What I Did(n't Do) This Summer

       

So, are you a writer that also happens to be a parent of school aged children?  If so, tell me if this sounds familiar...

Memorial Day is fast approaching.  You brush a frizzy, ketchup scented lock of hair behind your ear and try not to look at your exhausted face in the mirror on your way out the door to get the kids to school.  You start mentally counting down the days until school is out, and you tell yourself that when it does, you're going to sit by the [insert child activity here - pool, playground, beach, Ben and Jerry's Sweet Shop, take your pick] and you are finally going to get some writing done.  No more soccer practices, music lessons, dance recitals, PTO fundraisers.  You are going to finish that book you've been working on and maybe even the other one too, you know the one, the one you frantically sketched out one afternoon on the napkin you packed in your kid's lunch but they never used.  No more excuses - life is going to slow down and you are going to get stuff done.

104 days later...

Labor Day is fast approaching.  You brush a frizzy, chlorine scented lock of hair behind your ear and try not to look at your sunburned face on your way out the door to get your kids their school supplies.  You start mentally counting down the days until school starts again and you tell yourself that when it does, you're going to [insert adult activity here - sit at Starbucks, lounge in pajamas, hunker down at your desk, take your pick] and you are finally going to get some writing done.  No more pool parties, play dates, family obligations, sleepovers, birthday parties, vacations you needed a vacation to recover from when you got back.  You are going to finish that book you've been working on and maybe even the other one too, you know the one, the one you frantically sketched out one afternoon on the back of a Chuck E. Cheese napkin while keeping one eye on the little one playing Whack-a-Mole.  No more excuses - life is going to slow down and you are going to get stuff done.

Yeah, so that about sums up my summer.  It didn't help that I spent the entire summer with virtually no internet access.  You'd think that would be a good thing, right?  (See previous post on the joys of disconnecting).  Not so much.  Turns out, without turning on my computer to check my email, it became reaaallly easy to just not turn the computer on at all.  Granted, I had a great summer with the kids.  We got a lot of work done renovating my grandfather's house for my dad.  We played, we swam, we read books, we baked, we stayed up late watching Abbott and Costello.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  But at the end of the day, I found myself so exhausted that my normal post-bedtime writing routine went right out the window. 

So, how about you?  Did you manage to write The Great American Novel over the summer, or is all your genius still stuck on a napkin?