Do You Write Less In The Summertime?

Here we are at the end of another summer month with another one looming in front of us. Have you been slacking a bit on your writing these past couple of months? If so, you're not alone.

Isn't summer suppose to be the time of the year that we can kick back and take life easy? We were conditioned to that with our long summer vacations during our school days. Even as adults who perhaps have full-time jobs, parenting responsibilities and more, we still feel like we shouldn't push ourselves too hard in the summer months.

I've noticed that my online writing group participation goes down in the summer. Understandable with kids home from school, family and friends coming to visit and vacations cutting into the time when we usually do our writing. Do any of the slackers feel guilty? There are probably two schools of thought on that question. Some feel they deserve the time off while others take the break but have this squirmy feeling that they should be fulfilling a commitment they made when they joined. We're all individuals and have varied opinions on that kind of question.

Whether you take time off from your writing journey in the summer depends on whether or not you are trying to make a living from freelance writing. If your writing income is important to survival, you are not going to cut back. You have no choice. It's more often that the writer who is a hobbyist or only enjoying some added income as 'mad money' is the one who can afford to stop writing over the summer or slow down.

Now ask yourself if you're doing a disservice to yourself. I find that, when I take a break from writing, it's much harder to get back into the usual routine. Once you slow down considerably, or even stop writing altogether, it's much more difficult to get your engine revved up again. One more week, another day or two--what does it matter? Well, it does matter if it keeps going on and on.

Another consideration is that we learn and grow only if we continue to write and be involved in writing-related activities. Stop reading those writing newsletters you subscribe to and you have no idea who is calling for submissions. Your files might be filled with pieces that you could be submitting.

Maybe you could enjoy your summer activities this next month but set aside a small amount of time each day/week to write or work on submitting what is already written. If you write nothing more than a writing exercise, it's alright. If your writing group requires two subs a month, even one is showing that you're making an effort.

Slow down if you must in these lazy days of summer, but please do not stop writing!