life getting in the way of art

  Today the six year old was running an impressively high temperature, and didn't go to school.   I managed to clock up the grand total of twenty minutes at my keyboard in the morning, and planned to go back to it in the afternoon while the two year old slept. But I knocked a bottle of wine and sent it hurtling onto the quarry tiled floor where it exploded in glorious style.  There was crushed glass glinting in every crevice and ruby wine soaking into the tiles and reaching sluggish fingers every which way.  It took me so long to clean it up (and once I'd started, I scrubbed the whole floor) that I never made it back to the computer.
Twenty minutes isn't much to be proud of, is it?  I dread to think what drivel dripped from my speed-tapping fingers, but I'll face it tomorrow.
And worst of all is having a little one poorly - I hope she's better tomorrow for her sake more than mine.

Becalmed

It's amazing what three good writing days will do for you.  I actually feel almost sated; on the Wednesday, I had a slight heart-slump of 'Again?' as I took myself to the Mac.  How wonderfully lovely to have had so much more time than usual....and I can appreciate at last that full time writers don't have it quite as easy as I thought.  I've always been so hungry for the moment of Writing, it had never really occurred to me that more discipline might be necessary when there's an abundance of time.

If  I can keep this up for the next few weeks (half term excepted), there's a chance I might actually get this second draft finished before Santa starts shaking soot all over the carpet...

I love Mondays

Great writing day, but what a huge task this is - tweaking here, building new scenes there, trying to tie everything in....what will be left at the end; a confusing mess or something beginning to approach my vision? Ha ha.  I think I can already guess which!

I am still thinking that I will save up and try using a critiquing agency to try to knock edges off, but not this draft; I think there may be two more revisions in me before I'm that far on!

We have just cracked the spine, as a family, on the BFG. The six year old has had a few tentative forays into Roald Dahl territory, and she and the four year old both adore The Enormous Crocodile (especially the end).  So far, the children are listening spell-bound to their Daddy read (a rare occurrence), and my heart continues to be warmed by the power of story.  What a gift, to tell a story and brighten a child or an adult's world.

Guilty Housewife

Last week was so successful in terms of getting my bum on my seat and typing away on my manuscript.  However, it meant that all the cleaning that needed doing was pushed aside for the whole week...but sssh, don't tell anyone. 

This week, I have visitors coming on Tuesday, and the house is a state, so I am wrestling now with how much time to spend tomorrow visiting housework magic on my little pig-sty, and how much I can hoard for writing.  Even with as much extra time as I have now two of the children are at school, it disappears so easily; blink and it's gone.

Back to the Discipline, I suppose, and the balancing act.

Fetching the oojit from the whatsit

I don't know about baby brain, but something is wrong with mine. I remember a friend turning up at work with her home phone in her handbag instead of her mobile, and thinking it was funny, but it's as if I've lost all grasp of the English language (and I never had any grasp of any other language in the first place).
Yesterday I was trying to point out which was our compost bin to my mother-in-law and told her it was the green bin, when it was clearly grey.  Sometimes I end up falling back on nonsense, and asking Steve to turn the doo-dah down, or if a child can pass me the poky thing.  On occasion I've even been known to try a little game of Charades when the nonsense words fail me.  It's like living in a foreign land, and I've mislaid the thingymabob to help translate - you know, that book full of words and phrases you might need...
How am I going to do any good quality writing for the next six months?

Trying new things

I have more time on my hands than I imagined, now two of the children are at school.  Funny, how precious the times were last year, when the 4 year old was at nursery, for writing.  And now, it's like that all day, every day; I should be able to write at least three times a week, if I can get some discipline!

This week, I've done very little writing on my book, but I did begin an idea for an article. I've never done anything like that before, but have been intrigued by articles in the writing mags about freelancing for magazines. The trickiest part, for me, is finding people who are willing to talk to me about their experiences.  I've put a plea out on a relevant internet forum, with no bites after three days. I wonder if that is typical, or if I worded it badly.  I shall have to see if I can make any progress this week, on the article, or the book!

Feeling better

Have managed a little writing this week, despite three days in my new school.  I am feeling better now, after a rough few weeks. I'm expecting our fourth baby, and am hoping that he/she will be good and sleep as much as possible!

Tomorrow our littlest one has his first morning at playschool, too, so I would like to get lots of writing done, but I am also very aware that the disgracefully dirty bathroom will probably claim some of my time.  Hopefully the little one will be so tired after playschool that he sleeps all afternoon...