Happy July! If your summer has been anything like mine, I bet it’s been a happily chaotic time full of friends, family, and sunburns. And hopefully a little reading.

Stumbled Through June

I can’t say I aced June. Writing deadlines, house tasks, and sunscreen application were some of the casualties in the wake of the swirling vortex of summer activities. This burnt-shouldered planner struggles a bit with the free-spirited nature of our blissful but brief Wisconsin summer. And while I would never say about our busy summer days that “It’s the Worst!”, I just want all activities to line up nicely in my planner. Alas, I suspect that we’ll still be trying to get family members to fun events on opposite ends of the city all summer long.

Summer Reading

Even in the midst of the busy summer, I’ve been able to sneak in some reading. I hope you have too! Nothing has been more motivating to me to keep reading than our library’s adult summer reading program. Filling out a bingo card square for each book read with the promise of a gift certificate to a local establishment was enough to help me actually finish a book, and I was so happy I did. It was called The Sirens of Soleil City. The multiple points of view and themes of redemption and second chances reminded me a bit of my book. Hope does not disappoint, including in summer beach reading!

One activity that my kids and I have been making time for is our weekly trip to the library. During one recent visit, I spotted what was confirmed to be original artwork from the Llama, Llama series!

I loved reading these books by Anna Dewdney to my kids, so it was such a delight to see this hanging behind the librarian’s desk.

July’s Looking Up

In the past two days, I’ve been able to spend an inordinate amount of time on my rough draft. I’m reaching the end, and it feels amazing to see the page count go up and number of scenes left drop. My goal for this month is to carve out more writing time.

The characters in my book also have passion projects. Whatever yours is, I hope you get extra time to work on them during these hazy, sometimes lazy, usually a little crazy days!