Summer Reading, Summer Writing
Sun, heat, long days, warm nights, sand, flip-flops, farmers markets, outdoor concerts, alfresco dining!
I hate all of these things.
(Flip-flops are a possible exception.)
Summer is my least favorite season and some people don't like it when I say that, because it goes against everything we are supposed to feel about this time of year and one thing I've noticed about human nature is that it can really bug us if someone doesn't like something we feel they are supposed to like. What's that about? Let me hate summer, it's fine! I'll hate summer, and you can hate candy corn and we can all go about our lives.
Aside from the heat and the summer SAD, another reason I don't like summer is the disruption to routine. My husband is a teacher and has "summers off" (in quotes because every teacher knows this is not actually true), and while it's great to see more of him, have a companion for movie matinees, and make him bring me coffee in bed, there is also always this weird sense of, "Shouldn't you be somewhere?" Like, he's just there, on no particular schedule.
The good thing about summer is it means while everyone else is out there getting sunburned and dodging yellowjackets and giant hornets, I can use the extra daylight to enjoy my indoors lifestyle of reading, writing, and watching. If you, like me, are planning to draw the curtains and reject traditional forms of "summer fun," here are some ideas:
Writing
I'm at a that "done writing one novel and haven't settled on what will be next" crossroads, and I'm looking forward to playing with a few different ideas to see what happens. It can be hard to keep myself on task when there isn't a contracted deadline hanging over me but I am all in with this, so I guess will!
Looking for motivation to build momentum on a writing project, whether you're an old pro or a newbie? Sign up for Jamie Attenberg's 1000 Words of Summer. Jamie is a writer who will guide and cheer you through writing about a thousands words a day for 14 days in the latter part of June. Free!
If you're interested in investing more time, money, and commitment and could use more hand-holding and nurturing, I recommend Nina LaCour's Slow Novel Lab. Her current session is open to enrollment until June 15.
If you want to invest even more time and money and come out with a Master of Fine Arts degree (KA-CHING!), why not take the plunge and apply somewhere or to several somewheres? Most programs have some kind of deadline in late fall or early winter, so that gives you time to research and work on your submission. And if YA fiction is your thing, check out Seattle Pacific's program, where Bryan Bliss and I are starting a new YA track and now taking applications for the first cohort.
Reading
Research suggests that reading has been falling by the wayside as our leisure time decreases and our distraction increases but you probably didn't need research to tell you that. Do you miss it? Do you miss that feeling you had as a kid when you could grab a Beverly Cleary classic or a new fantasy novel or the boxed set of Newbery paperbacks your grandma sent you at Christmas and just disappear into another world or find a new way of understanding your own? I do!
I'm convinced we can get it back. Neuroplasticity, intention, unplugging, etc. It's all possible and summer is a great time to build that reading habit back up, since the days are long and people seem generally committed to this idea of not going to sleep while it's still light out. Put on your pj's early anyway, grab a book, and get comfortable. On my TBR pile right now:
The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding - A queer YA romcom by a writer with a great, breezy, page-turning writing style. I don't mind reading about people enjoying summer, as long as I don't have to do it myself.
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy - This has been on my nightstand ever since Meloy came through town on the hardback tour. I've loved her short stories and am eager to get this read.
Tomorrow There Will Be Sun by Dana Reinhardt - I've enjoyed Dana's YA and this is an adult novel about a YA writer on vacation with her family and I kind of can't resist that premise!
Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade - I loved this story collection so much the first time, and I want to revisit it. And I want to read whatever Quade does next and I hope it's soon. (Also if you're not sure if you like the short story form and only read that one Somerset Maugham one on a mimeographed packet in high school, I think these would be a good entry point.)
I do most of my nonfiction reading in audio format, but I do have Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry on my Kindle and it's on my summer list. I became fascinated with Hansberry (writer of the award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun) after seeing the American Masters documentary on her life and work.
Watching
I don't really make to-do lists with watching the way I do with reading and writing. It just sort of happens without any effort on my part. But I do just want to shout-out some lesser-known works by women I've watched recently and that stuck with me, in case you're looking for things to add to your own list!
Jinn (2018), written and directed by Nijla Mu'min. This is soooo up my alley. A coming of age story with religious conflict and mother-daughter relationship dynamics. The young lead, Zoe Renee, is quite wonderful.
Afternoon Delight (2013) written and directed by Jill Soloway, pre-Transparent and pre Soloway's own journey to a non-binary gender identity. It's Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple in a complicated dynamic and I'm sure it's problematic and I just loved it. I think it never really got picked up, but now that Soloway has had success with her Amazon shows, this has turned up on Prime. This is very R! Mom, don't watch this!
Dead to Me (2019) Okay this is a show, a Netflix show, and maybe not really under the radar but also not dominating conversation. Created by Liz Feldman and starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, this is set up to make you think it's one thing and then it's something else. All I can say is it's amazing to see forty-something women who look their age (still TV hot, but you know) and talk like their age and the show is all about them.
Girlfriends (1978), written and directed by Claudia Weill. I saw this via the new Criterion Channel (which picked up where Filmstruck left off when Warner killed it), but I think you can find other ways to rent or stream. Melanie Mayron is a twenty-something New York lady just trying to figure out love and work, and the way people talk you'd think movies like this didn't exist until the 2000s. Bonus points for a very young Christophe Guest and also Eli Wallach being a kind of sexy rabbi. Yes I said Eli Wallach.
Happy summer reading, writing, watching. Maybe by the next time I send one of these out, I'll be allowed to show you my new book!