Hello, hello and welcome to Academic Book Writing Simplified. I’m your host, Jane Joann Jones.

Today we are going to talk about summer writing plans. And, you know, I’m a little salty that we’re talking about summer right now because it’s about 40 degrees in New York, and it does not seem like summer is ever coming. But it will, and it’s going to be soon for academics because by the time this is published, it’ll probably be late April, and a lot of people will be winding down their semesters.

Now, summer writing plans tend to be fraught because folks get all sorts of ideas in their head about what they should be doing with all their free time. I say that with a hint of sarcasm because you don’t have as much free time as you think during the summer. I see so many unrealistic plans and then panic midway through the summer when the realization hits that you CANNOT get all this work done because it’s actually impossible. I don’t want that for you, so I’m going to discuss some principles that should help you make a plan that works.

We’re going to review some bad ideas about summer writing, then replace them with better ideas—so that you can make a plan that you actually feel good about and not one that is going to make you stressed before you even finish grading your final exams.

Bad idea #1: You need to “catch up” this summer.

This is not only a bad idea, it’s the mother of all the other bad ideas I’m going to discuss.

I hear a lot of folks say this and it’s incredibly counterproductive. It reinforces that idea that you’re behind and that thought, “I’m behind,” is unhelpful. It makes you feel bad, unproductive, and fearful that you won’t reach deadlines. That’s not the attitude you want to bring to writing. Stress does not make you work faster for any sustainable amount of time.

Think about how you write when you’re stressed, when you’re worried, when you feel like nothing’s going anywhere. That’s not the right energy, right? And stress might give you a quick, fleeting rush of adrenaline that can help you work faster for, say, a deadline that’s tomorrow—but it’s not going to help you write for any sustainable amount of time. So you do not want stress to be your primary motivator for the entirety of your summer writing.

Something I coach book writers on all the time is approaching your work from a place of neutrality. That means you don’t editorialize about it. You’re not behind, you’re not ahead, you simply have work to do. That’s it! No judgment about whether the work is going quickly or slowly or on schedule or not on schedule. Of course you know that, but you don’t have to remind yourself every time you sit at your desk. Try that instead of the “I’m behind.”

Bad idea #2: You should write for 8 hours a day.

You’re not going to go from no writing to all the writing. You’re not a Maserati sports car. You can’t go from zero to 60 in thirty seconds. You are not going to go from scratching out 4 hours of time to write each week to immediately writing 4 hours a day. It’s not gonna happen, and it’s okay.

You’ll work your way up to longer writing sessions. And I know what you’re thinking—you’re thinking “I don’t have time for that. I have to jump right in.” But if you can’t, then pretending that you can is really not going to lead to any positive outcomes. So figure out how you can start, start there, and then work your way up. Honestly, this working your way up is not going to take that long. Once you get back into it, it will come to you relatively quickly. But don’t put pressure on yourself for it to happen immediately.

Before you tell me “I don’t have time for that,” tell me if you have time to pretend you’re writing when you’re really not—because that’s what you’ll end up doing. And I’m going to tell you how to structure your workday in a little while, so just sit tight.

Bad idea #3: You should work on a lot of different projects during the summer.

This one is more of a “maybe you should, maybe you should not.” I know academics, like most workers in capitalism, want to glamorize being busy, and busy means doing a lot of things at once.

Summer, however, is an opportunity to do some deep work on your book that you may not have at other times of the year. I don’t think every single book-related task requires deep work, but I do think you should be opportunistic when deep work is available to you.

If you have the time, you should use it to your advantage—and only you can decide what “to your advantage” means. Does it mean you’re going to spend the bulk of the summer working exclusively on your book? Does it mean you’re going to divide your time between two projects? That might actually be good for focus reasons too. You may not be able to or want to focus exclusively on one project for the whole summer. That might not be how your brain works, and that’s completely fine. Or you might have coauthors that you’re collaborating with. Again, this is why it’s a “maybe you should, maybe you shouldn’t.” But don’t do it just to prove that you’re productive or busy or have a lot of irons in the fire. Do it because there’s a meaningful reason for using your precious summer writing time on more than one project.

How to set yourself up for success:

Establish a baseline goal and an aspirational goal.
What do you need to have done by the end of summer and what would be amazing to have done by the end of summer? Create hypothetical work plans for each goal.

This will help you avoid the “I need to catch up” trap by bringing some reality to your planning. What is nonnegotiable? And then what would be amazing? Then create hypothetical work plans for each to see what they would actually require. Often we just say, “I need to finish X by Y date,” without thinking about the work required. Let’s nip that in the bud.

Structure your workday properly.

Remember how I said you probably won’t be writing for four hours the minute summer starts? That doesn’t mean there isn’t other book-related work you can do. Be strategic about your time. There’s reading, data analysis, researching presses if you’re submitting a book proposal, copyediting work that’s almost done. Maybe you’re in a writing group and have colleagues’ work to review. Think of all the things you can do during your workday and structure accordingly.

Maybe you want to protect your mornings for uninterrupted writing time, and maybe you need to leave your house to do that. Think about what an ideal workday would look like—and then try to structure as many of those ideal workdays as possible.

Incorporate rest.

This semester has been an absolute hellscape. I know I’m not supposed to curse here, but I’m cursing. It’s been awful. There is no shame in taking a break to rest and recover. In fact, you should schedule rest THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER. Whether that means working half days on Fridays or taking a week off here and there—or both—you should incorporate rest. That should be nonnegotiable to you.

We all know that when we rest, we can show up better for work. There’s no book worth writing that sacrifices your health and well-being. And if you need an instrumental reason: you will think better when you’re well rested. So there you go—there’s your permission.

Alright. I hope you take this advice. Go work on a summer writing plan. As always, I will see you in the next episode. Take good care and talk to you soon.

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Remember, writing an academic book is challenging, but that doesn’t mean you have to overcomplicate it. If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, please leave a review. This helps get the word out about the podcast so more people will listen and we can continue the conversation. Take care, and tune in for our next ep.