Monday, March 14, 2011

The Perfect Deadline Storm

On any given day, this is the scene I face while attempting to write!!




Oh my!! The holiday season has had nothing on my crazy winter, only instead of being consumed with baking cookies and shopping, I've had blizzards and bronchitus and kid drama and a concussion and kid drama and more bronchitus and you guessed it--kid drama!! Argh!! LOL!!



In the midst of all of this, I've been chipping away at the fourth book of my Buckhorn Ranch series and Natalie and Wyatt's story is due today!! Double Argh!! The more books I write, the more I've come to realize that for me, anyway, my creativity is linked to so much more than I'd like it to be. I've read many articles written by those elusive New York Times Bestselling Author creatures and most all of them say their writing life is kept quite seperate from their personal life. That's great in theory, but how does one make such a thing work?



Casa Altom is modern and open--meaning the only doors are on bedrooms and baths. There's no such thing as finding a nice, quiet place to call my own. But I thought all of your kids left for college, you ask? Why yes, they supposedly did. But they discovered dorm food isn't all they'd dreamt it would be, so they're in and out at random times to feed. Then, they plop down on the sofa and turn on a show I undoubtedly would love to watch. Or, they wax on about whatever love or school issues they have going on.



If the kids are gone, Hubby strolls in. He might have his guitar. Or a fun work story. Or commentary about the weather, or how much we need to go to the gym, or what sounds good for dinner.



Lord knows, I adore my family!! They are my world. But I also have this writing world going on that seriously interferes with their need to access Mom.



What's the moral of all of this? Nothing, really, other than the realization that unless I move to a deserted island, I may not ever be able to seperate my personal and professional lives. But then again, would I really want to?



Japan's tragedy has reminded me how blessed I am to even have so many petty issues to whine about. So at the moment, I might not be a NYT besetselling author, but I am a happy, loved author, and for today that's exactly what I need!!










3 comments:

Leigh Duncan said...

Laurie,

I hear you. It's tougher than I thought it'd be to balance life and writing. But I'm learning. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you make your deadline. Can't wait to read your next book!

Diana Duncan said...

Yep. Trying to write a hot love scene right now with bickering teens in the other room, dog and cat fighting for space beside me, another cat hacking up a hairball on the rug and Hubby coming home unexpectedly in the middle of the day. Oh yeah, and a J key that popped off my laptop this morning.

Good thing my characters have fun & sexy lives, cause me... uh not so much. *G*

Linda Warren said...

Yep, I can relate too. Deadline looming, rewrite, tax time and AFS to be done. Grrr! And it's spring. I want to go outside.

All I have to do is think about the people in Japan and I relax. My problems are minor.

Linda