It’s back to school week here for my kids.
I find this time of year more inspiring work-wise than the new year, honestly.
When I was a kid, Fall was our chance to try on different parts of our personality as we experienced new friends, subjects, and interests. Each year was a new beginning filled with new possibilities.
It’s not so different this Fall (although seriously, y’all, I’m having a hard time with that concept today when a “cool down” means it’s in the low 90s).
This year, I’m just starting my first revision pass on a new story, which feels like the perfect back-to-school project.
The timing is perfection (even if it wasn’t planned).
I am coming off a brief break after drafting and get to spend the next couple of weeks analyzing my manuscript and planning my revision. Then, it’s off to a beach retreat later in September with some writer friends to dive into deep edit work.
I might even pop by the office supply store for some fancy new colored pens or sticky notes to celebrate! (Do they still make Trapper Keepers? I might be tempted! The sound of the velcro each time you cracked it open? Perfection!)
Tell me in the comments: what are you starting in this back to school season?
August Recommendations
It’s the end of the month, so it’s time for a few recs!
What I’m Reading:
I just finished The Covenant of Water* by Abraham Verghese for book club (we always read a LONG book for summer while we’re on a meeting hiatus). Wow, this epic, generational, interwoven narrative was just beautiful. The settings were vivid, the relationships complex, the tragedies downright heartbreaking, and the actual writing inspiring. I loved it.
What I’m Watching:
I finished The Crown, my husband and I recently started Bad Monkey (and we are intrigued), and we are halfway through the latest season of Cobra Kai (give me all the 80s nostalgia references!).
What I’m Listening to:
I spent the weekend grating chalk so we could make chalk “paint” to decorate my rising senior’s parking space (a lovely tradition the night before the first day of school), but the sound of chalk on anything makes my teeth itch, so I popped on my noise cancelling headphones and binged Happily Never After: Dan and Nancy. A true crime podcast about a romantic suspense writer accused of her husband’s murder! I mean, we all joke about what’s in our search histories, but OMG!
Bonus Mama Brag:
Check out our finished space for our budding aerospace engineer…it was still a little damp when we took the pic, but it came out great and he was thrilled!
*This is an affiliate link which means I earn a tiny commission if you make a purchase.