I’ve read a lot of articles by moms berating Mom Blogs for making their days seem shiny and perfect when really, their days are no better than our days. Perhaps their cameras are a bit better… and their mental editing of the details.
I think we authors fall into that same trap. We post about the kind of writing life we wish we had: the photogenic kind.
I’m a full time writer and for the last several years have produced from two to four novels each calendar year. So I do get the work done–it’s just not always done in pools of mid-morning sunlight. I decided to post my real morning for you today in pictures.
This is my sink filled with dishes–the sort of thing that occupies me around here this time of day. Glamorous, no?
Confession: I had to squirt some more soap into the sink in order to refresh the bubbles for this picture. I’d already wandered off and forgotten about the dishes once this morning.
This is a pile of library books my son and I were reading in bed after my husband left for work.
Confession: I pulled the comforter over my unmade bed. I’m not dressed yet. (I’m writing this on Saturday morning before 10 am, so I’ll make myself pretty later on… after the dishes.) Don’t even ASK to see my hair before I’ve gone at it with the straightening iron this morning.
This is the tea that will keep me going. It’s an absolute necessity. My breakfast consisted of a bowl of leftover potato salad and tea. I wish I could report something prettier–like a muffin with a perfect smear of blackberry preserves, or an egg over easy with a strip of crisp bacon. Nope. A bowl of leftover potato salad, eaten while standing, waiting for the water to boil for tea.
This is the view outside my window. The snow is mostly melted, but there hasn’t been time for greenery. You can’t see it in this picture, but it’s snowing these stubborn little flakes that aren’t sticking on the ground, but still count as snow. Inspiring? Not for me!
And in the background, Super Grover is “releasing the power of observation” on a Sesame Street episode. Ironic! And effective, because my 5-year-old is happily watching TV while I do a blog post for Monday. I really want to get to work on this next scene in my book, so there is going to be a lot of Sesame Street in the background. Sesame Street lessens my Mommy-guilt while I focus on my novel-writing. At least it’s educational!
So that is what my day looks like. Truthfully. Tomorrow can be prettier.
I have to admit I’m baffled by people who complain about what a blogger has written. If they don’t like it, why not simply go somewhere else? Blogs are personal journals, to all intents and purposes. The posts are snapshots in time. If the purpose of the blog is to be upbeat, why would the writer share what they consider less than sunny? I’m actually seeing this trend to dis bloggers everywhere I look. Total strangers feel they have the right to correct/critique/belittle/school someone they know only through the few posts they’ve read. Who, in their right mind, believes that a blog truly represents the blogger’s entire life? Yes, I’ve had a few friends recently “put in their place,” and it bothers me. If I don’t like what a blogger has written, I don’t go back. However, I have to admit it’s fun seeing your down and dirty real day. 🙂
I thought it might make a good balance, b/c I do tend to find the bright side of things. 🙂 Thanks for your support, Judy!
you don’t wanna know what my house looks like. I haven’t been upstairs in over a week. Nothing’s been cleaned for the same period of time. Wish i was writing, but no, just sick.
But you’ve got a leg that’s recovering from surgery! Ouch! You’re better off just staying downstairs…
Love the pictures! I too have a tendency to wander off and forget the dishes…although it’s mostly wandering in my mind. I’ll be standing there absently playing in the water while my mind is a galaxy away.
LOL! I could see you doing that! I physically wander off, feeling like I’ve accomplished something just by filling the sink. 😉
There’s something wrong with your fantasy breakfast. Really, only ONE strip of crisp bacon?? 🙂
That would be the photogenic breakfast… not in the picture, the fistful of bacons. LOL!
You get your dishes done the next day? Good for you! I’ve found my most productive writing is in fifteen minute segments, which I can usually carve out between laundry, dishes, dogs. I try to stick to a low carb diet, as fresh as possible, but some meals are leftovers from whenever since I’m now only cooking for one and it’s been difficult to adjust down.
I think it would be really hard to adjust down to cooking for one. I still overcook cooking for 3!
Better to forget the dishes than to scorch the bacon, which is what happens to me. For some reason, frying bacon starts my creative juices working overtime and I just have to write the new thoughts down…
LOL! A good reason to have more bacon!
I’m in a different place than many of you. I’m retired. Kids are all grown, living in other states. My husband is retired also and has taken up many of the household chores so I can write. I still do the laundry and cooking and bathrooms. He mans the dishwasher, vacuums everyday and changes the cat liter. My mornings are spent in my nightgown as I read emails, visit a few blogs, read my critique partners’ chapters and check in on the writers I mentor. Then I progress to the dreaded self-promotion. By noon I’m dressed, but not always. I write all afternoon and most of the evening. Except for brief spells, my laptop tops my lap from 9am till 1am. Everything I do revolves around writing in one form or another. I love it, but it makes for weary eyes and a one-dimension life.
Oh, that sounds wonderful… So organized and focused. I think when you love something as much as a writer loves writing, life can be very one-dimensional, but it’s the best dimension, anyway, so why mess with it? 😉
LOL. I think this is lovely, and so much better than reading about a day the least among us can only dream of. I’m retired, no more day job, but the bed’s still unmade (hubs was in it till 10 minutes ago), my hair has Little Orphan Annie Syndrome, and I’m wearing an extremely ratty red robe and yellow Crocs. And it’s all good.
I’ve got a ratty red bathrobe, too! Great minds, my friend. 🙂 But you’ve got me beat with the yellow crocs. LOL!