Every summer, I over-promise and under-deliver. At least when it comes to producing word count.
The kids are at home almost all day, every day. The company I work for has a huge conference sometime between late August and late September every year (this year, it’s late September), and I am heavily involved in the development and delivery of many breakout sessions. This means I have more to do in less time (remember those children who are at home?) than usual. By the time I finish what I have do for the day job most days, I’m simply spent. I don’t have the will or the mental capacity to sit down and write, too.
You would think I would know by now that writing even an average of 500 words per day is just not going to happen, especially not from July through September, and yet I somehow manage to tell myself every year that this is the year that will be different. I was so sure that it wouldn’t be a problem this summer that I promised to have The Lesson Plan written by mid-September for a late October release. How close am I to achieving that goal? Um, about the same as I was when I made the promise back in June (before school got out). Oh, I’ve added word count, but it’s taken me almost a month to add the last thousand words.
Now, the kids will all be back in school this coming week, which is something that usually helps, but I’m not sure that’s going to be the case any more. My oldest started high school, and I’ve discovered that dropping him off and picking him up is a minimum 30 minute round-trip. The middle school my daughter goes to has cut the bus stop near our house, which means having her ride the bus to and from school is no longer an option. My youngest son’s schedule hasn’t changed, but the bottom line is that I now have three morning drops and three afternoon pickups to contend with. I think I can consolidate picking up the high schooler and the middle schooler, but none of the other times coincide closely enough to kill two birds with one stone. I’m sure we’ll all get used to this, but I know I’m going to be spending more time playing chauffer than I did when the older two were in middle school and rode the bus both ways. /sigh
Anyway, I’m still hoping to meet that late October release target, but at this point, it’s probably going to be a close thing.
Have I learned anything? Yes. Next summer, I won’t think things will be different.
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