Too many distractions…

I decided I needed to get out of the house yesterday. I needed to make progress on the Truth About T.M.S., and I felt like I needed to get out of the house in order to do that. There are just too many distractions at home (especially during the weekend). And I’m not as comfortable working at home right now. My desktop computer had to be sent in, so I’m having to work on my laptop fulltime…which, in general, shouldn’t have been such a big deal. I work on my laptop a lot anyway (while Preteen volunteers at the library, during play practice etc.). Hmm…maybe THAT’S the problem? [HERE’S THE EXCUSE PART OF TODAY’S POST (though it does make sense:] Maybe I’m so used to being away from home when I work on my laptop that in order to get anything done on it, I…need to be away from home???

So anyway…I was going to go the House of Aromas for the afternoon, but my husband gave me the key to his office and told me to go work there instead. (Let me explain…my husband doesn’t actually WORK there at his office. This is an office he and four of his friends are renting because the five of them are hoping to start a business together.) At first I felt a little funny about this…I mean, this wasn’t MY office. What if one of them came in to do some work during the weekend and found me there? I know them all, and they’re all really nice guys, but this was their space, not mine. And bottom line… like I said, this is an office that belongs to five GUYS!!! Would I really get away from the things that distract me if I went to work in an office where five guys bring in take-out and talk about their business plan once a week?

Well, it turned out to be a fine place to work. For one thing, the place didn’t look like you might expect a place that five guys rented to look. They had a vacuum cleaner. (And clearly the said vacuum cleaner has even been used once or twice in the three months they’ve rented the place!) And soap in the bathroom. And toilet paper. And a reasonably clean refrigerator that was stocked with bottled water.

I worked in the “conference room,” which was very sparse (just what I needed!). The only things in there were a table with five chairs (I was like Goldilocks trying them all out, finding the one that was “just right”), a white board (I sat with my back to it so it didn’t distract me), and a picture of the five of them (with a bunch of other people they worked with, too…when they all worked together), which was not at all distracting because every now and then I could look up at the face of the man who has made it possible for me to become a writer.

I’d go work there again today, except I have to go to Barnes & Noble mid-afternoon. I’m on a panel with three other children’s book authors (all friends of mine). Who knows whether anyone will actually show up to hear us…but we’re all going out for dinner afterwards (which, let’s be honest, is the real reason I said yes to this!). I’m still hoping to get six pages done on T.M.S. before I go…we’ll see whether I make it. My husband and younger son (yes, YOUNGER son…not older son) are painting the upstairs hallway…talk about distraction!