First of all, I want to thank these fabulous girls for letting me guest-blog today. What fun! I adore being a novelty!
So, I loved Crystal’s blog, How Do Moms DO this? Not just because she wrote about being surrounded by hot, sweaty, naked construction men (I’m a writer, I change things to suit my needs), but she addressed an issue I deal with every day: The Dreaded Interruption.
First of all, I only have one kid, so I double-bow to those of you with two, three or even more rug-rats. I don’t know how you do it. When I write, I kind of go into a trance, and God help the poor soul who interrupts me. Just ask Mr. Manroot. He barely escaped a flying vase one day when he opened the door to my office and asked what I wanted for lunch. “Turkey!” I screamed, hurling the pottery at his head. So, no, I don’t handle interruptions well.
But I’ve recently gotten slightly better. You see, Mr. Manroot has been away on business for the past few days, and I have a deadline looming, so I had to learn really quickly how to write with my kid constantly beside me. Here are a few things I did in order to get some writing done:
1) I spent the first half of the day getting him good and tired. The park, gymnastics, we even went to Wal-Mart. I just wanted all that toddler energy used up.
2) I gave my kid a new toy. I don’t do this very often, but that tractor kept him pretty busy. I used this time to edit some previous writing. I don’t need as much concentration to edit as I do to write.
3) Shrek. My kid loves Shrek, and now I do, too. I took my laptop, sat on the sofa with my kid and actually managed to write this way. Furthermore, I found Donkey really inspirational.
4) I used naptime to write. If I did a good job with number one, my kid would take an extra-long nap. One day I managed 1500 words in two hours!
5) I was constantly challenging my friends to write-offs. If my kid was even slightly occupied, I was like, “Shelli! Yo! Write off? You up for it? You want a piece of this?” It’s amazing what a little competition will do to me.
6) I learned to ignore. I had my laptop on the kitchen counter, writing while my kid pushed his tractor around my ankles. After a few days, this kind of writing became almost easy for me.
Now, four days of just me and the kid later, I’ve managed to write almost 5000 words. I really wouldn’t have thought I had it in me. How did I do it? I just did. I’m thinking it actually helped my writing—the practice of ignoring distractions helped me get in my zone faster. In fact, I’m writing this right now with my kid begging me for juice, asking me to take his coat off…all those things will get done. As soon as I finish this sentence.
March 26th, 2007 at 12:42 am
I’m so proud of you! You did great
And you’re a tough chick. You can write your arse off when you need to!
It IS hard with the interruptions. And you feel like you neglect your child.
March 26th, 2007 at 4:06 am
It’s so hard to write with kids around. You’d think it would get easier once they’re 9 and 11, but then they’re old enough to know you’re just trying to distract them with other things and they make it their mission to WIN. LOL. Truth: I think it does get easier as they can do more things for themselves.
“Furthermore, I found Donkey really inspirational.” He’s totally the perfect secondary character! He’s loyal. Optimistic. And believes in true love. Gotta love the donkster!
March 26th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I’m still stuck on how Donkey was inspirational. Do I even want to ask?
Congrats and good job, Feisty!
March 26th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Funny, I find having cartoon in the background helps too…It’s white noise to toddler moms, soothing, like the sound of the ocean…
March 26th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
The older they get the worse it gets, I swear. I can’t do cartoons. It’s like nails on a chalk board for me, but I love Shrek! =)
March 26th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
That’s awesome Fiesty! I usually just let mine beat each other up so I can write. Hey, what other reason for having three is there lol??
March 28th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Yay! Writing w/ the kiddos is never easy. My life is like yours just times two (#1 doesn’t count cos he’s 13 and locked away in his room).
Congrats on all of that writing!