Back to School Celebration - aka All I Do is Type

You'd think I hate my kids. I really don't. I'm just the average mother with teenagers. (I have 4.) Like many mothers, the end of August represents freedom for me because the kids are about to go back to school. YAY! For writer's who work at home, this freedom comes in the form of more uninterrupted time to write.

"You work at home. You can write whenever you want." True, but not with teenagers. At least, not the way you think. And definitely not when there is so much preparation to do before school. Have you ever gone school clothes shopping with 4 teenagers? It's a wonder I have any hair left on my head. And since I live in a rural area of Massachusetts, the kids rely on me to take them wherever they need to go. My kids are convinced all I do is type, so how bad can it really be for them to interrupt me 50 times a day? Explaining to them that creativity and good writing takes time and thought and structure usually ends up falling on deaf ears because to them all I do IS type.

It was easier to write when the kids were younger. They would go to bed early and I'd turn on the computer. Even if I wrote until well after midnight, I could easily get in a few uninterrupted hours of writing time. Since my kids are teenagers, they don't go to bed at 8:00 anymore. And since they need me desperately for ________(fill in reason ranging from "Does this make me look fat" to "He won't give me the remote control" to whatever other teenage tragedy that can occur.) creativity must come in short bursts instead of long stretches in order to get my writing in each day. I've gotten to the point where writing in the wee hours of the morning is the only time I can get quiet time to write in. If you see me online at 2:30 AM, I'm not checking CNN Politics, I'm researching a book or I'm writing.

Picture me smiling on August 26th, the first day of high school. My kids will get on the bus and I'll walk into my kitchen and clean the house for about an hour. I'll enjoy quiet and order for a whole 7 hours where the only interruption I'll have is the dog whining to go outside until the bus comes to drop the kids off in the afternoon. During those 7 hours I will celebrate the fact that I have been blessed with wonderful children I love. And all I'll do is type.

Until next time, many blessings, Lisa Mondello