I completed Chapter 5 of #snkrz on Saturday night. I ended up sitting in a Smith's grocery store in their closed cafe area because family and ticking had taken up every waking moment of my two work days. When I was finally free to write there was no place other then my own apartment to go write in. Since that sounded boring, my wife helpfully suggested I write at Smith's. There was a moment where I stood there simply blinking as I contemplated her suggestion, but eventually I decided I had no better ideas. I ended up tucked away in a corner next to a cleaning cart while the store speakers pumped out 70s music. Thank heavens for headphones.
Obviously, I'm always on call for full-time Dad duty, but technically I'm supposed to have Friday and Saturday to get my personal work done—work like being free to go off writing in my book, being allowed to work on my part-time web design job, plus other personal pursuits like eating and using the bathroom. It rarely works out that way. My family, as lovable as they are, are painfully oblivious to my needs. I know other full-time parents will know exactly what I'm talking about.
Something about being the full-time parent makes family think I can never have personal time. There's always a crisis and I am the only one who seems to be able to solve it. I know I must train them to respect this time, but it is a difficult task. When you add my sporadic disabilities into the mix, then entropy naturally reins.
At any rate, family remains my greatest obstacle towards completing my goal. When I see a productive person who has a prolific output, I can be certain of one of two things. There lies a person either has no kids or who has a family that respects his/her personal time. Somehow I must learn to overcome this obstacle. I'm sure there must be a solution that doesn't involve abandoning my family and heading off to live in the mountains.
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Still, I like my family, which makes that whole "living in the mountains" scenario not very likely. In fact, tonight I will be performing with my family at the "Hope for the Holidays" concert. My wife talked me into playing the tinwhistle in public. It will be a scary thing. I look forward to getting beet red, hyperventilated, and paralyzed when it's my turn to play the haunting descant on tinwhistle in long, awkward squeaks. If you live in Salt Lake City, come on by to enjoy my humiliation. Admission is free and donations go to Family Promise in their efforts to help the homeless. Click on the poster for more information. Lastly, I have been trying to enjoy my reward for finishing Chapter 4, but I've been busy. I finally pulled "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume III: The Novels
" out last night. I'm currently on page 9 of 992. I'm not sure I care what university a fictional character may have attended to obtain their fictional degree. I'm beginning to realize with some dismay that this book may be too geeky for me. The annotations are written as if Holmes and Watson were real people. It's like discussing Star Trek tech with a fanboy who wears his willing suspension of disbelief as eyeglasses. I was hoping for historical context for archaic expressions and items, as well as insight into Doyle's writing process. Instead, I have discovered lengthy footnotes on which degrees Dr. Watson has. As soon as I shift away from my expectations, I am sure I will begin to enjoy the book. In the meantime, I have my eye on my next reward. I know that I can get this book done before December 23rd.
Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades at @SplinteredMind or my novel writing project over at @DouglasCootey. And if you're a glutton for punishment you can friend me on Facebook as well.
