Writing in the Heat: Why Summer Is the Season to Edit Smarter

A good edit doesn't cool the emotion; it channels it.

 Every July, my inbox fills up just as the weather hits its peak. Clients from Jerusalem, New York, Melbourne, and Montreal all send me drafts they've finally had time to face. Whether they're sweating it out in a Tel Aviv apartment or working under a ceiling fan in Brooklyn, something about the heat brings urgency to their stories.

While most people associate summer with slowing down, lounging by a pool, or escaping to cooler places, writers often experience the opposite: a creative push that borders on urgency. For many, summer is the season to finish that draft, meet that contest deadline, or polish work before fall MFA submissions.

As an editor, I know this well. Summer is one of my busiest seasons (the other? Right before Passover). There's something about the compressed intensity of the heat, combined with longer days and the psychological mid-year mark, that urges writers to get serious. The result? A lot of beautiful, messy, ambitious drafts arriving in my inbox.

Hot weather affects more than our mood. Studies show that extreme heat can cause fatigue, anxiety, and shortened attention spans. That translates directly into how we write:

• Overlong scenes with great dialogue but no clear arc
• Memoir passages that wander off-track because emotional material surfaces faster in the heat
• Characters in fiction behaving more erratically—or emotionally—as if absorbing the atmosphere around them

For Jewish writers in particular, this can feel especially raw. Jewish storytelling is often rooted in memory, migration, tension, and layered identity. Writing in heat, whether from the Middle Eastern sun, a Tel Aviv rooftop (read my own summer heat short fiction from a Tel Aviv rooftop), or a New York July, can amplify the emotional load of diaspora, family legacy, or generational trauma.

As someone who specializes in editing Jewish fiction and memoir, I often see summer drafts that pulse with intensity, but need help finding their center. A good edit doesn't cool the emotion; it channels it.

You've pushed to get the words down. You've made it to the end—or almost. Now's the moment to ask:

• Is this structure working, or has the story lost its spine?
• Am I being emotionally honest, or emotionally indulgent?
• Is this chapter hot with urgency, or just overheated?

That's where a good editor comes in, not just to trim, but to clarify. To cool the temperature when needed and let the heat burn bright in the right places.

If you're revisiting something you wrote during a heatwave or long, sleepless nights, here are a few simple ways to make the most of your next round of revisions:

• Let it sit for a day or two. Distance makes it easier to see where emotion takes over structure.
• Highlight the "hot spots." These are the most emotionally intense sections; sometimes they need expansion, sometimes containment.
• Read aloud. Summer writing often comes fast. Reading aloud helps spot what's rushed or overwritten.
• Watch for spiraling scenes. Especially in memoir, strong emotions can derail clarity.
• Ask a reader or editor to pinpoint your emotional arc. Sometimes the main thread is buried under beautiful, passionate prose.

As an editor, I help clients shape their work so the emotion serves the story, not the other way around.

Every writer has their own creative seasons. For some, winter is the deep-thought season. For others, like many of my clients, summer is go-time. And when you're writing about identity summer can bring a different intensity: memories from Israel trips, childhood camp stories, or family dynamics that flare during long visits and Shabbat dinners.

So whether your draft was born in sweat and sunshine or slowly simmered all year long, now might be the right time to take the next step: editing with purpose. Personally, I began my summer a little early this year in Cape Town, so I include a couple shots from there for summer writing inspiration. The rest are some of my summer Israel shots from Eilat to Rishon to the Golan, including a summer dinner just outside of Jerusalem in one of my favorite spots.