These days I often feel fractured. Like there are so many sides to me I have to take one off and put the another one on whenever I move to a new task. Less chaotic than a multiple personality and more like a Prism of Me. Ooo, I like that… A Prism of Me…it might make a good book title if I change the ‘Me’ to a character name. Hmmmmm.
So the ‘Teacher’ side has to switch over to the ‘Office Manager’ side back and forth during the day, because I’m homeschooling my Asperger’s oldest and run my mother’s business. Yet, whenever I get into my hot little red car I switch over to the ‘Sexy Cougar’ side of the Prism of Me, while my favorite songs play on my favorite station. Don’t get me started on what side comes out when I catch the eye of a good looking guy or this blog will end up in the Naughty Stuff section!
When I get home I have to switch again into ‘Good Mom’ mode and do the homework dinner routine. If I’m lucky I can force the prism switch again and get into the ‘writer’ mode after all the munchkins are parked upstairs.
Oh…not for the blog…lordy that stuff just pours out of me…like food poisoning. But to get into the writing mood I have to entice the muse with the interesting characters and plot lines I’m working on. In other words, I have to read what I last wrote…and that takes time. And time is my enemy because I have so, so little of it.
And then there is the difficult task of getting the quiet time to plot the action and dialogue in my head. I started going to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 and find myself lying there, eyes closed, plotting and plotting until I fall asleep. The only trouble with that is if I don’t rerun it the next day it’s lost.
But I think the hardest part to the writing is finding the time to do the research. Now, since I mostly write about relationships and spend lots and lots of time on the SEX, one would think the “research” would be quite enjoyable. And when I go out with the girls to watch the males pick up the females it can be. But the multi-verse worlds I’m trying to create are going to take the type of research involving lots and lots of Internet or library time. And like I said, time is my enemy.
How? you ask…you gullible fool. Here is my typical day. Try not to gasp.
Up at 5:30 (Yes, that’s AM, pick up your jaw!) to go to the gym. Try to make it back to the house by 7:45 to make sure the kids have been fed, medicine has been doled out, chores have been done and everyone is dressed. Oh, and unpack my gym back, get coffee, pack up the oldests school books and get my work bag loaded up. Did I mention lunches in all that?
Drop the younger two kids off at school and head to work, where I put in 6 hours of running the mail order business and homeschooling the 6th grader SIMULTANEOUSLY. Pick up the other two kids at 2:30 and walk them all through homework, while doing what work I can on my laptop, or pay bills or sort thru paperwork, etc. Then it’s cook dinner, eat dinner and order the kids about to clean up after dinner. Hallelujah when its time to supervise getting them washed, Pj’d and parked. That’s when I try to entice the muse, or do extra work in front of television.
Thank the heavens the kids are old enough that all I have to do is threaten and nag them issue the orders and make sure they don’t forget. And they’re used to the routine of wash and parked by 7:30pm. I love the electronic television age. (Bad mom? BITE ME!)
So like I said…time is my enemy. But the good news is moving into my sexual prime seems to also include less sleep. My mind pops awake at 4 or 5 am and I can cat nap until its time to get up. And as long as my eyes are closed, I can write in my head until midnight.
All that on two cups of coffee a day! Forties Rock!