by Stephanie Morrill
Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series (Revell) and the Ellie Sweet books (Birch House Press). You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website including the free novella, Throwing Stones.
Summer vacation arrived last Friday in the Morrill house.
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| Connor – who hates having his picture taken – absolutely loves photobombing. |
In addition to the joys of getting to sleep in a bit and enjoy relaxed time with my kids, this also means my beautiful work structure of writing during the days they’re both in school has completely vanished. Long stretches of having the house to myself and getting lost in the 1920s? All but gone.
But if I look for them, there will be snippets of time that are mine for the taking. Times when grandparents want to have the kids over for the afternoon or when they’re cuddled on the couch watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. If I have the eyes to see it, I can snatch those moments up for a vacation to Chicago in 1926.
Don’t get me wrong, I also plan to have a lot of fun with my kids, especially since this is my last summer with just the two of them. With Baby #3 due to arrive in October, I know this summer is a unique opportunity to enjoy my two big kids, and I don’t want to miss out on that.
So as I look ahead to summer, this quote from Muse keeps turning over in my head:
“Don’t waste your time or time will waste you.” – “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse.
When I come out on the other side of this summer, I want to be able to say two things:
1. I finished the first draft of my book.
2. I was intentional about how I spent my time with my kids, and we had a blast.
Also, we are switching to our summer schedule of posting just on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays only. This will last until after Labor Day weekend.