I discovered something odd about myself—the writer—last week. Don’t laugh. I realized that I need inspiration in order to vacuum or deep clean a bathroom or the kitchen, for example. But I can write just about anytime under any circumstances.
I need a housecleaning muse. I suffer, sometimes, from domestic chore block. And procrastinate? Oh my. Here are some of the excuses I use when I don’t feel like cleaning:
• The cats are asleep and I don’t want to disturb them.
• I only have a window of twenty minutes—not enough time to dust and vacuum, so I’ll do neither.
• I’ll clean the house when I don’t feel like writing. (Yeah right! That never happens.)
• No one is going to stop by, anyway—who will notice if I let it go one more day?
• I’ll do it tomorrow—I’ll probably feel like doing it then.
• It’s not really that dirty.
I remember when I started this writing career many years ago, that some days I would clean instead of write. If I was stumped as to what to write that day, the floors would get washed. If I suffered from a severe case of writers’ block, I’d make new curtains and hang wallpaper, as a way to work through it. I still take a walk to clear the clutter from my mind when I’m working through a writing-related situation. But I wait for inspiration to clear the clutter from this house.
So is there anyone else out there who can relate? Have you turned from super housekeeper to obsessed writer? Do you need a domestic task muse? What is your motivation or inspiration to clean the house or take care of other chores that require leaving your writing room?
The only thing that inspires me to pick up a dust cloth is when my allergies can no longer take the dust! Now I’ve got a great excuse not to bother–I can’t see the dust. Out of sight, out of mind.