Why snow days are the best days (for writing)
[image error]As a writer, I think there is something magical about a day when you can stay inside and block out the real world – both figuratively and literally if the snow is halfway up your front door.
Before going further, I do have to confess that I am a winter grinch. When the first hint of frost hits the air, I heartily join in the chorus of ‘not yet’. I refuse to pull out my heavy coat and boots until the snow sticks to the ground. I curse when I am already running ten minutes late and I go outside to find the car needs to be scraped. Again.
But then a day comes when everything closes. When the police ask all cars to stay off the roads. When the convenience stores run out of chips. And, if you are a writer like me and not one of those brave souls who has to work in an ER or 24-hour gas station, those days can be creative perfection.
As a mom, I rarely get a day that opens before me with the writing potential of a real snow day (not to be confused with those fake snow days where everything reopens at lunch time). Between school pick-ups, music lessons, dance lessons, sports activities and visits to the dentist, I generally have to schedule my writing time to fit between the gaps. I also have a day job, though I don’t have to work as much as I used to, which is why I have the gaps for writing to begin with.
I know I am really lucky to fit writing in as part of my daily routine, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the appeal of having a whole day before me with no interruptions, aside from making more tea and having another snack. Both of which I will do once I’ve finished this blog.
So if you find yourself forced inside while thirty centimeters falls outside, I wish you every creative success. And a friend with a snowblower who can help you out in the morning.
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Join Amanda Labonté, Ellen Curtis, Matthew LeDrew, and Erin Vance as they discuss writing, the process of getting published, and being small press in Newfoundland as a part of the Arts & Culture Center’s “LOLA: love Our Loal Authors” month! [image error]
