School holidays are upon me once again. Three weeks of the kids at home, starting today, and as usual I’m stressing about how on earth I’m going to find time to write.
I’m really rolling along with revisions, and I don’t want to lose that momentum; therefore, I simply have to find some time to write, every single day. But how to do this, when the house is over run by kids?
In theory, my children are old enough to keep themselves entertained and out of mischief for at least an hour; on a good day, maybe even two. But there’s always something … like tonight, for example. In the forty-five minutes since I arrived home from the school run, Child #1 tracked mud all over the floor, requiring a major mop up (played soccer at school today and brought half the field home with him, by the looks of it); then Child #2 let out a blood curdling scream and I went running, heart in my mouth, expecting to find a broken limb at the very least - erm, nope, he was fine, but the battered, seven year old Mac notebook he’d been using finally died, is all. And not to be outdone, Miss Five promptly squirted herself in the eye with mandarin juice while attempting to peel one. Sigh.
So, yeah, how to do this? I’ve got to mix things up a little, is how. Writing at night is out. I wish I could, but by the time the last of the little darlings hits the hay I’m usually far too exhausted to even think about my book. Which leaves me with mornings … early mornings. Very early mornings - like hitting the desk by 7am, mornings. Blech.
But I have to do it. If I don’t, my story will drift loose from its moorings in my mind, and I know from experience it’s a long, hard row to bring it back to shore. So for the next three weeks I’ll be up and at ’em to squeeze in my daily exercise (groan) and then lock myself in the study for as long as I can. I’ll have to do a deal with the kids – unless the house is on fire or someone is bleeding, leave mum alone until 9am and then I’m all theirs – and I might have to bribe Child #1 to make breakfast for Miss Five (the promise of a shopping spree at Borders should be sufficient motivation for my book-addicted son!) But that’s the plan, and I think it’ll work - but any other suggestions would be much appreciated!
Wish me luck. I’ll let you know how the early morning writing-fests go; and I’ll try to ignore the dark, and the 4C temperatures, as I write!
Oh Rachel, I know just how you feel! Well, not the kids part, not yet, but the knowing-you-have-to-get-up-early-because-no-other-time-seems-to-work-and-dreading-crawling-out-of-bed part.
ReplyDeleteLet's see, 7 am your time is 7 pm the previous night for me, right?
What if I agree to write at 7 pm (I can do it, if I push myself, and stop letting myself get distracted by DH or magazines or rereading Anne of Green Gables) so that you know you have a real-time writing companion on the other side of the world?