Did someone say housework? Don't they know that's practically a swear word around here? I don't do housework, I write. Actually, I pinched that from someone else. Would love to share the author of that brilliant saying, but it's one of those facts I chose to file in a different location in my brain, probably the equivalent to the messy kitchen drawer, the place you shove everything. I might take exception to the idea that my head is a messy kitchen. I'll need to think about it a bit more.

I tend to follow the advice left by Phyllis Diller when it comes to dusting; "Go ahead, draw in the dust around my house, just don't leave the date." (Or something very much like that, but I couldn't find the exact quote.) You could draw in the dust around my house. You could also run out of ink if you bothered making a list of all the things that should be done around here. Okay, I'll admit it - I don't do housework. I tend the chores around this house. If there's a desperate need, I might get around to it. If it's not totally necessary, I'll probably do it next week or maybe the week after. As I sit and write the lounge is covered in junk mail and Saturday West Australian newspapers that are over one month old. Did I mention somewhere that life has been really hectic the last five months? I'm not usually that bad. There's been the whole new baby and stuff to deal with. A stressful situation at any time, but add to it the way hubby needed me every night while he studied and prepared about twenty assessments for the course he's been doing. Then there are the moments I actually write.

I have to be thankful for my teenage kids. They are more than a blessing to me. For years now they've done the dishes every night. I hardly ever have to wash up. When it works out that I do, I really don't mind. I can't recall the last time I had to wash a dish. They keep the kitchen tidy, hang out laundry, bring it in, fold it and put it away. They feed their pets and do a million other things as I ask them to. They're great. Okay, they do need prompting now and then, but I don't like to complain as they are my biggest blessing. Without them it's likely nothing would ever get done at all. They even cook around two or three meals a week these days, though that's only been since the baby and the course. Before that it was a once a week thing each Friday night.

I've never been big on housework and no longer even feel any of that silly guilt over it the way I used to when I was younger. Hubby has come to terms with me, but only because he loves me and believes in what I'm trying to do - become a published novelist. Perhaps I horrify some of the other members joining me in the Writer's Day Boot Camp course. Perhaps I should be horrified, too. I'm not, though. For me, it's just the way things are around here.

Now I've had more time to think about it, I reckon I could probably get a bit more writing time each day, but only when I know what is happening in my day. If that doesn't make sense it's because nothing in my life does right now. Hubby is doing work experience. His hours are all over the place. Tonight it's the three until eleven shift. I have to consult the timetable every day just to check what's going on. Once he finally joins the workforce again perhaps life will be normal. I'm not holding my breath, though. I'll write where and when I can, even if it means I don't get the full hour each week day. Anyway, that's me for now.