Does a Snow Day Equal a Great Writing Day?

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An author I'm connected with on Facebook posted the following yesterday:

...our driveway is solid ice and cannot be cleared. This is not bad news for someone
who loves being a shut-in AND has edits due back in two weeks.

A lot of authors post similar messages during snow storms.  I used to be like them.  Snow is here. I don't have to go out, therefore, I can write all day long in peace and quiet.  Whenever I need a break, I only need glance out my window at the beauty of the snow. Yay!

That's what snowstorms, or ice storms as we're more prone to get in the south, meant to me.

But not now...

Snow means excited kids, bundling up in layers, drinking hot chocolate, playing board games, and watching movies.  Gone are the days when I could write in peace and quiet on bad weather days.  In fact, I'm lucky if I manage a few moments each day as long as the schools are out due to snow.

So, I'm redefining my favorite times to get some heavy duty writing done.  I'm still looking for the perfect time.  I know many of you rise early to write, but that will never work for me.  I have a condition that requires sleep, and I get my most restful sleep in those very same hours you choose to rise early and write. I have to find another way. (Today, for some reason, they are leaving me alone for a moment.  This can't be good.)

Do snow days mean extra time to write or create for you?  Or do you have another time that lends itself to your creative pursuits?

What does a snow day mean to you?

Comments

Unknown said…
As a writer with a little one still in elementary school, snow days mean the same for me as they do for you with one exception. If my little girl is into a novel, she will read for hours. It is only then that I can hunker down in my own story. However, it is only a matter of time before I have to make snacks, lunch, hot chocolate, complete a puzzle, or cuddle up to a movie. And that's fine with me.

The perfect time to write crops up in a pocket of a weekday when I'm alone with only a dog to curl up at my feet. And that's fine with me too.
January 25, 2016 at 5:24 PM
Valerie said…
Life with kids--it's just so constant! When my kids were really little, and turning my back seemed to signal to them that it was time to try something dangerous, I wrote with the three playing in the same room. Desperation, you know? I'm sure the quality of my writing suffered, and I couldn't edit or rewrite that way, but somehow I managed to get words down on paper.

Can you institute a quiet time during the day, when they need to go to their rooms and read, play with Legos, etc., and can't come out until a timer goes off? When my eldest gave up her nap at three years old, but I had two younger ones who still napped, I made her go play quietly in her room for an hour. One hour out of a 14-hour day did not seem too much to ask.

Good luck.
January 26, 2016 at 8:05 AM
Barbara V. Evers said…
Jane, you are so right about the brief little times we can find. After having years of an empty nest, and the ability to write without interruption, it's a shock to my system, for sure!

Valerie, I'm amazed you managed to write with all three in the same room. Unfortunately, these two rarely play together well because of their age differences. I'm determined to teach them to use quiet time, but it's so different from what they were accustomed to with their parents. Retraining is really hard, but I know it can be done.

Onward and upward!
January 26, 2016 at 11:07 AM
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