The End of Summer

In about a month, my writing group starts meeting again. We take a break over the summer for two reasons. First, it’s too hot to go out. Second, I’m always running short on time during the months my son is out of school. My writing gets put on hold a lot during June, July, and August, and although sometimes it makes me nuts, it’s for a good cause. Part of the reason I’m a writer is to spend more time with my son. He will only be eight once, and I plan to witness as much of it as I can. Besides, the surplus of Cameron time during summer helps fortify me for the other nine months, when I deal with isolation instead. That’s when I’m (embarrassingly) likely to talk someone’s ear off after a stretch of too much time by myself. One of the downsides of being a writer is the loneliness you can feel as you spend hours alone with just your internet connection.

Stephen King does a great job of describing a writer’s life in On Writing, which I just finished. Ten pages into this book you’ll see why it’s considered a classic. I didn’t know what to expect when I began reading, but I instantly connected with his descriptions of the early years of a writer. I, too, had a stack of rejection slips, all resulting from awful short stories someone at Seventeen had to suffer through. Of course, he went on to become Stephen King and I am still working on things, but one never knows. Part memoir, part writing instruction, On Writing is an easy read that every writer should enjoy.

My favorite quotes from On Writing:
“Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”