Angela Scott
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Editing and housework can NOT coexist. It's impossible, I tell ya. IMPOSSIBLE!

9/12/2011

16 Comments

 
Here is one thing I’ve noticed: Editing/rewrites and housework just don’t mix. It’s near impossible to do both—one takes away from the other.

I’ve tried explaining this concept to my husband, but he doesn’t GET IT. He isn’t a writer. He’s a guy who just wants to live in a clean house.

Now, don’t get me wrong, for the most part, my home is rather a nice place to live. Dishes are done. Laundry folded and put away. The kitchen floor mopped and shiny. When I’m not in the midst of editing, we look like a healthy, normal family. Just like this (Minus the cake, of course, since I don't bake):

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But when I’m in the throes of editing (a place that is hard and unkind and super lonely), our home starts to morph into something entirely different:

        1)   There is NO guarantee of three meals a day. Feel blessed to be given one, even if that                 one consists of frozen waffles. Be happy.

        2)    Chinete has a BEAUTIFUL line of paper products. You can hardly tell you’re eating on                     paper plates. Just look at how pretty the designs are? Fancy.

        3)     You have no clean underwear? Go borrow some from your brother. I know he’s a boy.                   Just do it.

        4)    The kids are drawing “Clean Me” in the layers of dust covering furniture, and instead of                 finding it disturbing, I write back, “In the time it took you to write ‘clean me’ you could                     have used the duster and helped your mother. Did you think of that?"       

        5)     Little Caesar’s Pizza again? NOOOOOOOOO!

        6)     My kids love playing “King of the Laundry Pile.”

        7)     No one dares to walk barefoot in the house.

        8)     No one has seen the dog in like two days.

When I’m editing, everything else just shuts down. When I know a section of my manuscript isn’t exactly the way I want it, I can do NOTHING else until it is fixed. That’s my OCD coming into play. Now, add the extra pressure of trying to get the edits to your publisher in a timely fashion but not succeeding and yep, no wonder the house goes to pot.

And to make matters worse, I live with four mini hoarders! I’m the only sane one of the bunch (kinda scary, right?). My family “thinks” they’re helping out by shoving dishes under couches or under their beds. That’s the way they clean. I live with a teenage boy, a pre-teen boy, and an adorable little girl who loves to collect EVERYTHING—paper, rocks, leafs, hair ribbons, stuffed animals.

Then there is their father. (He hates it when I talk about him, so we will just leave it at that).

The good news, I’m almost done editing. I have one small scene to write (per a beta reader request) and then WAH-LA, I’m done. The zombie western romance will be emailed to the publisher, where I will then be working with one of their editors, and the process will start all over again. I’m excited! My family is like, “Oh, crap.”

All I know, is that I’ve watched the show HOARDERS before and so far, my house looks pretty dang good. Not perfect, but not condemnable either. Nothing like this:

Picture
And THAT, my friends, is A-Okay by me. Because I know in a day or two, things will be back to normal once again.

Until then, anyone want a slice of Little Caesar’s pizza on a paper plate?

16 Comments
Kimberly Kinrade link
9/12/2011 01:43:45 am

This is SO my life!!! lol Clean is overrated. We've had pizza for the last two nights. I'm writing AND editing dangit! ;) thanks for a fun post!

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Julia link
9/12/2011 05:52:59 am

I was just contemplating this yesterday because I'm about to start editing the first draft of a recently-completed WIP. I tweeted to a friend that housework will not get done. period. Unfortunately the house is already in a state from the writing frenzy of finishing the draft.... however, I'm slightly ahead in the game: my husband has a very high threshold for messiness AND we're recent empty nesters (oh woohoo :(
So glad to know others are in this boat and that it can be handled with humor :)

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Elizabeth Ann West link
9/12/2011 06:04:57 am

Amen, sister! I've tried the whole balance writing/housework thing. What my husband doesn't understand is why I can't just write during "x" hours each day. I am more productive in the morning, and I'm trying to adopt "mornings for writing" but sometimes the afternoon is for writing/editing too. Not to even mention networking/website work! PHEW.

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Susannah link
9/12/2011 06:28:38 am

Now this made me laugh. I'm not at the editing stage yet, but I now consider myself forewarned :) Great post!

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Nancy Lauzon link
9/12/2011 08:50:27 am

LOL. Your husband will be pleased to know he wears a red bow tie and a Peewee Herman hair cut.

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tara tyler link
9/12/2011 02:48:31 pm

a woman after my own heart!
the shared similarities brought a tear to my eye =)

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Jennifer Groepl link
9/12/2011 09:52:51 pm

Exactly my attitude! Temporary messiness won't kill anyone. :) King of the Laundry Pile sounds like a fun game! Kids who have never seen a laundry pile are missing out!

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Darby Rae link
9/12/2011 11:29:16 pm

I had no idea this was such a widespread phenom! You have described my house exactly, except it is this way for writing and editing. Double trouble.

Thank you. I feel normal again.

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Angie Cothran link
9/13/2011 01:05:36 am

Oh my gosh, #3 had me rolling on the floor. My kids also love to complain and not help :)

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Carla link
9/13/2011 11:39:21 am

lol...I was just thinking, "I should probably do dishes before it gets too late!" Housework doesn't really mix with editing, writing, or blogging here!

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Nick link
9/16/2011 03:30:42 pm

Hahaha, this made me laugh :) I wouldn't know much about housework, because my mum isn't crazy enough to be a writer, so she does it all the time. Anyway, great post.

I'm just stopping by from the Campaign :) And I'm a new follower.

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Suzie Ivy link
9/20/2011 10:15:46 am

I needed to laugh. Thank you! I'm printing this and putting it on my fridge so my husband knows he's not alone.

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Wist link
9/22/2011 01:35:16 pm

lol! Loved this post! I'm going to put down my basket of laundry now and know that I am not alone. =)

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Malia Mallory link
9/22/2011 01:54:47 pm

Wow this so hit the spot. We had pizza for dinner today! Between putting in laundry, running the dishwasher and taking the dog "out" it seems like little got done. Thanks for the smile.

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Tina Boscha link
9/25/2011 01:08:48 am

This last summer, I ended up not working for most of it (I usually do) which gave me even more time to work on my book before publishing. I had a lovely schedule of writing, reading, cleaning, dog walking, etc. Until the editing stage. And then WHAM! OCD (and anxiety) time. It's such detailed work that requires so much energy, and on top of that, it's so close to the end, I think it's inevitable.

So this means you are close or there - good on ya!

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Lorie Greene
11/10/2011 11:55:59 pm

THAT is where I've been going wrong! I've been using real dishes, forgetting that the dishwasher does not load and unload itself! Chinette and plastic silverware, are now on my weekly grocery list. :-)

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