Writer dreaming: Would I rather hire a maid or a cook?

Writer dreaming: Would you rather hire a maid or a cook?

Seriously.

I’ve decided to take a short visit to fantasy land since in reality I can afford neither, but it’s nice to think about.

As a writer my time seems to be gobbled up from every direction. There are distractions, things that just need to get done and a whole lot more that can keep me from accomplishing in a day what I want to accomplish.

So, once in a while, I ponder that question above. If a genie were to grant me a wish or I was to get just enough money, which would I rather have, a maid or a cook?

It’s a question that’s tougher to answer than one might think at first. There are good sides to both.  And both or either would certainly cut down on the chores I have to get done myself. So who wouldn’t want that?

If there was a cook in the house, that would eliminate a lot of headaches. But I do like to cook at times. And, I have to admit, my usual escape hatch when time is pressing is throwing an interesting combo into the slow cooker in the morning and presuming it will produce something both edible and enjoyable by the time my writing day ends somewhere around 4:30. Ah, the writer’s daydream. Presuming having a cook would guarantee seriously good meals neither overcooked nor overdone and the smells of such excellent cooking would fill the house even as I continued to write in my study, well that has a lot of appeal.

On the other hand there is always that slow-cooker to fall back on.

Now if there was a maid in the house that would mean all the dusting, cleaning, vacuuming  and picking up would happen without me doing the work. It would be like magic. Things would be dusted, vacuuming done (though I’d have to give some thought to all that noise going on while I’m writing in the upstairs office), dishes would be done.

I’m lucky, I have a husband with whom I split the work around the house, both cooking and cleaning. Nonetheless, wouldn’t it be grand to have to do none of it? Or to have one totally taken care of and need only split the work of the other? Yep, a true writer’s dream.

 

On the other hand, maybe what I need is a painter and around the house handyman. I do quite a bit of that myself around the house as well and am currently in the idle of repainting all the kitchen cabinets…then there’s the door frame and the downstairs bathroom cabinets…and…hmmm, maybe I just need to win the lottery to finance my writing.

But I got off track. Maid or cook? In the end it doesn’t matter, I’ll take either!

The Write Thing - A Peek at The Writer's Life

Ever wonder what a writer’s life is like? Think it’s cool lunches, easy hours, write in your PJ’s time? Work when you want, lounge when you want? Wait for inspiration to strike? Yeah, well, maybe for some rare creatures out there, though I doubt even that. 

But, despite deadlines (self-imposed and otherwise), deadly story lines that won’t work out and a host of other problems peculiar only to writers, it’s a great life for me. And when the budget allows I do treat myself well. That, along with a wonderful partner who’s income is admittedly the bigger share we were able to head out to DisneyWorld for a fun week. 

The appeal of roller coasters and great food (not at the same time), amazing flowers and more great food (at the same time), whirling teacups and great food (not at the same time) combined with boat rides and hanging out at the pool in beautiful sunny weather was just too much to pass up.  I disconnected from my computer and electronics entirely and since I don’t have a smart phone, couldn’t even use that to hit the web or send emails. I took along my Kindle for reading and walked miles each day. 

Ah, bliss. No outside connections to worry about. No looming deadline (because I ran myself silly before I went to get things in order). No colleague asking me if I can read and evaluate another writer’s novel. No editing waiting for me on my desk. The week went by far too quickly. 

And then we were home. Time to plug back in. How much could have happened in a week? Well, there is that email requesting a read and eval of a novel. Then there is the meeting I need to have with a person I’m partnering with on a new graphic novel project, the romance novel more than three-quarters done that I keep getting side-tracked from finishing and lots of tweets, facebook posts and emails to catch up on along with promotion projects for my books like Stormrider, Cloud Dancer, Hawke’s Indians, The Guardian and others. Did I mention Pinterest? Yes, all of that for both business and pleasure. 

There’s a lot more these days to being a writer than sitting in front of a keyboard and watching the words travel across the screen like ants. Some of the promotional stuff can be hired out if budget allows, but a lot more falls on the writer than ever before. With writing and indie publishing and everything that goes with it there’s rarely a spare minute in my day. 

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.