Okay, I’m intending this post to be a warning to all you parents out there. PLAN YOUR QUIET WRITING TIME IN ADVANCE! I managed to do this during the summer, but for some reason have gotten out of the habit.
What you should do: Tell your kids to give you_____ minutes for you to write. Have it be whatever length of time you feel you’ll need. Tell them what’s available for them to eat for breakfast, or, go ahead and fix it for them before you get started. Tell them not to disturb you unless they’re sick or the house is on fire, etc. Tell them to let the answering machine pick up. Take the dog out to use the bathroom.
What you should not do: what I did this morning, which was just to send them upstairs (this is early in the morning and my husband is not up yet.) Because this led to my daughter (“I have a tummyache. And I’m hungry.”), my son (“I’m having a problem installing a program on the computer. Can you take a look at it?”), and my dog (“Whine! Whine!” and looking earnestly at the front door) all interrupting me. Luckily, I knew where I was going with my story this morning and stepped back into it. But how much faster could I have gone and how much more could I have accomplished if I’d done a little prep work before I got started?
