I think things are settling down a bit in my personal life, which means that things can settle down in my writing life. Not that I’ve gotten any closer to establishing a routine…
That’s okay, though. Finding a writing routine was easier before my husband lost his job. With him out of the house, it was easy to find quiet time to write. Now he’s around. All. The. Time. For a while it was driving me nuts. Well, it still is, but I’ve gotten used to it. And I’ve been able to develop a way to ignore him but still make him think I’m paying attention to him. This makes both of us happy.
I wrote two short stories a while back, and the characters won’t go away quietly. I’m thinking the only way to get them to shut up is to turn their stories into novels. And I think it could work. I pulled out a notebook to start putting some ideas down and sketching out plot lines. The thought of these two stories becoming bigger has me totally energised and excited.
Then there’s the stuff from my mother-in-law and her boyfriend from WWII. Thoughts of their history are rattling around in my brain. I’ll just let the rattling continue; I have no doubt that it will start forming into something more concrete. I don’t want to force it. So I’ll just let it percolate. And now I have two potential projects to keep me busy during said percolation (is that even a word?), so it’s not like I’ll be at a loss for something to work on.
In addition to that, I have my writing challenges to keep me busy. Both the Round of Words challenge and the 12 Short Stories challenge are going well. And writing regularly in my journal is becoming more of a habit, and I’m noticing the beneficial effects for my mood and state of mind with that. It helps me ignore my husband, but not in a rude way, that makes any sense.
So all in all, things are going well and progress is being made. This makes me happy. And although he doesn’t know it, this makes my husband happy as well.
Cat Wild 
My husband drives me nuts, as well, since he retired. He started driving school bus a few afternoons a week, and though, that gets him out of the house, he acts like he has this big important job to do. As if my 40 hour a week job is not nearly as big a deal, on top of me trying to write every night. Oh, well. Married him for better or worse. We will survive.
Have a great week and best of luck with your own hubby.
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It’s good you are finding a way to balance life and your writing.
Good luck this week!
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Thank you!
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Your situation (and Chris’) sound like what I’ve heard called “retired husband syndrome.” Good on you for finding a way to get your stuff done without making him feel ignored. How do you do it? The only way I’ve found to do that is headphones, and with those, my husband knows he’s being ignored! Sometimes he doesn’t mind, sometimes he keeps talking and expecting me to respond anyway.
Good job with two writing challenges and your journal!
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Yeah, my husband will frequently expect a response, too. But when I’m really on a roll with writing I don’t want to break concentration and respond. So I don’t. He’ll eventually just keep talking, and I just keep not responding. It works for us.
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Bummer job loss! I very much understand the ignoring-without-ignoring thing, but for different reasons.
Yay for percolating stories. The WWII bit, especially, intrigues me. Very cool.
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Thank you. And yes, I love when things are percolating.
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I hear you on the husband thing. My hubby has been working from home for the past three years. Also, we homeschool our son (the school district here is… well, it’s not the WORST in the state, but it’s down there; we didn’t plan on having kids when we bought the house).
I so totally get it. And yet… I hope there are some wonderful moments for you. Not just in the stories (though those sound wonderful too), but also in the chance you both have to be with each other more. Just wishing you joy, Cat.
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Thank you, Eden. I’m sure there are some wonderful moments just waiting for me. I can’t wait until we find each other.
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Until this year, my husband was laid off every winter, so I totally get where you’re coming from there. Good luck on finding a routine that works.
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Thank you!!!
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I am so glad things are settling for you. I went through a similar transition when my husband retired and we had to negotiate getting some time to ourselves. He goes out and does what he wants several days a week, even if just for a few hours, and that helps a lot. It comes down to kindness in communicating needs.
Happy writing!
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Sometimes routines will set themselves up on their own, often without you noticing. We can sometimes just fall into a semi-consistent pattern that we don’t notice right away. Congratulations on your progress. As long as things are getting done, the order in which they’re getting done isn’t always as important.
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