Do you know of any writers who just write? Whose days stretch before them filled with wool-gathering, lots of coffee and the gentle tapping sounds of the keyboard?
Nah, me neither. I think it’s a myth. I’m not convinced of the existence of James Patterson, or Dan Brown or Janet Evanovich. I think they must have been created by a team of media specialists.
I do know some stay-at-home writers but they are also care-givers– and we all know how much time that takes up, or they telecommute. The fact is, most households need two incomes, so all the writers I know juggle their writing with parenting and/or a ‘real’ job.
After my daughter was born I suppose I was in a lucky situation. I was able to take some time off. I did after my son was born too and there was something about his personality that allowed me to write three books while he was a baby. I have fond (and obviously inaccurate) memories of him lying at my feet on his blanket gurgling and waving his feet in the air, while I typed away, or less fond memories of him asleep on my neck while I tried to finish a chapter, resulting in stiffness and sore muscles.
My daughter is a different animal. She’s much more interested in me and what I am doing. She likes to involve herself. I’ve taken far more time off with her, avoiding the workplace for over two years now, and I managed to finish only two books in that time.
But all good things come to an end and I’ve recently started working from the house again.
Here’s how I see my day. Like a pie sort of. Mmm, pie! I carve it up into lovely even pieces. There’s my morning hike, my WIP, the JOB, my daily chores, some relaxation, FAMILY. So that’s 6 equal wedges right? Right, except that the whole pie is covered in holes made by my daughter’s little fingers. She likes to reach in there and just scoop out as much as she can get.
And then the school bus arrives (only 6 short hours after it has departed) and the other pie-gouger is home, and I don’t know about the rest of you parents but once both of them are home, I am severely outnumbered.
If I have slept well and for more than one night, I am sometimes able to keep those pies up in the air. One, two, even three if there are other distractions like travel, selling houses, holidays etc…but usually I drop at least one of them, if not permanently at least for an hour or so.
Until I am reminded that lunch is late.
How do you cope?
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6 thoughts on “Juggling”
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Ah, this all sounds terribly familiar! I’m seriously impressed with the number of books you have found the time to write!
I work at a “proper” job in the mornings and then have an hour or two to write before my kids’ school bus trundles up. And, yes, once that’s happened I don’t even try to sit and write until they’re falling asleep several hours later!
I sometimes think I cope by just doing everything imperfectly; by not devoting quite enough time to each slice of the pie, but just enough to keep each plate spinning. Some days, sure, it works better than others …
Simon,
I didn’t say they were good or successful books! One worked, one almost worked. one definitely did work, and the others got shelved. I have noticed that 2 kids (un-mathematically) makes everything about ten times harder.
Can you imagine how people do this with three kids? I’ve only got the two, but my friends who have three (and I’m one of three) tell me that you’re just numb. If we could just write in a semi-catatonic state, just how productive would we be?
I’m ultra impressed that you were as productive as you were. I’m most definitely not.
I think it goes up by the power of 10- the madness of children I mean.
Thanks. I’m somehow able to find the eye of the storm. Perhaps when my littlest is in daycare, I will find the silence and peace daunting.
It may sound insane, but my writing is better (and I am far more fulfilled with it) when I am juggling one hundred things at once, including three children.
I think it is because I am forced to write, and write well first time. When I have acres of space in the day, then I procrastinate. Being busy forces me to – if you’ll pardon the phrase – stop pissing about and just get on with it!
Donna,
Actually it doesn’t sound insane. I worry sometimes that once my youngest starts daycare (sometime in the next year or so) I won’t have the urgency to work off of anymore. And I will procrastinate, since that is my fatal flaw.
Congrats for doing it all with three kids, BTW!