Saturday, January 10, 2009

Wanted: Surival Tips for the Obsessive Writer


Fast drafting has left me little time to do anything but write like a madwoman. I'm so into this novel, I forget about everything else.

My son was asking for pants to wear, my husband has been scrounging the refrigerator for food, and the cat stares bleakly at her empty food bowl (thank goodness I don't have a cat that meows incessantly). Oh! And I almost forgot. I'm supposed to actually go to work because I have a job!
(FYI, don't visit without a giving me enough time to stash the dirty dishes in the bathtub and toss the piles of toys under the beds.)

I've been thinking of ways to make my life easier and ideas to give me more time to appease this writing obsession.

My list so far:
1. TV- instant babysitting but also guilt
2. Fast food- except its too difficult to get here in Korea
3. No sleep, chocolate and extra doses of caffeine- effective so far
4. Pretending laundry is a fun game and cross my fingers my three year old thinks so too
5. Yeah, that's about it.

Love to hear your ideas of survival tips for the writing maniac!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm not a great one to give advice on this--when I was working on my revisions, I didn't clean the house, vaccuum, wash clothes, or wash dishes for two weeks--despite the fact that I had a vacation from work during that time!

But I do find the crock pot invaluable--quick and easy to cook. Also, a got the Kruz cordless vaccuum from Dirt Devil at an after Christmas sale, and it is super quick and easy to use.

As for everything else--paper plates and Frebreeze your clothes!

Kimbra Kasch said...

If only I could give up my addiction ...to sleep then I could have 1/3 more life to live and time to use.

As it is, I stay up waaaay 2 late and get up much to early. It's the only solution I've found.

PJ Hoover said...

Number 3 works wonders for me. And yeah, the TV gave me many ideas in my youth. Why shouldn't I let it do the same for my kids.
I have to say now that they are getting older (4 and 7) I can stay up way late and sleep in on mornings when we don't have to be anywhere (Saturdays and summer) and they will be OK with that.

C.R. Evers said...

I have to set goals like:

Once I put in another load of laundry and empty the dishwasher, then I can write a little bit more. I have to dangle the carrot in front of my nose for motivation!

I can soooo realte! :0)

My house is always a mess anyway. But that's how I get stuff done anyway, or else it would be a worse mess than it already is. :0) When I get a book deal I"m going to hire a maid with my advance. :0D

Christy

Christina Farley said...

Great tips guys! I love them!

Kim, you are so right. Writers just don't sleep enough.

Rena Jones said...

Like Beth, I use my crock-pot a lot. That makes dinner a little easier, since the main course is usually done and I just have to deal with the sides.

I have 4 kids, but two of them are teens, so they help out a lot. I tend to go on writing spurts and when I'm into one of those, that's all that gets done.

I love your new picture, BTW!

Kate Fall said...

Oh, Christy, I'm so jealous. I'm getting nowhere with Fast Draft January. For your preschooler, I definitely recommend assessing what makes you do laundry: pjs, undies, socks? And then buy a couple more cheap.

Christina Farley said...

It's grilled cheese sandwiches tonight and my husband has taken my boys to the field to play soccer- what a sweetie.

And I'm taking your suggestions on the crock pot tomorrow.

I think you're right. We're going to be in survival mode until this draft is finished. I can't stop writing it because it just has to come out. You know?

Brenda said...

I agree...crockpots save a lot of time and does the work for you...

I've also started doing a load of laundry a day instead of taking one day to it...I don't have as much to put away with one load as I do with ALL my laundry at one time...

Good luck!