Writes Badly With Others

I have lost my ability to write when the kids are home. This is problematic, since I’m a writer and unlike the rest of you, my job knows no weekends, holidays or what have you. 

The girls came home from college and law school, and I was thrilled to see them! I had multiple days with them, and it was wonderful. I knew my writing schedule would be off, even if they both told me they had a ton of work to do, so I planned accordingly, setting my word counts to adjust for multiple days off.

 

But still, I hoped I’d get some bonus writing in.

 

I did on two days, but there weren’t a lot of words. I’m not sure if I lost my focus, or if it was the adorable puppy who wanted to play, or just the extra work I had to do to prepare Thanksgiving. Regardless, it was about five days without writing.

 

Want to know what happened when they left? 

 

The writing flowed! I sat down and made my word count in about an hour, banging on my keyboard and amazed at how productive I was. And, since my deadline to complete my first draft is December 1, I’m still on track to make it.

 

But they’re coming back in three weeks and staying for longer this time. There’s no way I can take that much time off from writing, even if occasional breaks are good for my creative well. I may have to lock myself away from everyone on a daily basis to get in words, since it seems I’ve forgotten how to work with others around.

 

Suggestions?