Good Monday morning, everyone. I absolutely cannot thank you enough for your generous support and kind, kind words from last Friday's post. I have been in such a tizzy (between real life and writing life) I'm kind of at that mushy stage right now. Where my brain doesn't work and everything is wobbly.
I sent out the ms. to the agent who requested. Let me tell you how long it took my finger to finally hit the send button.... I've never been so scared in my life. What if she hates it and I wait how many months to find out? But then, what if she loves it and wants to represent me?
What am I going to do if all my dreams come true?
Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do today, right now. I'm going to clean my filthy pig-sty of a house. You cannot even imagine it. I know, neither could my mother when she stopped over. (Oh the joy of being 8 years old again -- When are you going to clean this room?)
Which of course got me to wondering how many of you let things go when you're writing. Is it just me, or do we all have those -- It can wait til tomorrow -- moments when we're in the "zone". Of course now, I have somewhat of a small excuse, I didn't have hot water for a few days so the laundry is piled sky high. However I did manage to get the dishes done. But vacuuming has fallen to the way side and I think even the dust bunnies are in revolt.
Is it just me? Please tell me no. Please tell me I'm not the only one who lets the housework slide. Also, please tell me not to feel so damn guilty.
And if you want to leave an anonymous comment, you're more than welcome. I won't tell if your house is dirty.
35 comments:
I firmly believe that household work should be put off as long as possible, and when you can't stand it anymore, do just enough to make it bearable. No one is remembered upon their death for having kept a clean house. We are remembered for leaving a lasting legacy, such as a great book!
No sweeping, no dusting. As for laundry, we do all of ours in cold water. (so no excuses there.)
Laundry and cleaning house definitely take a back seat. I often wish they didn't, but when I'm in the 'zone' there is no stopping me. I just long to finish what I started.
Laundry and cleaning always wait, lol.
I can only let things slide for so long!
Good luck and hope you hear back from that agent soon.
I find, when I'm in the Zone, that it's amazing how long you can go without vacuuming and dusting. Closing the blinds helps. ;)
Ted -- Well, I was never a fastidious kind of housekeeper so I got used to it, but even this last go around was a little more than I'm even used to. And I so hear you on the lasting legacy!
Bish -- I'm a cold water girl too but I still couldn't do laundry last week. I was afraid. My house is so weird (bad bad contractor) I figured if I did laundry the electricity would go out.
Jen -- Well, I'm mostly caught up now, so I can actually have people over. If I knew some people. But I'm heading back into the "synopsis" zone.
Alex -- You're a sci-fi buff. Can't you make a laundry machine you just put your clothes in and they come out clean in two seconds. Kind of like a dry cleaner without the chemicals?
Linda -- I love your logic -- problem is I don't have blinds. I don't even have curtains. I'm an all-sun all-the-time kind of gal.
Oh, honey . . . I didn't clean before NaNoWriMO, and if I'm going to complete this project . . . well, I won't be inviting anyone over for Thanksgiving, that's for sure. And think of it this way, on your tombstone what do you want it to say, "Anne cleaned good" or "Anne was a published author" See?
I do only what needs to be done. Anything is someone else's standards, and they don't live here, so what do I care? :-)
I used to be a neat freak, before becoming a writer. Let's just say the Rottweiler's slobber on the floor isn't as big a deal as it used to be ;O) -- Mac
I don't let the dishes or vacuuming go because I have a sickness when it comes to that. LOL
BUT...laundry, food shopping, dusting, etc... Get waaaaaaaaaay behind. Until the family starts complaining. :)
Oh I've been letting things go--especially when the hubs was away. Now he's back and well I have to be on top of a lot of things. I'm about to tell him I have to write one night a week just to get the stuff out of my head.
No matter what something good will come out of the request for your MS.
We all set priorities that are important to us. Others do not feel our pain or pay our dues, so clean or not as seems fitting to you.
Mothers will always see us as their children. It's a Mom thing.
I will pray large prayers for your publishing dreams to come true. If this door is closed, there are other doors to knock on. Hang in there, Roland
Em -- Monster Baby wanted to help me clean this weekend. I told her to wait until 2 days before Thanksgiving -- that way the house can stay dirty before the people arrive. Because you know between now and then it will be a mess again.
Christi -- I try to live up to my mother's standards but that's impossible. I gave up years ago. But as always there's a voice in my head and its hers.
Mac -- Rottweiler slobber on the floor. That's funny. I'd lay down a towel first.
Jennifer -- What's dusting? I don't think I've ever heard of that before?
Christine -- You tell Hubs if he doesn't let you write one night a week, you won't... well I don't know what you won't do for him but a threat like that might hold you in good stead for awhile.
Roland -- clean or not. As long as I'm ironed I think I can handle a dirty house. And my prayers are bigger for you. I have just got to see Samuel McCord in print.
I have a pile of laundry the size of Mt. Kilimanjaro waiting for me.
Gratz on your full request! I hope you get a big ole YES response!
Exercise has been the thing I've been lacking, which doesn't do me any good, because my energy level has diminished so I'm not awake to write when I can.
I know what you mean about pressing send. It's the scariest thing ever. Good luck.
Shoot, I don't even need to be writing to let the housework go a while. Just let football be on TV, or the dog need a walk ... or a hundred other things.
Anne, let's not even mention my house. Since I work from home, my wife thinks (quite correctly) that the house should be straighter. But she married a messy person years ago. She should know I will never get it looking the way she'd have it if SHE were working from home.
And on to another subject . . . I have been so busy with NaNoWriMo that I haven't been able to keep up on my reading in general, and on your blog in particular. It was only last night around 1 in the morning that I read your wonderful news. Congrats on the request for a full. I am happy for you, and envious, too. But keep up the good work. And I will too.
And now, back to writing . . .
Anne - This is wonderful news. Congratulations!
What are you going to do if she loves it and wants to represent you and all of your dreams come true? You're going to celebrate like crazy, then work your tail off (which you've proven you can do) to get to the next step in the whole process.
What are you going to do if she doesn't like it? You're going to use the situation as the best learning tool out there, and make it work in YOUR favor and LEARN from it. (Which will be easy to do, because you're a smart cookie.)
And our housework has to slide, right? I mean, all those hours of scrubbing and picking up could be used for something so much more... exciting/hard/time consuming. :) I think a messy house goes with the job description.
Good luck, friend!
Jessica
I find housework the place where I can work out my anxiety--especially when I have requested material out. That first full request does feel awesomely exciting and terrifying!
OMG! I'm sorry I missed this! Congrats on the full request from a dream agent- that's awesome! And I totally know 'the zone'. You're not alone!
What will you do if all your dreams come true?
You'll be deliriously happy and then add some new ones to the list :) :) :) Remember, you can always add more. Then you'll achieve those while still being deliriously happy (sorry for the bad spelling, headache, past naptime, still wanted to say hi :)
~bru
Happy cleaning! :)
Oh, I so let things go when I'm writing - mainly myself! I even forget to brush my hair and get dressed. Not good!
Congratulations on the full request and sending it off! That's huge!
I'm normally a clean freak, but when I'm in the writing zone, laundry is the first to suffer. I may do it, but it'll pile up unfolded.
Good luck with the agent response. And we each do what we have to do in order to write.
I have to clean and straighten because that's what my mother before me did. I was born with the cleaning disease. Sooooo. Once I'm into a story though I can make short work of cleaning in order to get to my "people."
Blessings and best wishes on a BIG SALE...
Stephanie -- Mt. Kilimanjaro. That's funny.
Patti -- I know. I used to walk every morning right after dropping Monster Baby off at school. I miss it but it's too cold now.
Matthew -- I hear you. I forget what I was like when I was single.
Michael -- You keep writing. NaNo is waiting.
Jessica -- Thank you so much. You're very sweet.
Laurel -- Maybe this will be a good thing. Depending on how many requests I get, my house might become a whole lot cleaner!
Katie -- Hey thanks. And the thing that sucks is -- I always get interupted at the best part.
Bru -- Thanks.
Talli -- I'm never dressed. I live in my yoga pants.
Rula -- Sunday is my day to iron. I do all my daughter's clothes for school. The bed had two laundry baskets full dumped on it. I watched a whole movie so I know that was a lot.
I *just* finished getting caught up on laundry. My family's been sending glares in my direction for too long. :/
You're not the only one. :)
I've been deep in NaNo and edits and missed your Friday news. How wonderful! How perfect! How awesomely awesome! Yay you! Congratulations, Anne!
Housework? Meh. Second string priority at best. :)
Hey! I know what you can do when that agent LOVES your work. You call tell him or her about your good friend, Terry, and his novel. ;)
You know, or not ...
But don't worry about your house. Priorities, Anne, priorities.
And I knew it was a good thing my mother doesn't ever come to visit us ...
I let me house go all of the time. The only time I stop writing and clean is when I can't stand it any longer.
I stay on top of it as best I can, but if the dishes need to sit for a night...they sit for a night. =)
Although we "pick up" a lot, the actual cleaning piece...well, we've been known to delay that. Note the operative word "we." I am blessed that my husband has always shared the responsibility.
Housework? Housework? I do believe I've heard of that somewhere....
Congratulations on the request from the agent. That is very exciting. Keeping fingers crossed!
...wife and I tag-team the house cleaning, leaving what's left in the day for my writing and her social work/foster care craziness. For the most part it works...but a cleaning lady would sure be...oh well, keep dreaming EL!
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