I am never very productive during the summer months. I cannot say why that is, whether the heat induces a type of lethargy, or, there are too many distractions, or, I simply tune out and let any projects on which I’m working shift to the back burner. Whatever the reason, summer has typically been my least successful season from a writing standpoint.
With the arrival of fall and setting our clocks back, I’m finding myself becoming reinvigorated with the desire to write. Perhaps the time change in the spring plays a role, throwing me out of sync with when I normally write, or disrupting my sleep schedule just enough to make a difference. There could be many reasons behind it. I don’t always stop writing when we “spring forward” but it’s not long afterward when I start slowing down.
I can always tell when the season starts to change because I typically start writing for my blog again. This year, I’ve taken on some additional writing challenges, such as a Patreon page I’m starting and a column on Substact that currently consists of updated reprints of my Author’s Intent column from Raised by Wolves. I’m hoping that these will help me establish more of a writing habit as did the early years of my blog, but we shall see.
The bottom line is that I’m once again writing, though I haven’t quite resumed the pace I was at before the advent of summer. I have started tackling projects that were languishing, notably the continuation of my follow up to Reconstruction entitled Terminus. Two stories in particular are gaining momentum. One, with the working title “Resurgens”, picks up Claire Belmonte’s uneasy relationship with her mother, Selma; another, called “Songbird” fills in the details behind the story “Remains” featured in Fables of the New South.
I haven’t yet determined exactly what’s going into Terminus, though I have a rough draft of one of the longer stories I want to include. In the time since I completed Reconstruction, I have developed several new characters, some of whom were introduced in Worthy. Some of what I would like to include are still in the inspiration stage while others have beginnings, or middles, with vague ideas where I want to go with them. But, that’s the joy of writing, never knowing exactly where a project is heading and just hopping on for the ride.
