#SummerSolstice60: A Summer-long Commitment to Craft? Sign Me Up
60 days + 60 minutes of (mostly) uninterrupted writing—or whatever your craft is. Got it in you?
My younger sister and I have a catchphrase that we always say when our workloads—both mandated and self-imposed—start to ramp up, but there’s no where to go but though.
“Lock in, and don’t lock out.”
Whether we have to, or we want to. What we say and how we say it is the same. The “you better move” energy is consistent.
Does it make sense, grammatically? Maybe not. But who cares? It doesn’t need to, because once it’s uttered, we know what time it is. The focus ramps up. The boundaries are set. The hours are logged. The late night oil is burned and our promises to ourselves and our craft or work are honored until the bitter end.
That same spirit is coursing through my veins as we speak. One of my sister-friends, Laraya Parnell, and I have been meeting biweekly for over a year to focus on writing our debut novels. We have done (okay, attempted) NaNoWriMo several times and have not been successful in logging the glorious, coveted 50,000 words all within a 30-day period.
But we didn’t beat ourselves up about it or anything. Instead we leaned into all our tries and said, our books are getting done come hell or high water, because we care deeply about this goal of ours. Within our book club with friends, we complete books of others and say, That was great, and this could be us, each and every time.
We’ve entered a year that feels like, in many ways, a bubbling up moment in our personal timelines. Jobs are scarce, and if we have jobs, the jobs we have are not our dream professions. They are a means to survive until that realization of our passions makes its way out into the world.
So let’s push it along, shall we?
Enter #SummerSoltice60, something Laraya and I designed as a writing challenge but realistically is perfect for recommitting to any craft or project you’re passion about finally getting to the finish line of.
This summer is for enjoyment, but it isn’t for slacking on our dreams. Let the sunshine and warm weather be fuel and inspiration, not a distraction from pushing our word counts forward and making ourselves proud AF.
It’s a challenge that’s super simple at it’s core: commit to showing up for your craft. Even when it’s hard and you fail. (Especially when it gets hard and you fail.) Commit to making that effort to show up EVERY DAY for that creative thing you’ve said is important but struggle to make time for or see real, tangible progress with.
Commit to showing up for 60 consecutive days.
Commit to showing up for 60 minutes, for every single one of those 60 days.
Commit to holding yourself, and maybe even a friend, accountable for showing up for making their/your future self proud every day.
Commit to not letting whatever summer brings make your sense of focus, dedication and discipline fade.
“Knock me down nine times, but I get up 10.”
—Cardi B
This challenge is and was meant to start at the astrological start of the summer: the Summer Solstice, June 21st. However, we started on June 1 because we were eager to ride the momentum of coming up with this challenge at the turn of the social season. Whether you start on the first day of summer or you start right-freaking-now, we’d love for you to give it a try. Grab an accountability partner, and text each other daily or weekly. Or check in with your friends on social, tagging your folks, leaving breadcrumbs of your progress with #SummerSoltice60. Make it fun, because at the end of it, won’t it be cool that you made that thing you’ve been ruminating on even more real?
And can I be honest with you? I’ve already failed. Twice. I was a little annoyed that it happened so early in the challenge for me, but failing doesn’t mean stopping.
As the wise Belcalis Almanzar once said on the opening song of her platinum selling debut studio album: “Knock me down nine times, but I get up 10.”
Life is always going to throw curveballs at you. At some point, there will be more commitments in your calendar than there are usable hours in a day. With work and school and kids and family and fitness and whatever else, a mental health needs will try to force a shut-down. We’re human. Take it if you need it. Acknowledge the pause. Refuse the urge to punish yourself or “quit while you’re ahead.” Honor the genuine desire to try again and see it through. Get back on the horse. Make up the time on the next day.
Then exhale. Respire. You’re doing it, friend. Be proud and write on.