wednesday, june 20, 2001
night shift

it is probably a very good thing that i am a night owl. night time is the one good time that i can do things that would interfere with other family members' activities or do things in which their activities would make harder for me to get done. day times can be very busy around here, not in a bad way, but busy none the less. saxy wants to come and snuggle and kiss (definitely not a bad thing) and kitten is home and already bored (no clue what she is going to do for the rest of her vacation with her already bored). around 4 the other kids all show up (although in a week or so they will all be home for about a month vacation), which means they are bringing me things from school, trying to get settled, and we're trying to keep taz occupied, all of which means mom must be available. dinner is about 5, and after that the t.v. is on until saxy decides to go to bed, usually about 11 pm. this means constant interruptions and noise, both of which reduce concentration and disturbs things like writing novel chapters or editing said chapters. it also means any game tape transcriptions are pretty impossible.

so, when everyone is off to bed and the t.v. is off i begin my second shift. i am a writer who works the night shift for her writing. and my "shift" lasts however long it needs to for me to get things done. this means i may not hit my lovely pillow until 5 am...or later.

i like to write my novels (there are four now, by the way: i have just started the fourth on a particular house/clan from the past whose name shows up in current time in my world) at night. it is so much easier to finish a thought, even just a sentence, without kids needing attention or my husband (who i love dearly, honest!) deciding he needs to hold me or kiss me or otherwise also get my attention. i have less of a chance of losing a thought that i am working on, a story line, a character, or whatever without the interruptions. i also don't have the distractions of t.v. and am able to play music that inspires my creativity. these are very good things. i get more writing done at night than any other time.

i can also transcribe tapes. one of my novels is based on a game currently being run in r.l. at the house. so i don't forget anything, we're taping. these tapes need to make it to paper to be checked by players so they can form the foundation of my writing. but they are airy and everyone has low voices (men have low voices, annoyingly low if you are trying to tape something ~ i just know these guys are doing it on purpose too!). we cleaned up some of the airiness by using a mic, but i still have to have the tape loud on playback and can't have any other noise just to understand it. even then i am often rewinding and making sure i got it right.

during the day i can work on my site, review work for the workshop, do collab pieces and so on. i can read, create graphics, and work on my rpgs that i gm.. i can walk away in the middle of these things, not feel like an idea was just flushed down the toilet if interrupted,, and am generally doing other things with anyway...like checking mail and message boards. it's the way i work, focusing on three or more things at a time.

night shift is when i can focus on my writing, various aspects of my writing, but my writing. in a way it's my time. but it's also a time i hope will pay off one day. and it gives me something to do during the hours that i can't sleep while everyone else is.

we knew there was an ulterior motive.