Sabotage

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Deb Kinnard

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Like most of us, I wanna write. Like (I suspect) most of us, mundane life-related things get in the way.

Item: I have one weekday off per week. I try to write, on that day. How come only on that day (not my husband's work-at-home day) everything blows a gasket? The water heater starts to spew, the cat needs her blood sugar checked (yes, really), the car needs a muffler...guess whose work is shoved aside?

Item: when my college-age girl moved out, I claimed her room as my writing space. This was nothing new--I'd threatened for years to do so. The MINUTE I moved a used file cabinet, desk and laptop in there, the family decided it would make a great store-room. Now there are books and tapes "I'm gonna go through" scattered allovahdahplace. Last I glanced in there, I couldn't even walk across the floor. Needless to say, it's NOT where I'm doing my writing.

I call for an end to sabotage!!
 

Ol' Fashioned Girl

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I'd spend the next available weekday at home gathering up the crap that has roosted in your office and set it right smack dab in the middle of the floor in the room of its owner... or the garage, if the owner happens to be significant other.
 

Bubastes

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Give them a deadline to go through their books and tapes. Anything they haven't taken out of your office by the deadline gets donated to the library.
 

willfulone

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It always seems that life has things to give us distraction. I just set aside time and give that just to myself for whatever I wish. But, it IS hard to get the rest of the world to "go along".

I hope you can get it going without distraction soon!

Good luck!

Christine
 

Yeshanu

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What they said about clearing out the room. Then hang a sign on the door saying, "Out to work. Back at five." Let the answering machine take the calls. Schedule appointments and errands for some other day or time.

Then ignore the rest and write.
 

Beach Bunny

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I can relate to the OP. Last week my mom went to visit her sister for nine days. I was looking forward to nine days of peace and quiet with no one talking at me. And TWO HOURS after I dropped my mom at the airport, my Chatty-Cathy brother, who I haven't spoken to in two months, called to say he was coming over to borrow the pressure washer. :(

And in those nine days my mom was gone, a different brother's girlfriend, who rarely calls, called TWICE. And my nephew, whom I haven't talked to since last January called to talk for an hour and a half. It's like they're psychic. They KNOW the exact thing to do to mess up my plans. :rolleyes:
 

bsolah

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I was going good doing my weekly and monthly tasks at work, got into a routine that left me with a nice amount of time plan and write during work. In comes King Pete from another department basically demanding this his project is critical and our whole department of three people have suspended everything we do to work for his department now.

This project is big, confusing and they expect the world from us. Now I have no time to write or even think about writing at work. I am of course, still on AW :tongue
 

veinglory

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Life is sabotage. I suggest large cardboard boxes and the basement, attic or whatever space is available. Be ruthless! Be selfish! (Give them muffins so they forgive you).
 

Clair Dickson

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When I was working midnights, all the crises happened at night. It wasn't because things happened to break or go wrong then... it was because the day shift ignored them (or blatantly left them for night shift to take care of.)

I'm too spiky for people to interrupt my plans. I also growl and hiss. I can also ignore problems until someone else comes along (as was sometimes done to me!) I have some extra quills if you need them to help get your writing done. I have lots of extra quills. =)
 

NeuroFizz

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I'm going to give a different take on this and then run for my Kevlar jumpsuit (kind of what Clair said, but a little more direct).

It's so easy to not write.

It's so easy to wring one's hands and complain about this not being perfect, that not being perfect. How can I write when the coffee isn't hot enough, there is too much noise, I don't have the right music, my writing space isn't the way I want it. It's sometimes too much to expect the world to stop for your writing time. It doesn't work that way for anyone in any occupation.

Get a laptop and it's possible to write in any chair, in any place, even at the muffler shop. Or use a tablet and pen, or a tape recorder.

A fellow graduate student (years ago) had to have everything perfect in the lab before running an experiment, and she spent hours fussing getting it that way. In the end, she didn't get much work done on most days--she fussed so much she pissed way most of her research season. This person has never become the productive scientist she could have been because of her penchant for finding excuses to not do her work, and it has become a personality trait for her.

If you let these things bother you, they will stop your writing dead. Just push the mess aside, sit your butt down, and write. And every time you find something that gets in the way of your writing, ask yourself a simple question. Am I making excuses to not write? For the big time-interrupting (emergency-type) stuff, there isn't much that can be done. But in addition to a planned writing time, it's frequently necessary to be able to pull out the tablet or laptop when opportunities arise in the non-planned time. In some days, these little time-opportunities may be all you get.
 
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Deb Kinnard

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After 23 books, I know what it takes for me to sit down & write something. Forgive, but that's not the main issue. What I'm railing against is the "it's not really work" mentality some of those around us develop.

Yes, it IS really work, and you can consider me at my job for now. Since I'm not here, tell the cat to go sulk in silence, clean up after the water heater yourself (you do know where the towels are, don't you?), and let me be for an hour or two. Not the whole day: I'm a mom, so that's not logical. But just for a little while.

I don't make excuses not to write. You don't know me, so you'll have to take this on faith. I make excuses not to do the OTHER stuff I'm supposed to do, so that I'll have time for the writing. It's the actions/attitudes of other folks I'm kvetching about.

But I do need to stop kvetching and do something. That much is true.
 

NeuroFizz

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Sorry, Deb. But I didn't get even a hint from the original post that you were complaining about people not taking writing as a serious job. That's a whole different story. And my comments were directed more at the general AW audience--I tried (and probably failed miserably) to couch the comments in that way.
 

Deb Kinnard

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No problemo. Let me state upfront that I am married to the world's greatest man. If you doubt this fact, just ask him.

He is, however, a packrat. To the max. He admits it. So all that overflow goes somewhere, and if it's spread all over my office floor, well hon, he's GONNA get in there & go through it...

Does anything stay put longer than things that are there "temporarily"?

Sabotage, I tell ya. Sabotage.
 

Clair Dickson

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Maybe part of it is that you let other people treat you like writing isn't a real job? I don't know you too well, so this is really a generic shot in the dark.

Since I'm mean and nasty to anyone who might dare THINK that writing isn't work and that I'm "interruptable" I've never run into this problem. I also rip limbs off people who interrupt me when I'm relaxing too. DEMAND that people respect your working time. Find some fangs and practice your growl. At least that worked for me. =)
 

Stlight

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Deb, I was married to and parented by pack rats, I'm sort of on the Zen side myself, wonder why... I went out on a few dates with a guy who took me to his house, where there was a path through the stacks of newspapers. last date that one.

Just a thought, you might make cards that say This dress/jacket/car brought to you by name of book that paid for it.

Perhaps This Shed brought to you by name of book. Home Depot has nice sheds with floors that they will come out and assemble to put all that packratty junk in. They are kinda nice and big enough for bookshelves.

S
 

SouthernFriedJulie

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StLight, LOL! I love that idea.

And we have a shed. It's full, too.

My mother was/is a packrat from the time she became old enough to old onto things. She finally solved her packrat issue and cleaned out her entire house.

It was relocated to my basement when she moved in with me. She ended up going back home and leaving the junk here. I am going through it, slowly because of the amount...but here's what you do:

1. Post junk on Craigslist.
2. Post Junk on Freecycle.
3. Answer emails.
4. Wave goodbye to the junk and people.
5. Sigh in relief and maybe count some cash if you didn't just give it all away.

Good luck to you. I can relate with your plight!
 

Siddow

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StLight, LOL! I love that idea.

And we have a shed. It's full, too.

Get another shed, furnish it with a table, lamp, and a bookshelf, and put a big padlock on the door. On the inside, place another padlock. Use it.

You're welcome. :D
 
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