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[ Line of Sight ]
DATE: October 16, 2003

Living With a Writer

Writers are high maintenance. Just ask someone that's got to live with one. Now, understand, Sue and I have this really nice office in our house. We spent a fair bit of money on nice matching desks and office furniture. It's pleasant, comfortable, spacious, and homey. My side of the room is considerably more cluttered than Sue's, but it's not all that bad. I mean, I've seen worse.

But lately, things have been getting me down. I've got lots of work to do, and it's not all getting done. When trying to figure out why, I came upon one basic cause: My day was full of interruptions.

See, when it comes to writing, three one-hour periods are not the same, productivity-wise, as one three-hour period. There's a lot of "start-up" time when you're a writer. Things don't get good until you've been at it for a while and you're really into it.

But my day didn't have any three-hour periods. I had lots of interruptions. Some of them were the obvious things -- the phone, little daily tasks, and so on. Some were inobvious and all my fault (like spending too much time on the Internet). In any event, things weren't going well.

So Sue suggested (bless her) that I create a little writing refuge somewhere in the house. It seemed silly at first, because I've got what always seemed to be the perfect writing spot now. But I realized that she was (as always) brilliant.

I set up my old laptop with a new monitor (the screen in this otherwise kick-butt laptop had burned out, and the price to fix it was practically the price of a new laptop), and hooked an old mouse and keyboard up to it. And by the way, is it just me or will we as a society soon be literally awash in mice and keyboards? I don't know what we've been doing, but we've got extra mice and keyboards coming out of our ears. You can't buy a new computer and not get a mouse and a keyboard. They won't let you walk out of the store without them. They're like a parsley garnish on your computer meal.

Anyway, I put this new computer setup in our game room, and voila! Instant refuge. With my music playing and the door closed, I can't hear the phone. The computer in there has no connection to the Internet. When I'm in there, there's nothing to do but write. Plus, I'm surrounded by gaming books and stuff, so there's lots of good inspiration. When I need to do the non-writing parts of my job, I return to the regular office.

Sue puts up with a lot.* Even though I've got this great office and desk, now I have my office away from my office. Still, she didn't roll her eyes once. In fact, it was her idea. Writers need people like Sue to take care of them. We're high maintenance.

*Sue replies: Oh, I don't have to put up with that much. Just the occasional odd remark when he's starting a new writing project. My favorite so far: "I have to think, so I'm going to shave."

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