The Laundry Challenge

 

So…. I’ve been having a spot of trouble writing. 

The motivation  (I want to write) is there, but the inclination/discipline/habit – ie: butt in chair hands of keyboard—has been sorely lacking.  A lot of it has had to do with striving for life balance and juggling stress (particularly work related), but I’ve over the worst of that, so it’s come down to feeling meh about various wip projects and not pushing myself to get past that meh until I find the sweet spot where I’m in the writing zone and completely immersed in the story/characters.

There’s also an issue of family sabotage. I think a lot of writers experience this. You’re finally totally focused on your writing and… here come the incessant interruptions. Nothing can be found without your help. No argument settled without your input.  Mom, when’s dinner? Can you give me a lift to XYZ? We’re all out of ABC food, etc. With my son, he always seems to need some beta reading/critique feedback on some major sociology or poli-sci paper, or wants to share an anecdote just at the moment I boot up my laptop to write.

Love him to death and really enjoy our talks (if you’ve ever read any of my Casa Jaye posts, you’ll understand), but I absolutely need a minimum 30mins focused unwinding when I get home and then (would like) at least 1hr uninterrupted writing. I tend to conflate unwinding with online  surfing, which doesn’t help, but it’s the only ‘mindless’ thing I can do while he’s yapping my ear off. ;-P Just thought of a solution!  -- Going to start taking my shower earlier in the evenings, instead of just before bedtime.  That would give me my approximately 30mins of de-stressing. Then, gonna put my foot down about the 1hr (at least) uninterrupted time. The rest is up to me.

I also just ordered another Alphasmart. I’ve had a couple in the past and they really force you to focus on the writing. No surfing (not connected), no editing (because only about 4 lines of text are visible), just pure writing. It’s lighter weight than my netbook and will boot up and turn off quicker than the netbook. That should hopefully help with writing on my commute/lunch break.

So what’s the title of this post about? I’ve been off work since Friday and won’t be back till Wednesday. Part of my plans for this mini-vacation was to write. Guess how much of that I’ve done? Exactly. Managed to get a bunch of other things accomplished, but somehow this goal has fallen to the wayside (as usual). I have 4 loads of laundry to do today. Already have 1 load in the drier, and another just started in the washer. Each load takes approximately 1hr 20mins in total (wash & dry); plus there’s folding and putting stuff away. But I figure I can write in 30min spurts for the next 3hrs or so. We’ll see what I get done by the end of the day.

I’m going in…