Poppy Mercury - Berpisah

Oops. Real life often has a way of getting in your face and it smacked my upside the head yesterday, LOL My lovely daughter just bought her first home and is moving in (of course, the weather is so NOT cooperating!)and the day job was just a little harrowing so even with my reminder, I simply forgot.

Today, aside from normal housewifely chores, I have several writers tasks to accomplish. Catching up on email, doing some promo work...REWRITING MY CURRENT WIP for an interested agent who wants the finished product in two weeks! Yikes!!!

I remember a time when I pictured the writing life as a lot less hectic.

I saw myself rising in the morning, getting a cup of flavored coffee, reading the paper, maybe catching the morning news. I'd let the dog out, pet the cat, get dressed, let the dog in, then with another cup of coffee, sit at my computer and begin work on my latest masterpiece.

Yeah. Right. LOL

Dreams can be good things and maybe the above dream (or fantasy) will eventually come true. In the meantime, my typical morning goes something like this.

Rise, shower, get dressed. Turn the computer on. Run downstairs, let the dog out, grab my cereal and juice, let the dog in (why isn't she at the door waiting????), take my cereal and juice upstairs, eat the food while I'm going through email (reading only the most urgent), checking my calendar for whatever online or in-person events I MUST attend, then IF I have time, opening my WIP and maybe get 5 minutes into it before the timer (yes, I must use a timer or I'd be late for the day job) goes off. I then turn the computer off, gather up my breakfast dishes and my jump drive, run downstairs. Wash the dishes. Put my lunch in my bag (I always make it the night before), pour a cup of coffee in my travel mug and assure my Zuzu (dog) and cat (Wookie) that I'll see them in the evening and I rush out the door.

Once at work, I use my laptop during my breaks and lunch to work on my WIP (this is more productive than it may sound since I don't have a cat demanding adoration, a husband demanding attention or other distracting visitors or sounds).

After I return home, I fix dinner (have I mentioned I LOVE my crockpot? And my microwave? What did we do without those wonderful devices?). My husband, who works midnights, is asleep but the dog still needs to be let out, the cat still needs adoration (and she never gets quite enough :D ) So I take my dinner, eat it while once again checking email and calendar. Do the dishes and any other pressing household chores (Wookie is a wonderful cat but, ahem, cleaning her litterbox is NOT my favorite chore :P )then and only then can I return to the WIP.

By that time, I'm half asleep but I do manage to get an hour, sometimes two, of work done. And I'm never sure it's any good.

Weekends aren't much better since I'm usually on call if an emergency arises at the day job and they do arise...usually when I've found a burst of creative energy and am deep into the story. If an emergency doesn't arise, there's Wookie again, wanting to be petted. And my husband, who I've only seen about two and a half hours all week, is wondering if I have a secret online lover...to which I ask "Who has time?" LOL

I admit that I still have the dream I described above and maybe it will happen once I can quit the day job. Or maybe not. In the meantime, I have the utmost admiration for other writers, ones with children (who are even more hard pressed for time!) and/or day jobs, who manage to produce book after book, sell them and promote them.

Kudos to you all...and what's your secret?