Taking Time Off From Writing
Can someone teach me how to do that?
Upcoming Workshops and Offerings
On July 30 at 1PM EST, Book Club for Writers will discuss Daily Rituals: Women at Work. Paid subscribers are invited to attend book club meetings on Zoom.
Writing workshops start again in the fall! Watch the newsletter for class announcements.
I am on vacation.
Well, let me rephrase that: I am on staycation.
I am in my home with no freelance assignments.
My husband and I have gone to the beach every day.
Most days have ended with a cocktail or two.
For the newsletter this week, I was planning to write something different. But it’s been a hard writing week for me. My period arrived and knocked me out. I was hoping to revise a good chunk of my novel in the mornings before transitioning into Staycay Hurley around lunchtime. I set daily goals: markers I wanted to reach in my writing projects during this time away from work.
But this week taught me a hard lesson. I need to learn to refrain from setting ambitious writing goals during my time off.
Do you, sweet reader, do the same thing to yourself during your time off? Do you see holes in your calendar and think, “How do I make this a writing residency real quick?”
The other night, my friend Mara reminded me not to be an asshole to myself. I decided to listen to her.
I took these photos of the beach. I am going to go sit on said beach now.
I will read a book and take a nap.
Later, Alex will make me a Negroni.
I will sip it in the yard while the cicadas buzz and brim.
And the writing will be there when I return to it.
Book Club Meeting on July 30 at 1PM EST
Virginia Woolf always did her writing in the mornings.
“How great writers write at night,” she wrote in her diary, “I don’t know.”
I learned this from Mason Currey’s book Daily Rituals: Women at Work, which my Book Club for Writers is discussing later this month.
In addition to discussing the book during our meeting on July 30, we’ll do exercises designed to help you find your own writing rituals and examine what is/isn’t working in your writing life.
I’d love to have you there. Join for the month of July for just $5, or subscribe for the whole year and save 27%. Upgrade your subscription by clicking below.
How you can participate in the next Book Club for Writers discussion:
Get the book via Bookshop, Amazon, or your local library.
Add the book club meeting to your calendar and start reading.
As you read, take notes on the artist routines that stand out to you. Hunt for patterns.
Join the discussion live on Zoom on Sunday, July 30 at 1PM EST. Paid subscribers will receive a Zoom link the day before our meeting.
Can’t make it live? Our recorded discussion will be available on Zoom afterward.
Is your summer schedule too packed to read this month’s book selection? We will meet in October to discuss Matt Bell’s Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts.
View the full book club schedule here. 2024 books will be announced in the fall.
Thank you for reading. See you on the boardwalk.
🏄 Hurley
Feeling very seen. Every “hole in my calendar” is a potential writing residency. Somehow I always forget that writing (especially editing long work) is truly exhausting work.
Since I began writing this new series, I have become obsessed with writing every day. Not 6-plus hours. Often no more than 90 minutes. But every day, regardless of what that day brings. I began writing book 2 on May 21 and since that time have not missed a single day, often surpassing 2,000 words. One day, I only hit 450. It made me feel like a failure. I know I shouldn't be like this, but I can't seem to stop.