Less Than Six Weeks

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I looked at the calendar and realized I was already a third of the way through my summer break.  Less than six weeks left.

It isn't like I haven't been doing anything (although you can't tell, since I haven't written here much.)  I've been reading a lot, spending time with friends, and had a fabulous trip to Chicago.  I've been doing some serious re-tooling of my reading classroom, and that takes a lot of thinking time I don't have during the school year.

So, all good.

But still, with just six weeks left, I need to make some real effort toward the writing projects I have been dreaming about for months. Writing gets the writing done, not dreaming!

This called for a trip to Bunche Beach on a beautiful Sunday morning. This week I realized that I go to the beach when I need to set directions and be inspired.  I go to the woods and swamps when I need to quiet my mind. The beach was just the ticket!

The tide was in, so the water was gently lapping the shore.  When the water is higher up on the beach, it changes my vision of everything.  I stepped onto the beach and was immediately taken with this tree -- one I probably pass every time I'm there and never spend much time thinking about.

As I walked I thought about my writing projects and how to accomplish some kind of completed drafts by the end of my summer -- less than six weeks.

First, for the novelette, I am going to get what I can down this week. The project has been lagging as I struggled to figure out a certain section. But then I had an a-ha moment about what is going on with the character, and that helped me see that what I was searching for doesn't exist. Not going to explain any more of that here -- suffice to say, it helped me think of a way to move forward.  I am aiming to have a draft ready by July 1st to send to my writing buddies.

One goal down.  One more to go.

With the balance of time, I need to make serious progress on my novel in linked stories.  Part of my stalling on this was that I hadn't settled on a structure. But after working my way through Barbara Hamby's brilliant linked story collection Lester Higato's Twentieth Century, I'm committing to individual stories. Most linked story novels seem to have between 10-13 stories, so I'm going for drafting two-three a week.  By the time I return to work on August 3, I should have plenty of drafted material to revise and refine.

I have lots to do.  And I'm ready!