By Rosemary O'Brien
Writing Military Mom

I don’t know why, but I have a difficult time writing even a blog post when my family is around. Maybe it’s because when they come home from school and work, I may as well hang up my keyboard and give up until they go to sleep. If it’s not breaking up a dispute about a ball that magically flew threw the air and knocked something over in a house where balls are not allowed to be thrown, then it’s to stop and feed someone because they are “staaaaaaaarrrrrrrving!” even if they had a snack and it’s almost time for dinner (that I have to stop and make).
 

That is why I look forward to bedtime. It is when I creep back to my computer, which I left on, and create with abandon. I find I am more productive at night for some reason. Mornings rarely only happen for me because my kids need to get to school. It seems to be a law in this country. Before I had them, I woke up at 9 and began writing at 9:30 with my jammies on and a strong cup of coffee in my hand. At that point, I skimmed and answered simple emails, deleted files and was not required to speak to anyone about anything unless I wanted to. It was not until early afternoon when my writing would come alive and I would write with abandon. Some of my best work was written during this time. In fact, this is when my first novel was produced and found a publisher.
 

Back then, my Navy husband was working 16-hour days and pulling duty every third night. With no children and unable to find a job in our new duty station, I made my own schedule. I look back at that time as one of the best times of my life, or as I knew it before my children were born. Now I write when they are at school and I am not as fresh. If I get fired up and stay awake at night to write, I can easily go off into the writing mode and end up getting 3 hours of sleep before it’s time to start getting the children ready for school again.
 

I can’t complain. The children are my blessings and provide ample fodder for my blog, my books and my magazine editors. They give me the juice it takes to keep me going in the difficult world of publishing. If it were not for them and my juicy husband, my writing would be stale and my blog would be boring. In short, I would have nothing to write about. Even with about five minutes of productive writing time in my day, I realize how blessed I am for all of their interruptions.
 

One day they will have moved on and my writing mind will function on all cylinders again. Until that time, I will catch my productive time when it hits and run with it until the family comes home.

It’s all good.