Focused.

My day started with a cup of tea brought to me in bed by my twelve-year-old son. There’s no better way to be woken up in my books. Especially on a Monday morning.

I think Monday blues are real. Back to work and all that. As I slugged my way through the morning hours I tried hard to shrug it off. I climbed into the attic and found the reading book I was looking for in the 7th box I opened.

I didn’t curse the computer for refusing to print the copy work for the boys which wasted fifteen minutes of my life. I also held my tongue when it suddenly spit out ten copies instead of the three I wanted.

I gave a reading lesson to the youngest two boys. Got the older ones through their chores with threats and through more school work than usual for a Monday. Mopped up the cup of tea spilled on the table. Checked my phone a few times.

Finally… finally it was afternoon and game time commenced leaving me free to work on my novel. Before long I was lost in a scene. Bliss. But before I knew it it was four o’clock and time for real work again. Cooking. Dealing with hungry kids before dinner is finished.

I’ve often wished I could have control buttons for myself. Like a focus button. Maybe it’s a woman thing but I find it very hard to focus on one thing. It’s not hard to focus on something that uses your creative energy. It’s hard to focus on the mundane.

Not just focus but also enjoy. I easily find it boring. How do you enjoy the stuff that doesn’t inspire you. How do you not feel like you would rather write your novel than cook dinner. Grin. But at the end of the day I still did what I had to do and that counts for a lot.

Maybe it’s okay to not always enjoy and feel like the mundane. Probably harder for us creative types who every now and then would like to turn the house upside down like in the Mary Poppins film.

If we focus on why we do what we do even in the mundane it makes it worth it. I have a happy well fed family tonight. I’ve written a whole scene. My house is tidyish. It was a good Monday.