How to Keep Your Writing Alive This Summer: Five Reflections for Writers

Summer can be a strange season for writers.

Many of us rely on routine to sustain our creative practice, and I certainly do. I find it difficult to do deep creative work unless it's early in the morning and I haven't had much input before I begin. Summer has a way of disrupting those rhythms. Holidays, visitors, travel, children off school, and simply a change of pace can make it harder to return to the page.

Alongside this, many of the things that support our writing, like writing groups and classes, also tend to pause for the season.

Yet summer doesn't have to be a lost season for your writing. It simply asks something different of us.

1. If writing feels difficult, keep reading

One piece of advice I've been giving students who are travelling this summer is this: if writing becomes difficult, keep reading.

I never underestimate the power of reading to keep my own creative life alive. The poet Mary Oliver once suggested that it is better to read deeply and attentively than to attend a writing workshop. Whilst that idea would put me out of business if taken too literally, I think there is something profoundly true in it.

When I read well, I write better. Reading reminds me what is possible with language. It nourishes my imagination, sharpens my ear, and quietly draws me back towards my own work.

Sometimes reading is not a substitute for writing. It is the path back to it.

2. Read as a writer

This summer, try slowing down.

Notice how a scene is built. Pay attention to how dialogue reveals character. Ask yourself how a writer creates tension, or why one sentence seems to sing while another falls flat.

Reading as a writer means looking beneath the story to understand the craft that holds it together.

You might even keep a notebook beside you and copy down a sentence that surprises you each day. Ask yourself why it works. There is so much to be learned simply by paying close attention.

3. Accept that your practice will look different

One of the easiest traps to fall into is believing that if we can't write exactly as we do in February or October, then we aren't writing properly at all.

Summer rarely allows that.

Perhaps you write fewer words. Perhaps you jot observations in a notebook while travelling. Perhaps your creative work consists mainly of reading, walking, thinking, and paying attention.

All of these are part of the writing life too.

Writing has seasons, just as we do.

4. Look for unexpected pockets of time

For some people, summer is busier than ever. For others, it creates unexpected opportunities.

With colleagues away, children staying with relatives, or diaries becoming a little quieter, you may find yourself with precious pockets of time to devote to your writing.

Rather than waiting for the perfect uninterrupted day, ask yourself what could happen in forty-five minutes. One thoughtful session is often worth far more than an afternoon spent waiting for inspiration.

5. Seek companionship

Writing is often solitary, but it doesn't have to be lonely.

Sometimes the most helpful thing isn't another book or another podcast. It's another person who can read your work carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and help you see both what is already working and what wants to emerge next.

Over the summer I always open a small number of mentoring spaces for writers who would like dedicated support with their projects. Sessions are one-to-one, last 45 minutes, and include detailed feedback on up to 2,500 words before we meet. Whether you're working on a memoir, essays, a book proposal, or simply trying to establish a sustainable writing practice, mentoring creates protected space to think carefully about both the craft of your writing and the shape of your project.

If that sounds like something that would support your writing this summer, I'd love to hear from you.

Whatever your summer looks like, whether you're writing every day or simply gathering material for what comes next, I hope your creative life continues to find you.

This weekend I'm heading to Dartmoor for a walking retreat, hoping to remember once again how much the natural world has to teach us about paying attention. I'll also be taking a copy of The Correspondents, a novel written entirely in letters, on the recommendation of one of my students, and I'm looking forward to reading it there.

Happy writing.