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Elizabeth M. Johnson (she/her)'s avatar

Here's a thought for the parents from a parent: give your kid a screen for an hour while you write. If this thought feels you with all kinds of dread and shame, make it for 30 minutes AND remind yourself that 60 or 30 minutes on a screen once a day isn't going to harm any kid AND tell yourself your needs count too. <3

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Julia F. Green's avatar

Yes yes YES. Thank you for saying this. For giving permission!

As a non-parent, I get a lot of parental confessions of "bad" parenting. Making choices that support parental sanity is essential to GOOD parenting.

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Elizabeth M. Johnson (she/her)'s avatar

It absolutely is, Julia.

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Amy Grace's avatar

I’m writing in a journal by the pool while my kids swim. Bees buzzing around my feet/melted popsicle drops and water splash marks on my paper. It is chaos but I am embracing it! ❤️❤️❤️

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Julia F. Green's avatar

GET IT! Love this adaptation 💜

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Virginia Jacobs's avatar

I didn't push back on your timer thing because I figured you knew how to organize your life around protecting that time. I easily spend 90 minutes a day reading...it's the one thing I don't need to figure out how to "make" time for. I also prefer the timer because it allows for all of the writing things that aren't word count-related. Word count is fine for getting a lot of words out quickly, and that can be a great way to start, but it's much less useful for editing or exploring who your characters are, or any number of things you need to do to finish a manuscript.

I think it was last summer, but time is wonky, you said some days, when writing is hard, you just need to open your manuscript...that it's okay if the little assignments are that small. Some days, I say to myself "Julia says you just need to look at your work. It's okay if that's all you get to." I really appreciate your adherence to the value of just doing a little.

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Allison Kirkland's avatar

For me, summer is always my hardest writing season, for a variety of reasons. I have learned over time to set a very low bar for myself, lest the shame creep in when I don't write much of anything at all. I loved these suggestions!

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Julia F. Green's avatar

Interesting to hear what seasons each of us has...I've never thought of summer as a low writing season for me, but I'm wondering if that's simple ignorance on my part. Yes to low bars and boooooooo to shame (I wish we could banish it forever).

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Jody Gerbig's avatar

I don’t even have time to read in the summer, much less to listen to audiobooks without constant interruptions, so I like to spend mental time outling beats in my head. Still trying to brainstorm one character but each sleep brings me closer.

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Julia F. Green's avatar

Love that—when there’s no time, you can still daydream. And sorry the summer is so chaotic. I’ll be hoping for you to get ten minutes to yourself one day a week 💜

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Julia F. Green's avatar

Love this, Virginia. I am always pleased to hear that sometimes people hear my voice in their head 😂 It IS okay if all you do is look. And maybe some of that reading time can become writing time...?

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