Summer, for me, means a massive shift in my day-to-day schedule. My kids are home from school, and on weeks without camp or vacation, it can be hard to keep up with my daily routine while also keeping them entertained. For example, a typical (August – May) Monday for me looks like:

6:30 AM: Wake up and get everyone ready,
7:45 AM:  Out the door for school drop off
8:30 AM: Back home, enjoy a hot cup of coffee and surf social media
9:15 AM: Sit down at my computer and write a poem
9:45 AM: Breakfast, more coffee
10:00 AM: Work on Kingdom of Shadows
1:00 PM: Break for Lunch
1:30 PM: Take Bruce to the dog park
2:30 PM: Back Home, work on Bex Forrester
3:45 PM: Leave to get the Kids
4:30 PM: Home, do homework and chat with the kids
5:30 PM: Dinner Prep > Cook Dinner > Eat Dinner
6:45ish PM: Play a game as a family
7:30 PM: Begin Bath/Pajamas/Story Time routine for Kids
8:15 PM: Lights out for kids, I can do whatever I want.

This is my ‘normal’. This is what I’m used to, so summer is throwing my whole routine out of whack. Yesterday, for example, looked like this:

9:00 AM: Wake up
9:30 AM: Coffee & Breakfast
10:30 AM: Suit up and head outside to the pool with the kids
1:00 PM: Emerge from the pool, wrinkly AF, and make lunch
2:30 PM: Take Bruce to the dog park
4:00 PM: Water balloon fight with kids in yard
5:00 PM: Snuggle on the couch and watch Cars 3
6:30 PM: Realize I never started dinner, order pizza
7:30 PM: Pizza arrives, eat and start another movie
10:00 PM: Bedtime!
10:30 PM: FINALLY sit down at my computer to write something… anything.

Don’t get me wrong- I absolutely adore the quality time I’m getting with my kids. They are only little for so long, and I’m drinking in every second of it. We had a blast yesterday, and made some great memories. I’m not disparaging that, in any way.

I am saying that summer schedules make keeping to my routine difficult. I’m in a [short] season of finding our new normal, and it’s a bit of beautiful chaos. So sometimes, the writing doesn’t get done. Or maybe the laundry sits in the dryer for a bit longer than I’d like. Or maybe we stay up for hours past ‘bedtime’, giggling in our pillow fort on the couch. I’m ok with that. Sometimes, balancing being a writer and being a parent is tricky. But at the end of the day, parenting wins out, 10/10 times. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Summer!