My Laundry Room Temper Tantrum

There's nothing like having a temper tantrum in the laundry room.

Such was the case for me yesterday afternoon. The day was stressful for me all around. Since my husband had overslept, and we had gone out the night before, I didn't get a chance to iron his clothes. I wanted to make the time for that, in spite of being pressed for time. I wanted to leave the house around 7:15 to get my allergy shots.

Without going into a lot of detail, it was a challenging day at work. One of the reasons was I skipped lunch for a good reason. I was hungry, but I wanted to show my dedication to my job, in spite of a growling stomach and physical and mental weakness.

By this time, I felt like I had been spread too thin. I cried on my way home.

And my good cry elevated to a temper tantrum the minute I got home and realized I had two loads of laundry to fold, one to iron as much as time permitted, and another load of permanent press to wash. The mere sight of a basket overflowing with clean but unfolded laundry was enough to make me want to throw in a fit of rage some of the things I had hanging out to dry on top of the washer and dryer. In defiance of completing the adult version of the never-ending story, I grabbed that basket full of clothes and threw it to one side of my bedroom and myself down on the bed and cried.

I soon fell asleep. I must have been so sound-asleep that I didn't hear the loud buzzer go off from the washer. When I woke up and realized the wash was done, and more time had passed than I wanted to, I cried even more as I put them in the dryer. The only thing I wanted to do was write. I wondered if I was going to be able to do so in spite of having limited time. It was 4:10; before too long, my husband would be home and we'd have a quick dinner before going to church.

Nonetheless, I booted up my laptop and wrote something that birthed as a result of these tears. That, and talking to my husband about what was on my mind over a warm homemade meal, made me feel better. What did I do after we got done eating? I washed the dishes in the sink and folded both loads of laundry that were in that basket before we headed out to church.

If having a quick, late, and mostly unfulfilling lunch served a good purpose, it allowed me to have a soul-soothing moment after we got home from church. While eating some yogurt with some almond M&Ms mixed in it and a piece of bread with butter, with a tall glass of milk to wash it down, I wrote down a rough idea for another devotion. It is based on the Scripture I thought of during what I call my laundry room temper tantrum. Psalm 71:3, NKJV, italics mine: Be my strong refuge, To which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.

As for ironing the permanent press, I could do that later. It's in this moment of disengaging that I realized David is going to be off from work until next Tuesday. Why not give myself a mini-resort at my laptop to write some more of the ideas I have for the book with my journal entries, my devotions, and all of my novels in progress, especially Writing Soulmates and Kill the Locust?

When I woke up yesterday morning, I wanted the day to go by fast. I had a long-awaited doctor's appointment in which I had some burning questions for my doctor. It's now 6:15am. And I'm so happy to have had an opportunity to write to have taken the edge off of my anxiety.

I just had to cry first.

When I Have So Many Works in Progress...

I'm now receiving treatment for allergies.

You might ask yourself what that has to do with writing, especially with today's current subject, which is about my having not a few works in progress.

For a while now, I had had this feeling that something was getting in the way of my creativity. It wasn't work, everyday living, or being too lazy to write (I hardly ever am). I got the answer around mid-March when I was sniffing, sneezing, sleeping, and wheezing (notice that rare poetic moment). Instead of putting my hand to this labor of love, I put my hand to the labor of blowing my nose.

I thought if I drank more fluids and rested, I'd feel better in a few days. Those few days passed by and I wasn't any better. In all this time, I knew there were some ideas I had tried to get out on paper.

I also had to bear in mind the pollen count was at its highest this year. And, unfortunately, I wasn't exempt from it. After all, I live in The Allergy Captial of the World. Therefore, I went to the doctor and got some new prescriptions filled.

That was all I needed to do in order for me to have an explosion of ideas, including but not limited to...

• A chapter-by-chapter outline of Kill the Locust and Writing Soulmates. The pantser I am may have to play the role of planner sometimes because of this.
• Concerning the latter book in the above item, I've rewritten the first two chapters, which will more than likely affect the outcome of the rest of the book. It's also looking like I have to either kill a character or just have her in the shadows.
• Writing devotions and making a devotional book.
• Having an even clearer idea of how I'm going to write Stone Solid (I know I rarely mention this work in progress, but I'm still thinking about it) and maybe even change the title.
• A plan for what I'm going to study to make the plot for Crack Hill intense. And I may also change that title. I thought of an idea for it a few weeks ago when I was working out.
• Writing a book of short stories. And that's all I'm going to tell you about it since I have some more things in mind for this work in progress. I'll give details as they unfold.

Oh, and then, I also have to do some more planning for the Punk Rock Flea Market. In thinking about it, especially most of the time I've been away from my desk, I'm more prepared for this than I realize.

And I can say the same thing about my plans for all of my works in progress.

Now awaiting Monday morning to get my next allergy shot...so I can be even more productive and creative.