I need a writing room. Or an office. Or silence.

by Veronica on August 24, 2013

in Gotta Laugh

Writing is hard. Writing fiction is even harder. Trying to write fiction while the almost seven year old says things like “I wish I were a vampire. I just really wish I were a vampire, because then I could have teeth and bite people on the neck.”

I have a headache, a project that is calling me and a sleeping baby. And my big children won’t go and play nicely outside. WHINGE.

Evelyn slept in this morning, choosing to start the day at 6.15am, rather than 5am. This was probably due to the screaming for most of the night that just would not stop. This morning, she has two new teeth through and a third is almost down.

“Mummy, are you listening to me? Can I please just talk to you? About ceramic school again? Can I PLEASE just talk to you? I need to talk to you.”

“Amy, darling. I am trying to work. How about you go and read a book? Or do some drawing?”

“But I need to talk to you! Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. I just really wish I were a vampire. My friend says she is a vampire and I just really want to be a vampire too. But vampires aren’t real. But I want to be a vampire.”

“Amy, go away.”

“But I just really want to talk!”

Indeed.

Blossom August 24, 2013 at 1:04 pm

The joys of parenthood….not.

Veronica August 24, 2013 at 9:28 pm

I know, right?

Amy R August 24, 2013 at 1:15 pm

I’m sorry to tell you it doesn’t get better from here. Whether they are 8 or 18, it will continue with girls. Boys seem to start picking it up around 10.

Veronica August 24, 2013 at 9:28 pm

Oh no, Isaac talks constantly. So much so that I find myself repeating “Oh, really?” a lot, and tuning him out. Which is terrible, but he does not stop talking, ever.

river August 24, 2013 at 9:58 pm

So talk to her and when she is finished tell her she has had her talk and now must leave you alone to do your writing. Make the agreement before starting the talk of course. “I will listen and talk with you, but then you have to leave me to write for a while”.

Veronica August 26, 2013 at 9:04 am

I wish! Amy is determined, if nothing else. She uses talking to work through things in her head, which gives us quite a lot of repetitive speech patterns, especially if she’s stressed, or something new is happening (like ceramic school, which is Mum teaching a parent/child class).

river August 24, 2013 at 9:59 pm

P.S. a writing room or office won’t make any difference in this situation.

Marylin August 26, 2013 at 8:04 am

Zack won’t shut up and leave me alone either. He’s also honing his selective hearing skills to the point he’s pretty much completely ignoring my requests (pleas) for him to go play a game or read a book so I can have some peace.
I swear, he’s harder these days than Max is! >_<

Veronica August 26, 2013 at 9:04 am

Amy is too. I think it’s the age. I’m shouting more than I’d like.

Marylin August 26, 2013 at 9:18 am

Me too. And using the Deep Angry Voice. UGH!

Veronica August 26, 2013 at 9:23 am

Yes. God. It feels like all I do is growl.

Marylin August 26, 2013 at 9:25 am

Me too. And seeth. I seeth a *lot*. And I should totally go to bed instead of watching journaling videos… >_<

Kimberley M August 26, 2013 at 8:49 am

Omg – I hear you on this. Our ‘study’ is part of our open-plan and it’s impossible to write. On the up-side, my 7 year old I’d an avid reader and comes up with some cracking plot arcs. Kx

Veronica August 26, 2013 at 9:05 am

I look forward to that part of our talking relationship!

Michelle August 28, 2013 at 4:09 pm

When I worked from home, I got so much done – until one (or both) of the boys were home sick. Those days I called ‘write-offs’. Complete and total. It was utterly frustrating and stressful.

You have my complete sympathy, lady! There were some days that I wanted to throw the boys off the balcony, or to just pack my laptop in to a bag bag and walk out the door to a cafe and get some work done with grownups sedately drinking coffee and not asking me WHY BUNNY RABBITS DON’T JUST WALK EVERYWHERE MOMMY.

Zoey Martin August 30, 2013 at 9:43 am

I HEAR YOU.

‘Mummy can I just follow you around?’ Gee, that sounds like so much fun.

The talking, the inane questions. The need to preface everything with ‘mummy can I tell you something’ thereby creating approximately 200% MORE TALKING.

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