As a stay-at-home dad my routines follow the school calendar,
which means: it’s summer vacation, baby!
What will my ten-year-old son and I do with our time?
We’ll run errands, do the household shopping, keep the house
clean, tend the yard and perform whatever other chores need to be done. But we’ll also cook dinners for Mama, hang
out with buddies, read books, play online math games, go out in the yard or to
a park and toss a football or baseball, or kick around a soccer ball. We’ll ride our bikes to the library or the small
local bookstore (which just happens to be located across the street from an ice
cream shop!). We’ll go to the beach and
search for driftwood “blasters.” We’ll have
driftwood “blaster” battles. And then we’ll
go sailing with Mama!
 |
| Two desperadoes holed up in a driftwood fort |
Summer certainly means less Daddy Time, but for me the
tradeoff is worth it. The more I
interact with and experience the world through a ten-year-old’s eyes, the more
I feel inspired to continue pursuing my dream of writing books for
children. Time on the boat also provides
a break from my usual routines, which ensures I will get “unstuck” from any
ruts I may have fallen into over the long wet winter. And on days when we are home I can still work
for a few hours, and I still hope to achieve my goal of picking a picture book
and/or chapter book project from last year and actually finishing the thing in
the next few months!
It’s been four years since I finished (read: submitted) a
novel-length work. I’ve had a couple
shorter things published in the interim, but I feel like it’s time again to see
where my work and studies have brought me.
Maybe this time will be “the” time.
If not, school begins again in a few months and I’ll return
to my regular schedule and keep typing away….
10 comments:
Seems like spring has been a long time coming this year, but with the start of summer vacation who can argue? A couple days of sunshine and the rain of winter is almost forgotten. It is a time for new beginnings. Good luck on the book!
Mark,
This sounds like an idyllic summer vacation. What a dream for a 10-year-old boy and his dad! And here's to finishing one of your chapter book projects!
Mark, what if you shared a designated writing time? Even co-authored an adventure? It could be a fun activity to keep your head in writing and have access to that authentic kid voice. Ten-years old is such a perfect age. Enjoy!
Thanks Edie! And Christy, great idea about co-authoring. For the last few years we've been writing a story or two while on the boat each summer, but even more helpful (to me) has been brainstorming with Ben about story ideas, characters, etc... something that's not limited to only the summer but is rather a year-round resource I continually tap into!!
It's wonderful you have that continual exchange; Ben must feel like his imagination is celebrated. I bet Ben will become a writer too.
Mark, I love the picture of the driftwood desperados. What a fantastic list of adventures for a ten-year old and for his dad. This is all very direct research. Enjoy.
What a wonderful summer for you and your ten year old son! I too love the photo. My husband and son built so many forts every summer together, it brings back great memories. I look forward to hearing more about your summer adventures along the way.
Wishing you a productive and fun summer:)
Love this photo!! You are definitely doing the right thing to spur your writing. Play is the way!!!
Have a fun summer with your son, Mark. And I agree with all of the comments about making memories that could be great fodder for books. You are both lucky to be able to spend so much time together.
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