Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Perils of Writing from Home

The puppy's whining woke me from a dream of a post-apocalyptic world. An awesome story idea evaporated into wakefulness to address puppy's need to piddle.

Sitting before the monitor, with puppy outside in the kennel, mama cat yowls and wants attention.

Reading through a scene, mama cat continues to eeroow, and hops on top of the writing table, dislodging notes and scattering pens.

Placed back on the floor, mama cat rrreeews and proceeds to yerk on the carpet.

I retrieve paper towels and clean up kitty leavings. Spray with stain remover and scrub the spot.

Since it's getting warmer out, so I herd the cats out of my writing room, and bring the puppy back in.

Ah. I sit before the monitor. Doing what I most enjoy doing.

There's a white flurry in the room. Puppy has knocked the roll of paper towels off the printer stand and is having great fun.

Pieces of shredded paper towel fly into the air. The mess that only took seconds to make is quite impressive.

I clean up the paper towels, while puppy wags his tail mightily, then since hubby has had foot surgery and for now I am our primary cook, so it's time to cook breakfast.

Breakfast is finished, yet there's some paperwork that hubby needs to locate. I am informed this should only take a few minutes.

Three hours later, the missing papers has been FINALLY located, and it's time to make lunch.

That was the first half of my day yesterday.

The second half consisted of more outside puppy trips, more assisting with compiling paperwork, putting dishes into the dishwasher, doing several loads of laundry, making healthy fruit shakes to encourage hubby's healing (twice), cleaning blender (twice), making dinner, and cleaning up mess leftover from searching for paperwork.

As for writing-related activities, I skimmed part of a scene in the early morning hours.

Folks have commented about my working at home, sitting before the computer monitor in my pajamas. That does not happen. I get up and get ready for my day as if getting ready for a job outside the home, because writing is my job.

Yesterday, I was not able to do my job well or properly. Had I been working outside the home, my boss more than likely would not have been happy with my job performance.

The pets tend to add so much companionship and enjoyment to my life, as does hubby; therefore, I don't have a solution as of yet as to balancing, setting boundaries, and priorities.

Hubby's healing and comfort is of great importance and is a priority for the next few weeks.

As for puppy, he's, well, a puppy; however, in the next few weeks, we will address his behavioral issues as well.

For mama cat and her two offspring, a visit to the vet is order to address their continued tummy issues. (In the next few weeks as well.)

As for writing...it's my job, it's what I do and how I intend to make my living; therefore, in the next week I must pull the first book together and send to the developmental editor by next Tuesday. Once hubby is healed, if the puppy and cat issues are not resolved, I will need to come up with other alternatives to my writing environment.

Although, I have been working from home for my job for several years, setting my boundaries for doing work for a company that paid me for my time tended to be more straightforward and realistic.

For the past few weeks, the level of distraction and lack of the ability to focus has been, mildly put, overwhelming.

Truth be told, I had no idea the perils of writing from home.

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