#wherewomenwrite

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

Sharing (with permission) a beautiful picture of where one woman writes.  We spend a lot of time presenting our homes in a certain way on social media - and our families and ourselves. Keeping things looking good takes a lot of time. Like, all of it.  We are under a lot of pressure to not prioritise the other, more important things, like being creative, having fun, and having space to think.  If we all shared the reality of how we live, maybe that pressure would be less.  So thank you to this excellent lady for adding her writing space:)  I can confirm that if you come round to my house and it doesn’t look like this, then either I have done literally nothing else that week or I have fake tidied and I am living a lie.  Points are awarded for reclining (underrated), and the top notch floor-drobe inspiring me right now xx

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

Coffee and blank pages. Heaven. Getting out of the house is great for inspiration too.

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

I’m slightly panicking about how I’ll get any writing done during the summer holidays when playgroup is closed for SEVEN WHOLE WEEKS, so today we tried a local cafe with a play area as an experiment. I didn’t actually get any writing done, but I read and annotated two chapters of a book on editing, in between being fed various fake food items from the toy kitchen and reading far too many Topsy & Tim books (occasionally to other people’s children?!) It sort of worked. Maybe next time I’ll actually get my laptop out.

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

There used to be an amazing hipster cafe with artisan coffee within walking distance of my son’s playgroup, but sadly it closed and now I’m stuck with the cafe at the local Sainsbury’s supermarket. I can always hear the shopping announcements no matter how loud I crank up the metal on my headphones, but they have WiFi and it’s usually pretty quiet at 9am. And I know that if I go home, I’ll waste my precious playgroup hours on housework rather than writing. I’m envious of my childless friends and their cute artsy writing cafes, but when you only have 2.5 hours to yourself, you skip to the nearest place with tables and caffeine and get writing.

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

Two hours with no kids and a straight choice between writing poetry and clearing away the never ending breakfast chaos.  Poetry won. #wherewomenwrite

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

Our son started reliably sleeping through the night without waking and needing an adult when he was five. 

This is actually not that unusual. Can we all please stop pretending that most babies and children sleep independently of their parents? (On this topic I really like Swansea University’s little video summarising the research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XicNmC67_PM)

Anyway, my daughter wakes 2-6 times between going to sleep and midnight. Then a few more after midnight, though we usually get a few hours’ stretch of sleep in there somewhere before the morning feeding begins at 5ish for a couple of hours. 

So I go to bed with her, and work beside her so I can settle her quickly when she wakes. I kind of like it. There’s a lot to be said for going to bed at 6pm. 

Of course I’m also looking forward to the days of freedom ahead - or rather, the evenings. One day. 

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

I can’t concentrate at home, it feels like a monument to all my (perceived) failures as a wife and a mother. Every undone task, every messy bench, every load of washing calls to me and demands my attention. Dissecting all those feels takes a lot of mental energy and I don’t always have the space to push those social constructions and expectations aside. 

Today is Sunday. So I have left the children with the husband and gone out to think and write and think and write and oh! The bliss just to have an uninterrupted thought or three. 

A clear table, no nagging guilt, just me and a coffee and my PhD #bliss

[wherewomenwrite-blog]

Wonderful combination of relaxing, researching, and writing - with wine. I love my local cafe early on a Friday night, and I'm so blessed that my partner's taken our son to his sports practice.