Distractions abound. If I need a ready excuse to shift my focus away from writing, I can find one within arms reach. I share an office with my husband, my two children, the dog, and my daughter's clothing, toys and books. The office is listed on the plans as "bedroom 3" but I once saw it's dimensions listed in a home magazine as a small closet.
We've lived in this 900 square-foot house for 9 years. We had a toddler and a newborn when we bought it - our first house. With each passing year, the house shrinks exponentially. My son is taller than I am now and grudgingly tolerant about sharing a room with his little sister. The time has come to either move or remodel.
Many a writer has continued to pound away on his or her novel amidst carpenters and buzz-saws, so I won't be the first to write with earplugs or iPod if we choose to remodel. Nor will I be the first novelist to steal moments at the computer when I should be unpacking boxes of kitchen utensils, should we decide to move.
What's wearing me down is the indecision. There's a constant buzz in my ear and it's coming from my conscience, not my characters. I haven't determined why the decision is weighing heavy on my conscience, but it is.
So...to get back to my point about distractions. I hit a snag in my writing - a difficult sentence, the inability to spin a story from a prompt - and it's too easy to let my mind drift to distractions. An email from my mother, a call from a realtor, or a glance at the Turbo Tax awaiting use, and my attention shifts away. Next thing I know I'm back at the computer and the whole day is gone, lost in distractions, and the writing snag is still waiting in front of the blinking cursor. Have you ever noticed that the blink of the cursor is the same tempo as the Walk/Don't Walk signs?
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2 comments:
Nope never noticed the cursor speed but then again you can change that on your own personal settings. You have to decide what is best for you and your family in the long run - thats a tough decision - me personally seems easier to buy something bigger and move (of course the packing and all that can be such a pain in the butt) but with remodeling, you still have to pack up stuff so that the carpenters and other workers have places to put all their stuff - and you still live out of boxes or clothes baskets for several months.
Hopefully the distractions will be less today and you can get your story written - good luck - E :)
You could try giving yourse;f a deadline as far as the house is concerned. Take a few months, like, say, three. Sign up on a realtor's mailing list so you get all the listings for the srea you want to live in (these will have more info in them than the paper's listings, and it will also be a complete listing of ALL the houses on market, not just the showcase ones in the paper). Then, see if anything comes up that is perfect for you. In the meantime, perk your current house up so that if you do sell, it'll be all set to get the highest $$ it can. Then, after the three months, start thinking about the remodel again. That way, you can say, hey, at least you weren't rushed into making a decision.
My personal opinion--I'd get the bigger house. If you spend the money now to add on, that would be pretty much the biggest your house could ever be, unless you add a second floor. And ask yourself--is the way that your house is going to be added on the absolute optimal thing that could ever happen? Like, would it make your house perfect, your dream house? If the answer is no, then you need to ask yourself what is worth more, just "settling" for what you can wring out of your current house, OR getting what you really want for what could end up being the same amount of money you are paying now a month?
It's one thing if your house would be just right after the remodel, if it has everything you could ever want in a house. But think about other things about your house that you just were never pleased with... would those be fixed with the remodel? how much more money would you need to put in there to fix THOSE things up. And is there a different house out there that has all of these things already in it, that would end up equalling out in the end what you would spend onthis house now?
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