Summer Just Started

I’m writing this as the semester wraps up. People ask me how I will be spending the summer, and my answer usually disappoints them. It might be fun to go to Paris or London, but, all things considered, I am more likely to travel to Paris, Kentucky, or London, Ohio. (Nice town. Had friends who lived there.) If you are like most of us, you will get a summer job, hang out with friends, and try to pull yourself together for college in the Fall.

Here are a few suggestions for the next few weeks. Two things are in the back of my mind. The first is that I want these ideas to be low-impact and inexpensive. The second is that I want them to be fun. Most college instructors will tell you that they would like their students to be better at reading and writing, so maybe summer would be a good time to work on those things.

First suggestion: Get a library card. Summer is a great time for shade-tree reading. Doesn’t have to be heavy or academic. If you don’t know where to start, talk to a librarian. (They are wonderful people whose whole aim is to help you get into reading.) Romance novels, wild west, science fiction—it’s all there. If you are like me and you have a short attention span, ask about collections of short stories.

Second suggestion: Buy a notebook and pen. A word of warning here. If you go to a bookstore and buy an extremely expensive notebook with a beautiful cover, you will never write in it. You will look at that cover and decide that your handwriting is too sloppy and your ideas too stupid to corrupt that beautiful thing. So buy a cheap spiral-bound notebook at Walmart. (Left-handers should find the kind with the spiral at the top of the page.) A rollerball pen would be a good choice. Maybe get a package with several colors of pen so you can have fun. And what are you writing? Make a plan to sit somewhere quiet and write something—anything—at least a couple of times a week. This stuff is for your eyes only. Fears about college, plans for the future, how beautiful (or terrible) the weather is, how you feel after a football practice. I like to do this at least two or three times a week, after breakfast, always putting the date at the top of the page, and changing ink color each day. My notebook is a small one, about half the size of of an ordinary page, and I only fill one page each session.

I will have some suggestions later in the summer for reading and writing, but these will get you started.