4 Steps to Your Perfect Summer Writing Plan
Photo by Link Hoang on Unsplash
For me, the turning of the season always brings about a desire to set new goals. Those who do a bullet journal are encouraged to think in terms of quarterly goals, and I also find that 3 months is a good amount of time to plan for. It’s not so long that it seems too far in the future, and it’s not so soon that you can’t get some real momentum.
The summer quarter of June-August always feels a bit special. For some writers, it’s a time when they are more likely to write. For others, they want that “summer vacation” feel of their schooldays. They want to be outdoors, go on vacation, or just take more time to hang out and relax.
Either way, there’s no shame! Take that break if you need to. We all need time to fill the well of creative inspiration and energy. If you don’t have or want Big Fat Hairy Goals, you can still embrace your creative spirit in a variety of ways:
Read! I tend to read a lot more in the summer. Lots of “summer publishing” lists are out now, like this “Summer Reads 2024” from Publisher’s Weekly. If you’re like me, you have a running list of books you’d like to read. Now’s the time to start getting them from the library, loading up the Kindle, scouring local used bookstores....
Take an Artist Date – the old standby from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, it’s a small solo adventure, done with the idea of filling up the creative well. Do something nourishing for your soul and senses. Again, lots of lists of upcoming events are coming out now, so take the time to plan a few fun things you can do. Explore a new area, store, state park, gallery, museum...go on a photography adventure... experiment with a new art form...
Take a class. Try something new. It could be a writing class, or something completely different, like painting or tango dancing.
Do some “forest bathing” as the Japanese call it. Or bask by the salty ocean. Take advantage of the better weather to be out in nature – if you have better weather; I know for myself if I lived anywhere in the south this would be the season I’d stay indoors, out of the heat and humidity!
Spend your usual writing time just playing, without a goal in mind. Write a poem. Do a 15 or 30-minute freewrite. Write an essay, a flash fiction story, a fragment of memoir. Try a writing exercise. Look for inspiration in Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones and other old favorites.
Of course, if you do want to focus on a bigger goal, have at it!
It’s a four-step process:
CREATE A GOAL
MAKE A PLAN
CREATE A SCHEDULE
MAKE A COMMITMENT
First, create a goal. This is a great time to bring out the old SMART goals rubric:
Specific – what exactly do you want to accomplish? Finish a novel draft, research, outline, and write the first 3 chapters...
Measurable – you’ll know when you’ve accomplished it: write 1,000 words per day, or 5,000 words per week
Attainable – can you realistically complete it? It can be a stretch goal – one that you’re not 100% sure you can accomplish is often paradoxically more motivating than one you’re sure about.
Relevant – it should be something you really want to do. Perhaps it’s a project you’ve put aside for a ling time and now want to get back to, or maybe it’s a brand-new thing you’re itching to write.
Time-bound – what do you want to have accomplished by Labor Day weekend? That’s the first weekend in September, for any non-U.S.-based people out there. Also, think about your daily and weekly goals.
Goals will vary widely for different writers. Some will make it a goal to write the first draft of a novel in three months. Great! What do you have to do to make that happen? Or maybe you’re tackling a revision, in which case “word count” isn’t a good metric to measure by. In any case, once you have a goal, you’ll want to make a plan for how you’re going to make it happen.
How much time can you set aside each day? Or if not daily, each week? Put it in your calendar!
How many words approximately will you need to hit in each writing session? If not a word count goal, is there some other meaningful goal to have? If you can’t decide ahead of time, that’s all right. But one motivational tip to keep you writing is to think about your goal for the next day before you stop the current writing session.
Are there any vacations or other times when your routine will be interrupted? Planning around those can be tricky. There’s often a “recombobulation period” after you return where it takes a while to get back into the groove. If you have a plan in place before you leave, it’s much easier.
Can you do a writing retreat? If you can go somewhere for a few days or a week, that concentrated time can be a huge spur to accomplishment. If you don’t have the money or time for a major getaway, can you plan day trips, or half-days? Smaller chunks of time can be just as beneficial as larger ones. Have a goal for each retreat. What’s realistic will depend on how long you can get away.
The main point is – plan now, or it won’t happen. It’s criminal how quickly the days slide by, and soon we’ll feel the cool snap of fall weather and wonder where the summer went. If you want to look back after Labor Day with a sense of pride at what you accomplished, start planning now.
Next, create a schedule. Put it in your calendar as sacred time (barring actual family emergency). You should do this with marks to hit, working backwards from September 1 (or Labor Day weekend, whichever you prefer). You might want to put in monthly and weekly goals now, and then daily writing time each week as you go (or whatever your schedule is). Again, what doesn’t get in the calendar is often forgotten, or shoved aside for something else. Seeing it in front of you regularly - or getting reminders on your phone - means you are much more likely to actually do it.
Finally, make a commitment to carrying out your plan and achieving your goal. Write it down, and put it somewhere you will see it regularly. On the bathroom mirror, clipped to the front of your journal, taped above your computer (or on your laptop)… The point here is to again, have regular reminders of your commitment.
You should write not just your commitment (“I will finish my novel revision of title by September 1, 2024”) but also your why (“because I am ready and committed to finishing this book so I can start the querying/publishing process this fall.” Or “because it’s the book of my heart and I am burning to get it out into the world.”). Your WHY will keep you motivated when you don’t feel like writing, or when other things inevitably come up that lure you away from your commitment.
I’m excited to start my planning process this weekend. I have two drafts of novels that need revision. Can I do both this summer? I think I can. But I need to figure out the SMART goals, and make a real commitment to myself to do the work, using the planning process above. Tweak it if you need to, but do it - you will thank me in September!
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