ten things to do this summer that aren’t writing
Summer is near. Soon the sun will bestow upon my body a new tint that will require me to go up a color on the Emoji skin tone scale. I feel the urge to sit outside and order an Aperol spritz. To touch grass, literally. To be away from my computer, where my pilot begs to be finished. Not now sweetie, Mommy’s wearing less and going out more.
This happens every summer, and I always feel guilty for not being more “productive.” But this summer, I’m just going to embrace it! If I don’t feel like sitting at my computer to write, then I won’t. If I do, I’ll take it as a pleasant and welcome surprise. No hard feelings. Just vibes.
In that spirit, here are some things you can do this summer that aren’t writing:
Become a cinephile. Movies in the summer are so sexy! Especially in the daytime. A Sunday matinee can be life-changing. I love going to IFC or the Nitehawk at Prospect Park and then taking a long walk afterwards to Discuss The Film or just to enjoy the fact that I watched a 3 hour movie and it’s still daytime outside. It keeps me young!
Go to the park in the morning everyday. It’s so healing to see dogs and babies and greenery first thing in the morning. It’s a reminder that things are growing and alive all around you, and you’re a part of it.
Read a book. (Maybe.) Only if it’s really juicy. Like the kind of book you want to devour in 48 hours. Nothing too heavy. Something Sarah Dessen-esque. Sally Rooney, even, will do. In other words, if you have to use more than a handful of brain cells to get through it, it’s not the one.
Listen to “Slide” by Calvin Harris (ft. Frank Ocean & Migos).
Try all the restaurants you’ve been wanting to go to. Take Resy by the horns. If the restaurant in question is booked, turn on those notifications! Someone will inevitably have to cancel their reservation and you’ll get that table. Summer is for feeling full after a good meal.
Buy a bikini and post a pic on IG in it. You didn’t survive growing up ugly for nothing!
Keep a kombucha on you!! I love popping into the deli to grab a booch. It’s the perfect park bev. It’s good for the gut. It’s sweet. If you’re an extreme lightweight like myself it might even give you a micro buzz. What’s not to love!
Laugh a lot. Laugh loudly, even if it’s annoying to the people who are in your immediate vincinity. Hang out with people who make you laugh so much that even after the hangout when you’re thinking about things they said you’re still laughing. I cannot recommend this enough.
Dedicate yourself to smelling good. I’m going to say this since no one else is brave enough to: Ditch the natural deodorant. There is a time and place for all things. And summer is not the time for Tom’s or Schmidt’s. Find a perfume you really love and be generous with it. If you’re going to leave people with something when you walk by, let it be pleasant.
Be easy on yourself. Stop worrying about if someone’s mad at you. (They’re probably not.) It’s okay if you said something weird. Or if you’re late to dinner. Or if you cancel plans altogether because you’re not feeling up to it anymore. Call and say you’re sorry. Or don’t! The world is still spinning. Every day is an opportunity to start over.
In all honesty, I do really want to find time to write this summer. I’m currently, as we speak, sitting in a beautiful house in Pennsylvania at the St. Nell’s humor writing residency (ah!) It has been a really special time dedicated to rest and reflection and falling back in love with my pilot. I say falling “back” in love because for the past month or so I’ve been preoccupied with some things that needed tending to in my personal life and another writing project I’m really excited about, which caused me to put the pilot on the back burner for a bit.
During this residency I did some very tedious, but necessary character work, learned new ways of plotting out story beats, re-watched Chewing Gum (big source of inspiration!), added a completely new character to the story, and connected with the two other incredibly talented writers in my cohort.
My original goal for the residency was to finish the first draft of my pilot. But upon arriving I created a new metric for success that I think I’ve achieved: I wanted to get to know my characters better. To “design” them as I learned in a recent character workshop I took taught by
. I also wanted to get clear on the story I’m trying to tell. To nail down the tone. All of these things don’t really amount to finished pages. Right now I just have a bunch of journal entries and a very rough first act with too much exposition and story beats that don’t quite land yet. Still, I think my time here was very valuable.Also, I want to break the fourth wall for a second and say I feel very aware of how privileged I am to have a steady income right now, especially while the writers in the industry I’m hoping to break into are striking for the value of their work to be fully recognized. I wish I had something more astute to say on the matter, but I’m also not going to force myself to speak on something I don’t have the words for yet. For now, I’ll say that the writers of the WGA deserve so much more than what they’ve been given. I stand with them, and hope that one day I’ll be able to stand amongst them as a member of the WGA myself.
Some things I’ve read recently:
Speaking of the WGA strike, last month
shared an essay by Justin Bonilla who shared some thoughts as a writer on the picket lines:“Like many who find themselves stuck in the endless grind of late stage capitalism, the writers of the WGA seek fairness. We want proper compensation for the creative work that make millions of dollars in profits for our “partners” at the studios. But because our requests have been blatantly ignored, we must strike. And while the picket lines have been filled with excitement and unparalleled camaraderie, each night this week I’ve returned home physically and emotionally drained.”
Also Writer’s Club NY has some fun summer programming coming up in NYC:
Another absolute banger by
:“Perhaps the sense of self you carry isn’t the heaviness of other people’s wishes or absorbed environmental desires, but the lightness of what interests or captivates you. Perhaps wherever you are you can still seek out those things. Perhaps we’re always starting over: burying our dreams and then digging them back up. Careening in and out of love. In Beijing or San Francisco or Mexico City or London. They whisper, wherever you go, there you are.”
My obsession with Michaela Coel was reawakened after watching Chewing Gum this week, so I just had to re-read this masterful profile by E. Alex Jung from 2020.
“She wrote 191 drafts of I May Destroy You, her sprawling, 12-episode HBO-BBC series that fictionalizes the story of her sexual assault. There is no writers’ room; she is her own fuel and engine. As she imagines her onscreen character, Arabella, she considers her own life and the lives of others. She has revelations. She calls exes who have wronged her; she tells them that whatever happened between them was an inevitable collision, like two intersecting comets, and she releases them. She realizes she’s still holding on to the hurt of her father’s absence during her childhood, and she releases herself.”
"you didn't survive growing up ugly for nothing" is all the inspiration I need for this summer
HAHA being described as writing an absolute banger is my fav way to be mentioned. Thank you and love this list.