What I did on my summer vacation

and how I fixed my summer work schedule

It's September, and while I'm grumpy at the thought of the weather cooling, I'm excited about new projects about to start, including the course I'm teaching on Storytelling in the Professional Writing and Communications program at Humber College plus my own online Feisty Freelancer Freelance Intensive starting in late September.

But while I usually talk about my fall plans at this time (not to say I won't later) I thought I'd join the kids and reflect on my summer.

You see, it's been a bit of an odd one. I usually take full feisty freelancer advantage of the fact that my editors are on holiday and go travel somewhere for 3 weeks or so in July or August, expand my horizons away from my desk. But with the pandemic at an uncertain point I felt less confident to do so. At the same time, like many I've been feeling the burnout the last couple of years and this summer I thought it was time to pause rather than just plowing through.

Turns out, Friday afternoons off have been fun.

In fact, weekends off full stop are good.

As an independent writer, I learned a long time ago that writing is more fun if it stops at some point. In my first year, I signed myself up for a yoga class at 6pm so I would leave my desk on time at least one night a week and set a good habit. Now I have a habit to break at 5pm and return to work if needed for a last-minute project.

So I've got that handled.

But on weekends, I can casually slide into work. Often that includes work on creative writing projects, which is allowed because they are not my leading income generator. But even that gets tiring.

So full weekends off this summer have been a pathway towards feeling lighter and more excited about work when I am working. Ironically, time away from even creative projects leads to greater enthusiasm, and a quicker start when I return to my desk. It's helped to lift some of my enui about work and made me feel lighter in general. I think it's a habit I'm going to continue through the fall, including the occasional Friday afternoon off.

So that's what I learned on my summer vacation.