For many of us, summer “break” is just around the corner, and we will soon transition from the drumbeat of the school year to a period where teaching and service work slows. Many of us also enter this period of time with the best-laid writing plans.
“I will finish that book that is many months delayed!”
“I will draft that article that I’ve been percolating on for over a year.”
or even
“I will finish writing that book AND draft two articles!”
It doesn’t matter that the last three summers we had equally lofty goals but didn’t complete them. Somehow we still believe that this is the summer that we will finally be productive and complete everything we set out to do. Having an optimistic attitude towards our goals is important, but it's equally important to set realistic expectations for ourselves, or we risk feeling guilty about everything we failed to achieve on the lofty list of summer goals.
Here are a few suggestions for setting yourself up for a realistic, productive, and even restful summer.