As teachers, we make plans. That’s what teachers do. As writers, we write. That’s what writers do. If you are a teacherwriter, plan for summer writing now.
During the school year, we write in small blocks, 30 minutes here, and hour there, at midnight after grading another time. However, during a break, a glorious summer break of six or eight weeks, it’s possible to knock out a huge chunk of writing.
Writing Time
If you’re not used to writing for more than an hour at a time, work up to it. Plan to write for 1 ½ hours one day, 2 hours the next, and so on until you reach your daily writing goal.
By the end of a week, you could be writing 4-6 hours a day, if that’s your goal.
What to Write About
This is the perfect time to write the first draft of a novel. You can also pump up a blog, or create a new blog. If you specialize in nonfiction, this is the time to build up a larger repertoire of articles. This is the time of year when you can focus on queries and building new markets for your writing.
Set Reasonable Goals and Make a Daily Plan
Once you’ve decided on your goals, and you know they are reachable, begin planning with your calendar. How many writing days do you have on your break? Divide the words or articles, or submissions by the number of days to find what you need to accomplish each day.
For example, one of my goals is to finish my 100th Suite 101 article. Right now I have 70 articles live on the site. I have 42 actual writing days until I return to work in August. Yay! I have to write 7/10th of an article per day, or about four articles per week. Quite doable.
I want to complete the rough draft of a novel. At 100,000 words, that means I need to write about 2400 words a day. Still quite doable, on top of the Suite101 articles. Alternatively, I can break it into scenes. If I write one scene a day, the book will be finished a week before the end of my break.
Of course, my daily plan includes lap swimming, (I’m not a total sloth,) and other fun things. Don’t forget to include fun in your planning. Summer is for relaxation and restoration; two things that help a writer produce.
Happy summer, and happy writing!
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taught. They are truly amazing parents.
