What do I do all day? The first thing I do each day is clean. Not because I like to clean (yeah, I hate it), but because in cleaning I find things that need my urgent attention. Unfinished tasks, projects, and moldy things the kids hide in the couch cushions. While I clean, I find new things to occupy my time--time that I should spend writing.
When I tire of projects, I write. (Yeah, I know I should rearrange my priorities: write first, projects second.) While I write, my house gets dirty and disorganized again. The place perpetuates new projects all by itself. (The kids help some in that department.)
Then there's those all-too-frequent moments--and by moments, I mean hours--when I check my email, Facebook, and Amazon. It's a bad habit, one that sucks up my time like the Dyson vacuum cleaner I can't afford. I could probably write a novel every six months if the internet was down. (There's an idea!)
And when I'm really bored, I call my mother and listen to her whine while I paint my toenails or look at Amazon again.
I used to have a condition called chronic volunteerism, but I was cured when I published my first book. I've yet to find volunteer work I enjoy that doesn't use up too much of my time--time that I should spend writing.
Oh, and sometimes I take care of my four kids who still live at home. Three of them are adults so I consider my job done if I keep food in the kitchen, TP in the bathrooms, and laundry detergent next to the Maytag. The youngest still needs to be fed and chauffeured around, but sometimes the older ones will do that for me if I tell them--and by tell them, I mean beg, plead, and bribe--in the middle of writing a scene.
I've trained them well, but I will always be mom first, author second.
Time to get off my blog. I hear my laptop calling.
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