I'm Going to a Convent

I want to say right off the bat, this was all Kate Bolick’s idea. If it goes wrong, well, blame her. Here’s the story. I read her book Spinster and there, in one of the last chapters, this idea came up. Unemployed after the magazine she worked for went bust, she was supposed to use this new free time to start working on the book she was always going to write. Instead of a book, however, she did some serious work on getting depressed. In the middle of this bleak time, one of her friend’s suggested that part of her problem was that, living in the city that doesn’t sleep was pulling serious time away from her writing without any real benefit. She order that Kate try an at-home convent, with herself as a sort of Mother Superior. Kate would be forbidden for three weeks to go to any social events, out on any dates, any brunches with friends, anything outside her house besides basic errands. She was commanded to use that time to focus on her book. Long story short, Kate couldn’t stay in the convent. She broke out after two weeks. A period of time, but the way, that she spent trying to find loopholes in the rules. She was not ready to enter the convent. The thing is, I am.

I want to finish my second book and get up onto Amazon by the end of August. I am not set to work in July and I need to save money. I have supportive parents who have agreed to help out in the food department. All in all, this is the best time to enter a convent-an artist convent. Now, any religious order tells those who come seeking entry to think long and hard before making this commitment. It is a serious one. One meant to last a lifetime. Me, I’m just going in for three weeks, but I take the commitment very seriously. I’m planning my days to be regimented, just like in convent or monastery. I’m working out my menu. I’m creating a set of rules and defining my goals for this in specific and tangible terms. I’m going to spend the next few posts explaining my thinking on all of this. I will also blog about this experience. We’ll see what happens. Whatever does, just know, I’ll beat Kate Bolick’s measly two weeks!