Thursday, March 14, 2013

Being Productive With A Newborn In The House

Baby chaosAfter 7 weeks of being a dad, I'm pretty sure I've got this thing licked. Some sacrifices have been made and a few hobbies curtailed, but I've found a way to balance writing and parenting by way of scheduling and multi tasking.  Changing diapers while brainstorming isn't easy, but I can assure you, it hasn’t affected my creative juices. Not in the least.

For example, let’s take a look at a sonnet I wrote last night as the baby slept.  I don't claim to be a poet, but as my son rocked gently in his swing--blissfully content in his slumber, I picked up the pen and let the verses flow. The result was this beauty:
The stormy nigh
He wasn't content for long, and my poem appears to be more of a haiku of sorts.  Oh well, poetry has never been my strong suit, I’ll work on that one.  Moving on.
I’ve also been polishing up my prose.  Writing short stories is something I've always enjoyed and hoped to continue to write in my spare time.  Just before my son was born I was struck with an idea for story.  It's a timeless tale of love and heartbreak with a dark twist as....here, read for yourself:
As the days forge ahea-
The dog barked, the baby screamed, and I spilled a lukewarm bottle of breast milk on the keyboard just as I got cranking, so that one may need some work. And words. Okay, so maybe my writing has taken a hit, but I’ve managed to keep up with my reading.  Over the weekend, I read the same paragraph no less than eight times.  How’s that for being thorough?  It was about a um, well most of it involved, I think it had something to do with. Hang on,
Sorry, I had to change a diaper.  Don’t worry, I washed my hands.  Where was I, oh yeah.  Hold on. Okay, I’m going to cut this short as the little one needs attention and I only have one jand to finish thyping jhis post.. 

4 comments:

  1. Then there'll be the phase where they are a just okay enough to mess around on the floor while you type, and they reach up and rip the digital ribbon out of the printer rendering it useless (true story).
    I'm thinking of investing in the "Thunderdome" style plastic octagon. Whether to encase our 6MO for safe playtime, or to let the three sprogs fight it out to see who gets to pick the story. Either way, win/win for daddy, yeah?
    Later,

    Jason
    The Cheeky Daddy

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    Replies
    1. I like it Jason, let me know how it works out!

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