Maybe you know this and maybe you don’t, but recently I’ve become a stay-at-home mom for two small children. Except that I also am working for the Consortium (at home) and trying to write my next novel (at home). Naptimes and early bedtimes have allowed me to snag the time I need for my editing duties, but unfortunatley, forty-five minutes here and there just isn’t enough time to really get myself back into the groove of writing.
Before I had kids, sitting on the couch or lounging in bed all Saturday was the perfect way to get a thousand or so words pounded out. But nowadays things aren’t so easy. Mealtimes, discipline, and even just letting my boy bowl me over for the twentieth time that day have gotten in the way of my old routine. Something has to change.
Entre, por favor, my husband. He’s a great dad, but even when we’re both at home I can’t ignore things that need to be done around the house. It’s just too distracting! So I came up with an ida. Many times I would meet the members of my writer tribe at IHOP or Starbucks for some social writing. It’s where we are able to bounce ideas off of each other and commiserate over our different writing problems. It’s good to do every once and a while because writing is such a solitary task and sometimes we need reminding that we’re not alone.
But what if I went to Starbucks by myself for a while? Yes, I’d miss the sounding board and socialization of my writing friends, but what with all the distractions at home, I don’t need additional distractions away from home. Sometimes being completely alone is just what we need. Grab a frappicino, plug in those headphones, and just write for a few hours.
So that is what I did. I left Sean and the kids at home, packed up my laptop, and went down to Starbucks. For the first hour and a half I mostly played around on facebook and stared at my blank document, but after that I really got into it and got more work done on my JuNoWriMo prewriting than I had written for myself in months. I went home feeling revitalized and accomplished.
I felt so good about it, in fact, that I went to Starbucks the next weekend as well to get some hardcore editing done for a specific manuscript. This time I was able to dive right in and get everything done in just two and half hours. I reunited myself with my family in time to bring them pizza for a late lunch.
So if you find yourself do the same old things but something has changed, and you can’t get your writing done, maybe you need to change too. What tricks have you found to help you get a reboost on your creativity?
Come back to Stormy Night Publishing on Friday as I join Becca J. Campbell’s blog tour to talk about her new book, Foreign Identity.