The Cycle of Writing

I've discovered something about myself after writing my first YA novel this past year. I work really, really hard in the Fall, and um, not as hard in the Summer. It took me 6 weeks in Sept. and Oct. to write my first draft. It might be because I associate that time of year with starting school and buckling down after a summer full of snow cones and swimming. Summer=Fun. Fall=Work.

I'll admit it--this past week, when I should have been writing, I splashed around the pool with my kids and watched my 3-year-old daughter flirt under a fountain with her 7-year-old fiance (long story but she proposed and he didn't say no, so she's laid claim on him as her future husband). When I should have been revising, I took the kids to Toy Story 3 (AMAZING movie by the way--go right now if you haven't seen it!) If there was a choice between going out for ice-cream and reconfiguring Chapter Three, the chocolate milkshake won. Every. Single. Time.

Not that I've been a total slacker. I've written six chapters of a new YA and have revised my 'old' ms for the billionth time--but I've done it at a slower, Summer pace. I feel September creeping up on me and know I'll kick into high gear again soon, which is good, as I'll stop eating my weight in ice cream. But for now, I plan to hold onto August for all it's worth--by balancing writing with soaking up the sun by the pool (someone has to keep an eye on my precocious daughter).

What about you? Any cycles, seasonal or otherwise, that you've noticed with your writing? Am I the only one that has a weakness for warm weather ice-cream consumption?