Hey, writing friend! 👋

Today, I wanted to share a little more about (and a few excerpts directly from) my Summer Break Writing Survival Kit.

And I want you to know that this is helpful for parents, grandparents, and even for writers who aren't taking care of kids all summer.

There are tools for everyone, and I spent many, many weeks pouring myself into every piece. I wrote these workbooks directly in my documents--and in scraps of notebooks to be transcribed once I got back to my computer. (NO AI generation, outlining, etc!)

I lived what I wrote and built in these tools.

Writing at the kitchen counter while cooking, taking notes while sitting on my front porch and watching my kids play, making outlines while waiting at medical appointments, tapping away at my phone if I had to wait in my vehicle.

I put thought, time, and care into making these valuable and helpful. These are the tools I wish I had back in 2022 when I started to struggle (to put it mildly).

These tools could have helped me cope through some of the hardest summers. Not the medically traumatizing ones, but all the other times? Absolutely.

So, here is a quick excerpt from the intro to the bundle of low-stress, easy-to-use, printable tools I created.

​Summer Break Writing Survival Kit - Introduction

Sneak Peek

Want more of a sneak peek? 👀 🌻

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• Intro Workbook (Your Summer Reset Pages): This is where you start, and it's your place to freeze and reset when it feels like summer is happening to you (with all its fun and chaos 😜 ). It's where you can explore what you want summer to look and feel like for your family, yourself, and your writing. Start here to build a calendar that means something, because by the end, you'll be clear on what balance looks like for you.
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• Summer Writing Strategy Workbook: This strategy tool helps you choose the book/WIP you'll focus on, define your goal, set the tiny, low-bar measures of success, and the “okay, but when will I actually write?” plan. This isn't about building some fantasy routine. This tool helps you build and experiment around interruptions, energy, and whatever scraps of quiet you can commandeer.
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• Your Summer Planner: This planning tool helps you get clear on when you're really going to write, and that's not just “when things calm down.” These monthly, weekly, and daily pages help you make room for your WIP, yourself, the kids, the meals, and the memories you'll build together. The goal is to help you see a path forward, even if planning means you're learning what does and doesn't work for you this summer.
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• Write on the Go Guide: This guide is for the writer who can't just vanish into a silent room with no interruptions and a giant mug of coffee that never gets cold. This is to help you with coffee-sip writing, car-wait writing, porch writing, and waiting-room writing. Putting on your stubborn cap and writing in the "cracks" of the day so you get the words no matter what.
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• Book Biz with Kids: This ebook is ideal for those who attend in-person book sales events or who pack orders and ship orders from home. Our children do not have to be treated like obstacles to our creative lives. This guide helps you find small, age-appropriate ways for them to witness, learn from, and sometimes participate in the business of being an author.
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• Screen-Free Fun Guide: This guide is more than just informational. Print off the activity pages and let your kids cross off items and build up to something big! It helps to have this handy for the inevitable moments when everyone is suddenly bored and restless, and you don't have the bandwidth to come up with activities to keep your children entertained in healthy ways. Print the list, stick it where they can see it, and let summer feel a little less like a screen-time hostage negotiation.
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• My Fireside Writing Journal: This soft printable (or keep it digital) journal is a place for your ideas, creative sparks, story fragments, character notes, scene outlines, and any other thoughts that show up when you finally have a moment to breathe. It's not supposed to be polished. Just a secret place for your thoughts, and proof that the writer in you is still here even when it feels hard to see it. 💜

Could you do me a teensy favor? Could you write back and let me know which of these tools sounds like it would be the most helpful to you?

Have a wonderful weekend, sneak in at least a few minutes each day to work on (or even think about) your book, and be sure to hydrate and stay cool! 🌊

I know much of the country is experiencing extreme heat, so be careful out there, friends!

Coolest Wishes,

Audrey