How is the summer going for you? I hope you are getting lots of writing done – if indeed that is your intention.
It’s funny as we approach summer that we often set all our writing intentions. We imagine all these extra long sunny days stretched out before us, lighter nights and mornings will mean that we can wake earlier, sleep later – yet we forget the days still only have 24 hours in them.
We picture filling those days with words, all the words that we have squirrelled away throughout the year when days were shorter and time was scarcer. All the ideas we have stashed in notebooks or departments within our heads, or in voicenotes or What’s App messages sent to ourselves.
And then we reach summer and time seems to speed up somehow. We leave the last days of May and then go into Junejulyaugust — yes, those three months that somehow morph into one and catch us out every single year.
We come blinking out of the sunlight, into September, thinking, what happened to all those good writing intentions?
This has happened to me so many times, and still I think of them as three separate months, each with their own ‘to do’ list.
August, just so you know, you already have a big weight of responsibility upon your bronzed shoulders!
I tend to think now that, rather than summer, September is the best time to start new writing intentions. Why not stay and play a little longer in those sunny days. Save the work for the autumn when everyone else is knuckling down, too? Don’t drag yourself away from the beach early, stay and feel the sand between your toes. Take that second glass of Pimms – the work will still be there waiting for you tomorrow.
I always seem to be knuckling down when everyone else is at play. Remember in the first Covid lockdown of 2020, when no-one could go to work, no deals got done, no-one had anything to do except the garden? It felt to me as if I was the only one working, on a deadline to deliver a book for Bloomsbury. (Deliver it to who?! They weren’t in the office either).
And this summer has been the same, during the last few weeks of this heatwave I have been indoors apart from two dog walks a day, sitting every day, getting fatter, feasting on sugar for brain power, and working on the final edits of my memoir. Though I must admit, it has been so hot that many of those days I have been grateful to hide inside my cool little Victorian home.
I set myself a task as I approached this final edit to read again the books that had inspired the project at the beginning. I wanted to make sure that I went back to the final draft with all that air back in the balloon, all that energy fizzing at my fingertips. It has worked, I think, rereading everything that inspired me originally now that I have got to the end means I have found new thoughts, new meanings within those texts. But what a gargantuan task I set myself, you can see at the top of this page just how many books I have had to read in the last few weeks.
It has meant that other things have had to give, my waistline for one – no time for pilates! My home, the housework will have to wait. And my kid, no holiday, no days at the beach, although she is much happier spending time with her friends these days which lets me off the hook as long as I bung her a tenner every now and then.
And while I have my head down this week (a sick head sadly, as I seemed to have picked up a summer cold), there are already other departments of my brain whirring, plotting and planning: that novel that has been on a life support machine will have a clinical intervention; I will finally get that website finished; the house will be cleaned.
September awaits, and so much to look forward to, my Writing Mothers Course, starting my fellowship at Goldsmiths University for the Royal Literary Fund, getting back to mentoring and assessing manuscripts.
And then I look at the date and realise, we are still only in July, there is so much time to spend until then on lazy days, realising dreams or eating strawberries and cream.
As I write, I have in mind that once this edit is filed at the end of this week, I am opening up limited spaces for you to work one-to-one with me. I will be putting up my prices on September 1st, but I wanted to offer you a last chance to work with me at my 2025 prices (yes, 2025, you can see why I might need to put them up!).
A reminder, for reading and annotating up to 2,000 words followed by a 30-minute zoom, the cost is £160.
Mentoring session (up to 2,000 words)
For reading and annotating up to 5,000 words followed by a 45-minute zoom, the cost is £260.
Mentoring session (up to 5,000 words)
Don’t forget that when you work one-to-one with me, you are not just getting my laser focus on that particular piece, but on your project as a whole. You are also getting my brain, and therefore my ideas and suggestions, and how to make your work the best it can possibly be in the current market.
If you would like me to hold your hand throughout the process of writing, then there are discounts available. If you would like to buy three-sessions, you get a 5% discount. If you would like to buy six sessions, you get a 7.5% discount. And if you would like to buy 12 sessions, you get a 10% discount.
You can use these sessions monthly to give you up to a whole year of support, or you can use them when and how you work, whether that is fast or slow. Some people I work with choose to use two sessions a month to keep up momentum in their writing. Working with me over a longer term is like attending a writing course centred purely on your own material as each piece tends to throw up different themes to learn from and progress is made very quickly.
These prices and discounts apply until the end of August, so do sign up now to grab a limited place to set your own writing intentions for the year ahead. You can message me with any questions: annawharton@substack.com, or, if you use the app:
And don’t forget, there are still a few places available on my Writing Mothers course in October (September is now sold out). I won’t be running this course again until some time in 2027, so do grab your space if you’d like to join me. And you’ve only got until the end of this week to pay by instalments. The details are in this post:
Come and Write Mothers With Me
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Jul 9
We spent a fascinating hour together on Monday night discussing writing both motherhood and daughterhood. I’m so grateful to those who came and read and shared so generously.
We have exciting times ahead!
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