Monday Musings 8-30-21

It’s another month with five Mondays, which means I get to write a cross-over blog for Monday Musings and Dear Maggie!

Although summer doesn’t officially end until September 22nd, this week feels like the transition to fall, at least in our house. We’ve just returned from dropping kid #3 off at college on the west coast, and kid #4 begins her senior year of high school tomorrow. While this isn’t our first rodeo moving a kid into school, we’ve always come back to a full house and business as usual with the younger kids still at home. But with our youngest a very independent senior, the house is quiet in a way it’s never been before.

In a previous blog, which you can read here, I talked about experiencing two very different emotions at the same time. Accepting that opposite feelings could co-exist, or that I could easily slip from one to the other, helped me navigate a particularly challenging time for our family.

Now, I regularly fluctuate between nostalgia and excitement. On the one hand, I can’t believe our time as parents of young children is nearly up. On the other hand, I am so excited about this next phase in our life. My husband and I have worked hard to create a marriage that’s satisfying to us as individuals and as a couple, and is about more than raising kids together. We love where we are, and we miss our kids at the same time. The idea that we can experience both things simultaneously validates each.

As our children enter the next phase of their lives, we have found a new joy in watching them pursue their dreams, discover their passions, fall in love, and grow into amazing young adults.

“To raise a child who is comfortable enough to leave you means you’ve done your job. They are not ours to keep, but to teach to soar on their own.” - author unknown

Here are some of my favorite photos from last week!

Monday Musings 8-17-20

Every year in the middle of August, around now actually, I start to feel as if time is galloping away at top speed. The summer is winding down. The changeover to fall is in the air. Sure, we have some scorching days, backyard BBQs, and beach time left, but September is in sight.

Don’t get me wrong, I love fall. I love the crisp days, my renewed interest in cooking, the productivity in my work life. I love apple picking, football season, and mulled cider. I love the changing leaves, pumpkins, and dressing up for Halloween. My trepidation isn’t really about the change of seasons at all, it’s about the way I can feel time passing by in such a visceral way.

This year, I am torn between wanting to draw out time, and feeling a desperate urge to speed things forward. This hasn’t been the easiest timeline for me, or for anyone else on planet Earth. A resurgence in the virus is a very real concern. My inability to travel has directly impacted my career. I haven’t seen my two oldest children since Christmas. The list goes on. But, I am acutely aware that tomorrow isn’t promised and this moment is a gift, so savoring the here and now, mindfully choosing how to spend my time, and fully embracing the present with all its challenges, is how I am striving to show up.

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.” Dalai Lama

Monday Musings 8-26-19

This morning it feels like fall has already arrived. While we have a few more days of summer vacation left before the routine of school and sports and kids’ activities officially begins, we can all feel it in the air. I’ll be sad to see summer fade, but it was a good one. We filled our days with barbecues, family, friends, swimming, and amusement parks, and our nights with fires, s’mores, concerts, and more than a few bottles of good wine. Yes, we all worked. It was Comic Con season for me, and those can be exhausting, but still, the different rhythm of summer provides a needed change, a break from the routine.

Now, along with the crisp days of autumn, I look forward to my most productive writing season. Over the course of my professional life, I’ve learned that I work best when I honor my personal rhythms. When I recognize that there is a natural time when I am most creative and a time when I need to slow down, I feel more balanced and ultimately, in the long run, more productive.

Here’s a section from a post I wrote a while ago titled Inside a Writer’s Mind: On Working with a Calendar. The focus of the article was about taking control of our time, but this particular section focused on honoring our natural rhythms. As we head into fall, which for many of us means an uptick in activity and overall busyness, I think it’s worth sharing.

Structure Your Work Life to Honor Your Personal Rhythms

Step one is recognizing you have a rhythm. A friend of mine, who works a full-time job in a different field, writes during his train commute to and from work. He plugs in the ear buds and hits an impressive daily word count. Another friend works late into the evening, when the house is quiet and everyone else is asleep.

Writing, in one capacity or another, is my full-time job now, and I’m learning a great deal about rhythm. For example, I’m productive with task-oriented items like scheduling social media in the morning, but I couldn’t solve a plot tangle before noon to save my life. Likewise, I have to keep things simple on Fridays because I’m pretty worn out, but I can often get some solid creative writing in over the weekend.

When I’m drafting a novel, I need several uninterrupted hours for my creativity to flow and to hit my daily word count. It’s tricky for me to work one hour without interruption never mind four, but I know this is what I need to do. Draft weeks wind up with a unique rhythm, and I’m often hiding at Starbucks to make it work!

I’m also noticing a rhythm to the year. Summers are busy with cons and conferences, so I can’t plan to draft a novel, but I can write blog posts and short stories. In the fall, when everyone is back to school and out of the house, I’m ready to find those uninterrupted hours and renew my affection for chai lattes.

There’s no right way to schedule your time, only the way that works best for you. When I respect my natural rhythms and organize my work life around them, I find I’m much more productive, and certainly much happier.

Here’s a link to the whole article: Inside a Writer’s Mind. Even though I wrote it with other creative types in mind, the tips come from my work as a teacher, school administrator, mom, and eventually, writer. I hope they’re helpful. Enjoy these last few days of summer!