Good souls, all. I am actively ignoring tasks: three baskets of laundry, one turned over, guts spilled across the floor; wet sheets in the washer; pizza dough for dinner unmixed and unformed. My desk is a disaster--pages of a short story in a kafuffle with notes to myself about poetry and a column, all marked up, waiting correction; the CLMP blue book, cover bent, bristling with make-do bookmarks, and folders overlapping Merry's spelling words and Elspeth's pictures. And this is only the room I can see at this moment, from one angle. My life feels similarly scattered: appointments I must make, phone calls and e-mails to compose, prayers to write for church, and a million pieces of minutiae. And then this funny sort of bungling through writing--currently I have poems, columns, creative nonfiction, and a short story in progress (with the kid's stuff simmering on the back burner). I am in the midst of two books, one great novel by David James Duncan and one travel book by William Least Heat-Moon, and I've got three or four waiting.
So right now, I am forging ahead, not into the frigid waters of obligations, but through the warm, salty sea of my own private lagoon: first a cup of tea, then writing. As a friend of mine said this noon about the lunch dishes, "We'll let the Help get this--" of course there is no help except the kind that comes at the end of the day in a form of a partner arriving home or in the plea to the Greater Power: Somebody HELP ME, though God does not do dishes or fold laundry.
When home and work is the same place, it's best to be able to shove all the duties of one to the side for a few hours--it's the only way, really, and though I never imagined I'd be able to work in such a sty, I can. It's like I open a door into A Room of One's Own--not a physical place as yet but a good mental place. And everyone needs one of those, yes?
Happy weekend, everyone. Go and do something lovely. Multiply your best idea of happy hour and spend many of them the next two days with precious people you love, without working about your to-do lists. I'll try to do the same. We'll meet on Monday and see how well we did. Deal?
5 comments:
Hi Kimberly. I found your blog a week or so ago and have been truly enjoying your posts, and your style... Happy writing (and gardening), from a fellow Pennsylvanian.
Zoe, thanks for reading! So much fun to hear from a fellow PAin.
As someone who has worked from home for the last 15 years, there are pitfalls.
But it is great when your 'commute' consists of walking down the hall to your office.
It just takes discipline, both for yourself and the munchkins.
"Mommy is working, don't bother me unless someone is bleeding!"
My mother had a similar line when she needed 'me' time.
which djd book are you reading Kim?
Linds,
The Brothers K. I know you read that three eons ago, but I am a DJD newbie. I'm enjoying it though the baseball loses me a little.
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