9 Comments
Aug 11Liked by Charlotte Rains Dixon

Those pictures are gorgeous!!! I’m glad you’re soaking it in… my productivity has not been the strongest writing wise but I have no regrets. Lots of time with my kids and at the lake with my parents. It’s precious time I would bottle up if I could! Enjoy your time with the fabulous view!!

Expand full comment
author

So wise of you to let go and enjoy! Precious time indeed!

Expand full comment
Aug 14Liked by Charlotte Rains Dixon

You fully deserve your time relishing your surroundings and enjoying your people. You give so much encouragement to so many out here, including me, so I love to hear you are enjoying food, drink, sun, water, and everything you can fit into your vacation. Stanley Bear says don’t forget jam on toast. Hugs!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Jeni! And please thank Stanley Bear for his wonderful suggestion. I have a jar of Bonne Maman strawberry jam waiting to be opened!

Expand full comment

That’s Stanley’s favourite jam in any and every flavor! 🥰🥰😂

Expand full comment
Aug 11Liked by Charlotte Rains Dixon

Aah, I would savour every moment of that wonderful vacation. I hope you manage to find your joyful balance between work & play. 💛

Expand full comment
author

It was a wonderful vacation! I love the phrase "joyful balance between work and play." That is what every day should be, not just vacation, right?

Expand full comment
Aug 11Liked by Charlotte Rains Dixon

Hi Charlotte! Your vacation on the ocean sounds perfect. I'm envious. I miss going to the ocean like I used to when I'd visit my parents on the Atlantic coast.

My writing hasn't been all that productive this summer. I think I'm suffering from overrevisionitiis, too. Not to make excuses. I took a Women on Writing course called Strengthening your Fiction which was very good. She suggested even more changes for my novel so I totally rewrote the beginning based on her advice. Of course, now everything else changes after that because of the new beginning. And I thought I'd made progress being on my 4th revision but I feel like I'm still revising a first draft. Sigh. Plus, I got advice to tone down my male protagonist since he steals the scenes and the female protagonist is lacklustre in comparison. So much to consider that sometimes I wonder why I'm bothering with it. Tempting to just chuck it and work on something new. And yet, I still like my story, so I keep plugging away wondering if anything will come of the novel other than gathering dust.

Anyhow, today I'm headed off to Broadway camp, a musical camp up in the Laurentians in Quebec. I won't be doing any writing this week, but I'll be singing, dancing and acting my heart out. I am so grateful to be able to go, too. In July, I contracted a terrible super virus that attacked my spleen and liver and I had to go to hospital. I was SO SICK for two weeks and then the recovery took a long time. I almost worried I wouldn't have the stamina for camp, but I feel much better now. The show must go on!

Enjoy the rest of the summer and be gentle on yourself if all the writing doesn't get done. It's summer and we should enjoy this short, sweet season. It's a lonnnnng winter as my late dad used to say all the time.

Expand full comment
author

Oh you are doing your Broadway camp again! How exciting--especially after you were so very sick. I know you loved it so much last year.

And I'm going to throw your own advice to me back at you--be gentle with yourself. If you still love your story, it is worth working on. Focus on the progress you've made rather than how far you have to go. I know you've been working on this steadily and that counts for a lot.

Go have fun at Broadway camp and don't think about your novel at all!

Expand full comment