I made it to 28k this week which is not bad, but it’s not great either. My writing sessions are still productive, but it’s harder work. I’ve been here before. We’re in the middle bit now where things start slowing down and you have to push harder to get the words on the page. I’m not a fan of this stage. It would be different if I was better at plotting. I like to create characters, give them a rich setting, and then I wonder what to do with them.

Another challenge is life intruding on my writing time. The sad truth if is you’re “mom” the assumption is that you are the Domestic Queen of Everything, cleaner, cook and chief of all housework. If there’s a dirty floor, a messy bathroom, a cluttered cabinet, that is your natural domain. It’s garbage of course, but that doesn’t change the fact that your family automatically assigns you responsibility for every household mess. It can be overwhelming when you also have a 40+ hour day job that’s demanding. Having to come home and work the second shift really stinks.

Today I was telling a friend how excited I was about an electric scrubber tool I had bought of Amazon because I hoped it would be a game-changer in cleaning the bathroom. Who even am I? Fact is though, to be a human means you have to maintain your living space. How much energy I put into asking my family to carry some of the burden has to be weighed against the reality of them actually doing it. Which is light at best. I don’t tilt at windmills.

It’s that work-life balance. It applies even with housework. I’m okay with a little mess if that means more words on the page. How about you?