own words that will hopefully be shared with all of you in the future.
Happy reading and writing,
Dustin (@DustinVann)
No comments:
Post a Comment