I’ve been back in Australia for nearly a month now and I’m hoping that the normality will soon return and I can get on with it. I’m hunting for a job, I’m catching up with family, I’m trying to figure out time differences – it’s all been entirely hectic.
As a result (and as you may have guessed), my writing time has been nearly completely obliterated.
The blog posts have been slightly irregular. I’ve been sitting down to write when I get a call from a family member I haven’t caught up with yet, asking me out to lunch or my mum rings to ask me to clean the bathroom and make sure I put a load of washing on. Slowly, writing’s been pushed into the background – apart from the times I dig my heels in and manage to Skype the UK and get something done then.
It’s right now, in these moments, in between trawling the web for freelance production jobs, deciding which retail stores I might not mind working in for the interim and doing the washing up, that I realise how much of a routine I had four months ago.
Because I’m aware of it, I know I’ll be able to get it back. And things are settling down so I’m getting interrupted less and less. But it does mean that I haven’t written half as much as I’d like to over the past few months. And when I do get the chance to write, I completely throw myself in and lose track of time, then don’t get the chance to look at it again for a week and I’ve forgotten my train of thought with the half written line of dialogue I’d been working on.
I’ve got to set aside times of day to really take advantage of the time I have right now to get things done. I know lots of writers who have great routines and support from family, friends and housemates. I’m in the process of training my family to not think it’s odd for me to sit out in the other room in front of my computer whilst they watch television together in the other room. I’m starting to understand why there’s such a fierce stereotype that writers are so reclusive – with other people around, it’s nearly impossible to get anything done. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to cut people out completely, it just means that I need to find a balance. Luckily I have the time to do so.
Some writers don’t have a routine. Others do. I don’t quite know which works for me, but I know that I’m craving some creative time – especially because the procrastination that keeps getting shoved in front of me isn’t self inflicted. It’s both good and bad – it also means that I do really want to get some writing done when I get the chance and I appreciate the opportunity to do it.
It’s another part of finding my feet Down Under. I’m sure I’ll work it out in the end.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to nip outside and hang up the washing. Then empty the dishwasher. Then head out for dinner. Maybe I’ll finish this tomorrow…
