Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

Finally it seems summer has arrived in Colorado. Although we still have those "scattered" thunder showers most every afternoon, at least it isn't raining all day every day like it was in June.

And with the warmer weather comes the desire to seek out summertime activities. Swimming, hiking, camping, sipping iced tea in a hammock, reading under a shade tree, working in your garden.

Almost anything except writing.

Because after all, writing is primarily an indoor activity, and who wants to waste all this wonderful sunshine by staying indoors?

MereditH Efken, our speaker at HIS Writers in North Denver on Monday past spoke about Overcoming Creative Block. And one of the things she talked about was changing your surroundings to stimulate the right side of your brain to come up with things to write about.

My thought is a good way to do that would be to take my writing outside. I have a great deck with a topper on it. I could sit in relative comfort, sip my iced tea, enjoy my garden, and still write on my laptop or Alphasmart word processor.

Or, I could go to a park, take a pad of paper and pencil, and brainstorm ideas for my current project or a whole new series or something completely different, all the while enjoying the sounds of kids playing on the swings, while I sit under a shade tree.

Here's another idea -- I could go sit by a swimming pool, under an umbrella, and watch people go by, listen to their conversations, and make notes for future characters.

As a writer, I cannot afford to look for reasons to take the summer off from writing. As a Christian writer, I cannot afford to ask God to please not bother me while I enjoy myself. I am called to write, and write I must.

Of course, there's nothing in the Bible that says I can't do it under a shade tree, sipping an iced tea.