School's out for summer! Yay, right? It's that glorious time of hanging out at home, baseball practice and games, swim team conditioning, summer camps, fundraising for mission trips, band lessons, and having friends come over to hang at the house. Someone asked me once if I was looking forward to summer, and the truth is, not really. It's a different kind of busy, much less time for myself and my writing, but more time with the kids and the chance to take trips and get out. So, how do you fit in any kind of writing, especially the kind that might not produce any income?
Other mothers who write posed the question on facebook this week about finding time to actually write when the kids are there, plus the distractions and duties of the home, and the just plain ol' tired feeling you have. Some of us escape to coffee shops, which works if you're writing a play set in a coffee shop. Not so much when you run into people you know and "need" to catch up. Some of us try to tune out the family and ignore the household chores. I can do that. Not all day long, though. Those growing boys tend to want to be fed. Once the cereal runs out, they're looking for meat. (I need to teach them to cook.) Then, of course, it's carting them around to all the above mentioned activities. (Middle son is just starting driver's ed this summer.)
And, yes, it's much easier to do the dishes (see above quote). Case in point, this morning, I got up early to write this post, but first, I let the cat out, started coffee, washed up the pan from last night's burgers, eyed the rhubarb crisp for breakfast, got the middle son up to get to his swim conditioning, looked up the quote, left to bring him to swim conditioning, came back, ate breakfast (whole wheat English muffin with nutella, saving the rhubarb crisp for second breakfast), finished typing the quote, sneezed so hard my readers flew off, laughed about that with the twins who are eating breakfast beside me and waiting for me to drop them off at swim practice, but first we need to stop at Dad's house for their swimming suits.
You get the picture, and it's just 8:00 am, now.
So, I suggested to one of the other authors who seems to be quite popular and can find no private retreat in which to write: Build yourself a treefort and pull up the ladder!
Sign at my friends' treehouse cabin in the woods, a great hideout.
And, that is my contribution to the Insecure Writer's Support Group for June, 2013. How do we find the time to be writers when we're so busy living? I don't know. Maybe, I'll jump on the bike and write about it later (when the snow flies, and boy, does it fly here in the North)!
Read more about the Insecure Writer's Support Group at Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog. (I gotta go. Time to drive the kids to the pool!)
Go. Create. Inspire!
Journaling Prompt: What's your biggest distraction? Any fun summer plans?
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