Interruptions

So I receive my line edits on Wednesday around noon, as expected. I was ready to dive in—but I knew there would be a few interruptions over the next couple of days. I had an IEP/Summit meeting scheduled with my Fragile X son’s teacher and support staff on Thursday, and on Friday my youngest son’s teacher invited the parents to a Celebrate Writing day. (How could a writer not attend that?) All the kids were going to read a snippet of their own stories to the class, and parents were invited to attend. This was the second time the celebration had been planned, the first one having been canceled due to a snow day.

Well. It was bitterly cold around here (Chicago area). I went to the IEP meeting, which went as planned. No surprises, only planning. My son is low functioning on the Fragile X spectrum, so the plan for him has been pretty consistent: life skills and improving functionality. I’m grateful for the nurturing staff, the positive attitudes in everyone from the teacher, speech and OT therapists to the principal herself.

But because of the extreme temperatures, people were already talking about school closings so I needed to stop by the grocery store and stock up for what could turn out to be a longer weekend than I expected.

Friday, the day of the Writing Celebration, school was canceled yet again.

Now I don’t know about all other writers, but the ones I know (myself included) need some semblance of quiet and solitude in which to do their best work. Four days, including today because of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, offered plenty of familial bliss. But no writing time. My husband joked when I complained that I wasn’t getting my work done (with a Friday deadline) by suggesting I might enjoy having a “jettison” button which would dispense all of them to another location so I could get back to the computer. Was he kidding?

Actually, while working on revisions it’s a little easier to tolerate interruptions than the creation part of things, so I did make a dent in this step and I’m fairly confident I’ll make my Friday deadline.

But here’s my observation. When I have a close deadline, something always, always, comes up to make that deadline seem even tighter. But somehow God does provide the time to get it done—mainly because of the passion He gave me for this job. It’s so much easier to squeeze in time for the things we’re passionate about, isn’t it?

So it’s back to work for me! My husband did his best to jettison everyone out of here for a few hours. (What a guy!) Friday will be here before I know it, and I haven’t missed a deadline yet.