Writing, Sex, Parenting, and Poop

It’s probably no coincidence and I almost hate to admit it, but I got some serious writing done this weekend! It helped that I had NO plans and pretty nearly divorced the household to hole away with my manuscript and my young adult author imagination. And, yes, I’ve “run” (Let’s just call it treadmill time) for about one week and magically my writing has improved. But what is fascinating for me about this last weekend of writing was how little my kids demand of me these days.

I know many writers out there have little kids, and I have no idea how you manage them and writing at the same time. I couldn’t. Or didn’t. I like total immersion in the writing process, I guess. Yes, I must, because even the adorable ballads my husband belts through the house as he showers (“Oh, Jody, Jody, Jody, how great thou art…” He likes to mix his musical genres) begin to frustrate me and I lose focus on the page. (Sorry, Baby. Don’t stop though.) Anyway, I totally digressed right there. What I wanted to say is that here is some good news for you writers (or any work-from-homers) with little kiddos: they will begin to need you less and less. Seems obvious, but for me a total awakening! (Kind of like the day I realized I’d gone an entire day without thinking about my kids poop. Hallelujah! Parenting is weird. Amen.)

Josh said to me this weekend, “We’re halfway done raising them, you know.” It took me by surprise. And I know I know I know that our kids will require parent time well after they’ve hit the age of eighteen. But. The time demands will be different and I relish my alone time! I got a taste of that this weekend. I revised over 100 pages of my work-in-progress, which I will tempt you by pitching as “The Goonies meets Post Secret.” The damn thing is coming along! I was confessing to my friend that I always get that feeling right after a HUGE revision, Oh God I hope I still like this in the morning. I fear waking up, rolling over and seeing my manuscript and thinking, shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, you didn’t look like that last night. It happens. I’m shallow sometimes with my writing–appearances are everything. So, I’m happy to report that I still loved my revisions in the morning, I’m still having treadmill time, (though I publicly admit that I did not this morning) and my kids are growing up and becoming more and more independent. Now, who wants to buy my house?