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Life of a Writer Mom Column Close Quarters by Carla Charter As writers from home—especially those of us who are parents—we face many challenges that traditional authors have never faced. Among them is space. I was musing on Hawthorne's large rambling Concord home one day as I was trying for the tenth time to find some notes I needed for an article. I had checked in the notebook box under the bed and on the shelf under the desk and on the bookcase. I finally located them in a pile on the corner of my desk, under a seven year old drawing of a raptor. Aah I thought, exactly where they should be. And that's when I thought about Hawthorne's home. You see I don't have a large house with plenty of rooms for an author to ramble through. I have a small three bedroom ranch. One that feels like it's getting smaller every day. I used to have the mistaken idea that I would gain more writing space as the children grew older. After all, no more cribs, or baby carriers, or baby seats with trays. That had to free up some space right? Those of you who are thinking along these lines, don't believe it, not even for a minute. I soon discovered that losing these items does not free up space. Those items are just replaced with more age appropriate items such as dinosaurs, and train tracks that can't be moved because your child is designing a new train yard. Then there's the ever popular pile of stuff near the door, deposited by the 14 year old who has promised to clear it away before the millennium ends. And there's the other aspect to this complex space puzzle. If you've worked it right your writing is expanding, sometimes by dribbles, sometimes by leaps and bounds. And there you'll find me over in the other corner of the living room. Writing away, with papers on the desk, a bookcase behind me and a train track through the middle of my office. At the moment the space problem is under negotiations with my husband. We've discussed adding a room (too expensive), using the cellar (too dark, and I'm not sure my computer would approve) and a hundred other options. Until the negotiations are finished, here I sit, in the corner of the living room, between the bookshelf and storage boxes and t-rex's knowing how lucky I am to be living and sharing my world with those I love. Carla Charter is mom to Samantha (12), Halden (5), and Mathew (4). In addition to being a mom, Carla is a freelance writer specializing in newspaper and magazine journalism. Among her publication credits are Woman's World, American Indian Report and New England Business Journal. Online she has been published in Scubasource.com and Military.com. She teaches creative writing courses at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Ma. Recently her novel Across Lots has been serialized at http://www.newenglandwow.com. She may be reached at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net. |
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Writing
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