Summer Writing Journal

Yesterday, in preparation for the first day of summer vacation, my eldest daughter and I went to the bookstore and bought new notebooks for all of us. Of course I'll use any excuse to buy a new notebook (I've got a notebook fetish that could outshine a lot of shoe fetishes). But I also wanted my kids to keep using pens and paper this summer, lest they forget the importance of the written word.

So today we set out to fill the first page of our notebooks with our "Summer Goal List". The kids have some pretty lofty goals, like: have a lemonade stand once a week and draw 12 coloring books (why fill their lists with things that they don't want to do, right?). I however, conjoled them into adding a few things like: chores, and daily family walks.

Here's my Summer Goal list:

• Write a new book (or 2) 1500 words a day.
• Daily walks with the kids.
• Daily chore chart (I'm not too big a meanie. Each kid only has to do two little chores a day.)
• TV tickets (The kids only get to watch one hour of TV a day, which for them is torture.) 
• Write in my writing notebook every day, including one new idea for a book each day. (Even if it's a stupid idea.)
• Write one paragraph in my journal every day.
• Do a chalkboard animation (I'm excited about this one. I want to do an artsy book trailer.)
• Limit my internet time. (Yep, this one's going to be hard. This addict's going to go through some withdrawals.)
• Read 10 books (or more. I can always read more.)
• Finish revising the play with my mom. (Now's a good time to mention that SLAC decided to use our play to open their season!!!!!)
• Start a new series of paintings.
• Learn new vocabulary words (Isn't dinner a good time to learn new words? It's automatic dinner conversation.)
• Only drink soda one time per week.

My list could go on and on, and knowing me I'll only do a few of the things on my list for the whole summer. Let's face it, most of the things on my list will only last a week, but I do love to dream.

What's on your Summer List???