There are no carpools to school and few commitments for me, so I commit to myself and my writing. This is my time of year. The time where my husband, who happens to be a teacher, can take the kids to the park for the day and I can just write.
For my non-writer friends, this may sound strange- I willingly lock myself in dusty old archives while others bask in summer sun? I prefer to stay inside and write rather than run barefooted in the grass or chase the ice cream truck? But yes, honestly, summer means I get to immerse myself in the world I am creating with no kid pickups or homework interruptions. And besides, the kids can bring me back an ice cream cone and I'm always the one who gets stung when running barefooted anyway.
This summer, I got to return to Pennsylvania to see family and friends and continue research for a book that sort of found me last summer. I also got to donate my two newest books to the school district where my dad works. And I got to do a talk and book signing at my beloved hometown library, Shaw Public Library, which is the very same library that gave me my "start" as a writer in the sixth grade. The three pictures above show those phases of my writer's summer in Pennsylvania- research, giving back, and promotion.
And now I'm back in California, and it's time to return to the most important part of a writer's summer, the actual writing. It's coming along, and the summer is slipping away. The really great news- I haven't been stung once and that world I've been creating, it'll still be here for me to continue creating in the fall, at least until I have to pick up a kid or help with homework...
Now for a little fun- if you are the first person who can correctly guess what I am looking at as part of my research in the first picture, I will send you a signed copy of the book I was researching at the time. Hint, hint... This photo was taken last summer. Please post your answers below. And as always, thanks for reading!