2025 Equation for a Happy Creative Summer

Enough of this haiku business! It's time for summer math!

Happy summer to one and all. By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be floating down the Grand Canyon on a raft!

Before we set off on our adventure, I spent time thinking about conditions that create a happy creative summer. For me, summer means a different kind of rhythm so naturally I’m abandoning haiku for a hot moment and turning to math which is not my usual way of thinking!

Here’s what I want more of this summer:

• Tending

  • My garden

    • Weeding

    • Gathering seeds

    • Mulling over ideas for fall planting season

    • Dreaming of a way to add a labyrinth to my yard!

  • My home

    • Dusting

    • Cleaning out closets

    • Organizing storage in our kitchen

  • My humans

    • Talking on the patio

    • Watching Alone as a family with lots of snacks while the survival experts are starving!

    • Getting my girl ready for college in the fall

• Nourishing

  • Daily reading without deadlines, Post-its, or highlighters

  • Writing just for me

    • Poetry projects like adding my hundreds of scattered haiku to a Rolodex that sits on my desk.

    • Journaling my way to figuring out my writing purpose. Is it a hobby or something more?

  • Creating art

    • Flower watercolor studies as created by Lorena Edwards Forkner

    • Travel journals

    • Zines

  • Walking

  • Praying

  • Listening

    • To river currents

    • Ocean waves

    • God

    • And my beloveds

  • Inhaling beach air and sage scents

Of course, my equation won’t be balanced unless I take something away too.

Here’s what I want less of this summer:

• Scrolling

  • I’m off social media (except for the Happier Camper Private Owner’s Group!).

  • My goal is to stay off my phone until noon each and every day!

• Computering

  • With the exception of writing new subscriber haiku and checking in on the people I follow, I’m not going to be active on Substack until the end of August.

  • I hope to do all my writing by hand this summer since the projects I have in mind are smaller in scope.

I’m confident my equation is balanced and will lead to a happy creative summer!

Now, it’s your turn. Write a happiness equation for your creative summer.

• What do you want more of? Write a list.

• What do you want less of? Write another list.

• Then, hop on Canva (or if you’re awesome do your own drawings!) to find symbols that represent some of your MORES and LESSES. Add mathematical symbols between each one.

• Viola! You have an equation you can put on your fridge as a reminder of all that you hope for in this season.

After a healthy publishing break, I’ll be back with weekly Substack posts on August 22nd when I share my 2025/26 course and retreat offerings. In the meantime, do your math homework!