A Glimpse Into Summers to Come

*** Calling Debut Authors! Now Accepting Applications for the 2018 Debutante Ball! Read this post to learn more. Hurry! The deadline is July 28! ***

This week the Debutantes are talking all about summer, and what that means for our writing life. I chuckled as I read Amy’s post about fitting it all in during her chaotic summer months. I’ve got to imagine, with two kids and as a stay-at-home mom, I’ve got something similar in my future. But at the moment, I’ve got two kiddos who aren’t school-age yet. That means my summer is much like every other season of the year, which is pretty much me responding to the demands of my children between the hours of 7am and 7pm as they run rampantly around the house and yard.

While I’m someone who very much enjoys the present, I’m also an endless dreamer. I’m currently very happily spending my days with my babes and book babes. I used to also work full-time from home (in addition to the babes and book babe), but with three new books releasing in 2018, I had to drop the day job if I wanted a fighting chance at hitting my deadlines. It’s been a gamble, considering my three advances fall far short of my previous income (sorry, that’s depressing, I know), but my dreams are on overload that the future will allow me to keep doing what I’m doing (soooo buy my books, please? haha)

I’ll often look at my current summer, where I squeeze in writing when my kids are sleeping, and think, “Yep, this’ll be just like my summers once the kids are on summer break.” My days will most likely be dictated at whatever they throw at me. I’ll be a pro.

But the other three seasons of the year, when my children run rampantly around a elementary school classroom, will offer a much different writing schedule for me. I’ve got it all planned out.

7:30 – Alarms will go off, and immediately snoozed

7:35 – Alarms will go off again

8:30 – Kids run for the bus

8:35 – The dog and I go for a walk, where I’ll get my mind ready to write

9:00 – I sit down to write

…. we’ll skip all the updates where I procrastinate on social media, et al.

12:00 – Lunch!

12:30 – Back at my desk

3:45 – Kids run off the bus

Guys, that’s ~6 hours I could be (potentially) writing, and mostly all in a row. That’s sorta unfathomable for me (and anyone who has a full-time job, even if it’s not momming). But for now, I’ll continue to soak up and commit to memory the toddler chaos that is my current life. My son’s name is Devlin, yet there’s a reason his nickname is Daredevlin. Here he is, keeping pace with a jaguar.

And here’s my daughter, being every bit of the princess she is.

Author: Jenni L. Walsh

Jenni L. Walsh spent her early years ​chasing around cats, dogs, and chickens in Philadelphia's countryside, before dividing time between a soccer field and a classroom at Villanova University. She put her marketing degree to good use as an advertising copywriter, zip-code hopping with her husband to DC, NYC, NJ, and not surprisingly, back to Philly. There, Jenni's passion for words continued, adding author to her resume. She now balances her laptop with a kid on each hip, and a four-legged child at her feet. BECOMING BONNIE (Tor Forge/Macmillan, 5/9/2017) is her debut novel that tells the untold story of how church-going Bonnelyn Parker becomes half of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo during the 1920s. SIDE BY SIDE, telling Bonnie and Clyde's crime spree story, will be released in the summer of 2018. Please learn more about Jenni's books at jennilwalsh.com.