Summer vacation used to be my most productive writing time. ?I spent most of my time writing–even on family outings I had a notebook and pen with me. ?Once I even lugged my typewriter to our condo where I did all the usual family stuff and still found time to write. ?Getting some time to think my own thoughts was easier then. ?My mother would take a nap, my brother would watch TV, and my sister would play with her dolls while I would write.
Now that I am a mother, however, I have to fight for each and every word in the summer. ?I can’t just tune out the world and go to that creative place inside my head. ?Being a writing mother who works from home with her children constantly under foot is a challenge. ?Even as I write this my son has cast off his pull-up to run around naked, and my daughter is demanding entertainment as she is bored while my husband is making breakfast for everyone.
My writing?discipline is almost shot entirely out the window, I’ve had to modify it so much. ?One of my goals this year has been to write every day. ?I’m sure there are some out there laughing at my efforts, just as there are some–OK, maybe a very few–sitting in mild admiration of my efforts to keep at it. ?Some days I do feel like I’m going crazy. ?Those are the days that I forget how to go with the flow and balance my time.
There is a part of me longing for the start of school again, but that only occupies my daughter. ?My son is still young, and unless he starts talking more?coherently?and gets potty?trained?in the next 2 weeks or so pre-school is another year off. ?On the other hand, my kids do provide me with a lot of writing ideas. ?True, these ideas get jostled around by the constant flow, some I forget entirely if I can’t even jot a note down, but such is my life.
I have to fight for each word, each sentence. ?The fight in the summer is hard. ?It is this fight, this struggle to continue to perfect my craft and hone my skills that makes me a Word Warrior. ?Some days I feel as though I’m going crazy, however, others I feel myself getting stronger. ?Giving up is not part of my plan.
The writing life is fraught with challenges, but we wouldn’t love it so much if it were easy. I totally empathize since my kids don’t quite understand how precious writing time is. In the end, I find more creative times/ways of getting writing time which does make me a better writer.