The Critically Flexible WWAHM (Working Writer/At Home Mom's) Organized Work Environment

(This is an older post from my WritingUp blog that I felt deserved to be moved here. Created Jan'07)

When I worked in an office, I'd go crazy when my desk got too disorganized. I'd have to stop, regroup, reorg and then I could find the juice to continue.

Now, I find myself in a bit of a pickle when it comes to my work environment. I work at home with a 2.5 year old underfoot most of the time and while I try to do a lot of work when he's asleep, sometimes (like today) I'm trying to hit a deadline while he wants to play.

As a result, I'm currently trying to work, surrounded by hot wheels, books and snacks. You see, when you work at home with a toddler, you might have to be a little flexible about ideal working conditions. I don't have the ability to close a door and be alone and uninterrupted so I have to compromise sometimes so that I can 'sort of' work while entertaining my son. This morning, I gave him short chores to do (fetch mommy this, why don't you organize your cars in a straight line, etc.) while putting out a few sentences at a time or researching for work so he didn't feel neglected AND I got some work done.

Sometimes I have to stay up late to hit a deadline or work despite sore wrists and tired eyes. Sometimes I have to get up a few hours before everyone else to get work done too. Other times, the housework has to suffer. I've been crazy busy this week so my poor eleven year old had a heckuva time finding matching socks this morning for school and yesterday my husband missed an appointment because of a lack of dry jeans (all his jeans were in the dryer sopping wet) Does this make me an ideal homemaker? Probably not but I did manage to pay some bills this week.

I took a short break just now while my little one is watching the Doodlebops to write this quick blog to share with my readers because I realized that if you want to work at home and want to be a writer and a mom, you might not always have ideal working conditions. Last summer I had to write on a damp notebook while my kids played in the sprinklers in the yard to battle the heat and give them some r&r time. Last week I had to get up at 6:am on a sunday morning while everyone slept and today I'm trying to hit a deadline with a huge mess of dinky cars and papers all around me (without a clean sock in the house, I might add) but these are some of the realities of being a work at home freelance writer/Mom and overall, I love this gig!