With apologies to the team over at Daily Writing Tips, I must be in a slightly silly mood. I’ve just read their four suggestions for minimizing distractions when writing, and I just had to write my own:

1 – Work somewhere quiet. The bathroom is good, with the door locked. Although that requires the ability to tune out the insistent banging upon the door. The basement also works. I know, they suggest that we persuade our parents and our young children to give us peace and quiet, but that must have been written with their collective tongues firmly in their collective cheeks. No one who actually lives with their parents or with young children seriously expects that to happen.

2 – Get comfortable. We’re in the bathroom or basement, right? Well, I know where I get comfortable in the first place, but I’m not sure about where to get comfortable in the basement.

3 – Turn off electronic distractions. Like the computer. Wait …

4 – Set a stop time for your writing. Set an alarm that you can count on. A small child screaming “MOMMY!” works well. Or, if you do most of your writing after the children are asleep, you can always rely on the “eyes twitching and watering because they want to close’ signal. That’s my favorite.

Like many parents who work at home while raising small children, I write in the living room, with one eye on my toddler, while Treehouse plays. Every ten minutes or so, I have to stop writing so that I can re-fill the sippy cup, change a diaper, cuddle Baby Boy to sleep, pick up toys that have scattered across the entire house, or simply tend to someone who doesn’t wish to share Mommy’s attention with the computer. I do my best writing between 9pm and midnight, which corresponds to “everyone’s asleep except Mommy”.

Sometimes I’m not sure how we do it. Honestly, I’m not. But we do.

Just beginning the Moving In process. You know … unpacking old posts, hanging labels, and painting the background. In the meantime, pop over and see me at Old Blog and follow me at Twitter.

Did I read correctly that Obama and McCain have been campaigning for two years? How do you Americans stay interested for so long? Seriously, I think Canadian federal elections last a few months.

Congratulations, President Obama. The times she is a changing.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This is the most outstandingly beautiful gown I have ever seen. I am in awe. The history lover in me is drooling.

I’m subscribing to this lady’s blog, even though I don’t sew, so that I can look at these delicious pictures.

Go look. My mother’s an awesome seamstress and she was impressed.

I went looking for information on ancient humor. To my surprise, I found that some jokes have been around for a very long time.

A blessing on a pregnant woman: May the burden you are carrying slip out as easily as it slipped in! Woot! I like this one.

During an argument, one man says to another “I’ve been sleeping with your wife and you never even knew!” The other man looks at him and says, “What? As her husband, I have to sleep with that monstrosity. Who’s forcing you?”

A man goes away on a long business trip. Concerned about his family, he consults a fortune-teller. “Your family is doing well,” she tells him. “Especially your father.” “My father? But he’s been dead for years!” “Oh,” says the fortune-teller. “I mean, your real father.”

Some jokes really don’t hold up over time. Anything about eunuchs really doesn’t translate to modern humor. However, it seems that sex, both licit and illicit, has remained funny for thousands of years.

It b_oke. Yes, it _eally did. Sigh.

My da_ling little boy, who will be one next week, tossed a plastic vehicle sideways, while I was ha_d at wo_k w_iting chapte_ fou_ of my wo_k in p_og_ess. Goodbye lette_ …. well, I’m su_e you’ve guessed which one went flying acoss the _oom.

I think a t_ip ove_ to Futu_eshop is in o_de_.

Sigh.

If I tell them that I’m a w_ite_ who can’t possibly *live* without all of my lette_s, do you think they’ll take pity on me?

Now, this is probably the height of irony. I’ve been a reader and writer since childhood. I always dreamed of having a child who followed in my footsteps, a child I could nurture into a wonderful writer.

Then I found out that my bright child has dysgraphia. This is a learning disability which causes difficulty in the ability to … write.