8 comments


  • I am having a mid-summer slump–it’s hot and will continue to be hot, and we’re in a strange time of drought, since it should be our rainy season. How do I cope? I try to remember what I once loved about summer: watermelon, the light lingering, swimming, reading fun books, escaping to cool theatres. In short, I try to hang on and remember how miserable I can be in northern climes when the weather turns cold.

    I predict you’ll have fun at the concert. That combo was just in South Florida and one of my spin class friends said it was the most fun she’s had at a concert in decades.

    July 22, 2015
  • Jeannine Gailey

    Thanks, Kristin! Yes, usually I skate through Seattle summers with no problem, but this one has been a real bear!
    Oh, thanks for telling me that about the concert – now I’m looking forward to it even more!

    July 22, 2015
  • I definitely do feel less motivated to submit poems and apply for grants/residencies and so forth in the summer. I find I even go to fewer readings because more places go on a hiatus. Since it’s not a very “active” time for lit mags, etc., my coping mechanism is to tell myself it’s okay to pull back and even take a break. Might sound like I am justifying but it works for me. 🙂

    July 22, 2015
  • Jeannine Gailey

    No, I think that’s a good coping mechanism! I should try it instead of feeling guilty for not doing more! I just took a long walk in the woods – it was so nice out today and cool!!!

    July 22, 2015
  • Mary Ellen Talley

    It is so gratifying (??) to hear of your summer blues because I have been frustrated with my lack of time and energy to do what I want to/should be doing – writing, revising, submitting. There are multiple reasons: helping daughter’s family move, heat, doing part time work this summer, heat, reading a good book I can’t put down, heat, dog dander from visiting granddog while we were w/o vacuum, heat, bit of a social life, heat, baking cinnamon chip scones my grandkids love that Starbuck’s no longer sells, heat, spending time with grandkids and energy zapping heat. As someone commented, why not just accept the slowdown!

    Thanks for making me be less hard on myself. I wish you time and healing energy to do the work needed to get your writing out to the masses. -ME

    July 22, 2015
  • Jeannine Gailey

    Thank you, Mary Ellen! Yes, maybe some of it is the slower-moving nature of summer…

    July 22, 2015
  • Hope things even out for you soon 🙂 My “summer” slump was actually earlier. Might be a hold over from school mentality, but I always have a lot of trouble in late may and early June. Might also be as the weather starts to first shift. Now that I’m in the middle of the “too hot for reasonable people” weather of the South I’m just trying to suck it up.

    I did find, when I was in the valley of meh, that changing my routine helped. Shakes things up 🙂

    July 24, 2015
  • I am always on an academic schedule, even though I am not on a campus. As soon as the school sales hit (office supplies!) and the weather cools, I can get going. You are so far north, the heat should be ending soon. Any thoughts on the yearly cycle of book sales? Are there times when it picks up again?

    July 24, 2015

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