MamaWriters are excited to have special guest Carrie Lofty with us today. Her debut book WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS came out late 2008, her second SCOUNDREL’S KISS released January ’10, and her latest, SONG OF SEDUCTION, just released this month from Carina Press.
Please help us welcome Carrie Lofty!
A Mama Writer’s Summer
As a child I remember eagerly counting down the days until summer vacation. Now, however, as a stay-at-home mom and professional author, I approach the long summer months with little eagerness. The adjustments I must make to my writing schedule are tremendous.
Please don’t get me wrong. I love my elementary-aged daughters desperately. If there was a way for them to be at home with me during the summer while I maintained my school-year writing pace, I’d be a happy camper.
Oh…speaking of camp!
For the fist time my daughters’ school is offering all-day summer camp. They’re excited because it means they’ll be doing themed courses on cooking, nature, running a lemonade stand, science, music, and drama. They’ll also get to spend more time with friends, because I’m generally pretty lousy at remembering to schedule non-school-related playdates.
Me? I’m excited for obvious reasons. I’m knee-deep in writing my next release from Carina Press, PORTRAIT OF SEDUCTION. In July I’ll be starting two new books: SHAMELESS, the Australian-set sequel to my upcoming Victorian romance, FLAWLESS, and MIDNIGHT, the second in the hot-n-dirty “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy of sexy apocalyptic shifter romances I’m co-writing with Ann Aguirre under the name Ellen Connor.
Less obvious reasons include keeping all of us from becoming complacent slobs. Camp will give us a reason to get up and out of the house each morning. Plus, I really love the hour after they first return home from school. They get to blather on about their days while I get to be a mommy–a mommy content in having accomplished (most of) what I’d wanted to do during their absence. Then we can hit the beach or walk to the playground.
Everyone wins!
I’ve learned that it’s all about balance, as is the case with most mommy-related issues. A bit of one-on-one time, a little structured learning and play, a few lazy hours of TV or Wii–the makings of an ideal summer. Now, rather than dreading the daily struggle between my professional obligations and spending quality time with my girls, I get to do both. That’s a summer vacation I can look forward to!
What are you doing this summer? Do you experience the same push-pull between your kids and your writing ambitions? How do you cope?
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Ah camp… Can’t beat it! My oldest will start camp the week I go to Nationals, and then it continues through the week after I return. She’s doing drama camp, which she did last year and really enjoyed. They end their session with a musical they put on. Its really phenomenal.
My 2nd daughter, will only go to camp for one week, the week I’m gone at nationals. She’s only 4, and while her PreK did offer a 6-week program, it ends the last week in July, before that we already had so many plans. I wish camps ran through August, that would make life a lot easier!
The youngest babe, is still a baby… So no camp! And she’s just started crawling… writing time when she’s awake is pretty much non-existent. But one of my girlfriends takes her for a couple hours once a week or once every other week. That really is nice.
I have been really struggling with the summer so far. Daily word counts are a thing of the past… We are taking daily trips to the gym where the kids meet up and play with their friends, and I can get some exercise. Playdates galore… I have to keep them busy for parts of the day, so I can get that 2 hour window in the afternoon when baby is napping, and the older girls are having down time. I’ve also been trying to get up an hour or two before them to get some work in. 3-4 hours a day though of computer time, should be enough, but with the amount of work I’m already backed up, its just not. I need a solid week of 8 hours a day, and then I’d be golden…
I did hire a maid though who comes 1x a month, and that has made a world of difference! I caught up on laundry too, so I’m doing about 1 load a day now, which has also made a world of difference!
Good luck with all your projects Carrie!!!! They sound wonderful!
Oh, a maid! That would be unbelievable. But with camp all secured, I really can’t complain. Best of luck with your summer!
Twitter: KrisKennedy
says:
For me, summer may actually be easier, in that I have regular daycare a few days a week, and it’s a for more than a few hours at a shot.
Eliza, what you’re trying to do is so hard, with a really young one. I’ve been trying to work within those 3-ish hour time blocks all school year, and it’s been incredibly daunting. AND you have an infant, as well as 2 (slightly) older children. I don’t know how you do it.
I’ve realized that I need extended time, at least hours at a time, so I can write, pause while still staying in story mode, then come back to the manuscript and keep writing.
So, I’m hoping summer is good to me this year. And next year, we might have a little camp action.