"Guys, I'm Writing."

I'm nearly done writing a story, and I've found that this is always the time that requires a lot of staring at nothing. This, unfortunately, makes it seem like I'm available to make snacks or search for a missing sock or help build a marble run or pour someone a glass of orange juice, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

But I'm not.

This has caused some friction with my children, and by friction I mean that I go and do whatever they've requested, but I do it in a totally pissy way which is, of course, unfair to them since for all they know I'm just sittin' around doing nothing. But guess what I discovered a few days ago? I discovered that if I say, "Guys, I'm writing," they say, "Oh! Why didn't you just say so?" and then they go get their own damn orange juice.

Yes, I'm a little slow on the uptake.

Speaking of kids and writing, there's been some interesting stuff popping up on the subject. Dan Barden's article, "Writer as Parent: No More Aching To Be An Artist," for example, is featured in the current Poets & Writers. There are some responses to it over at MetaxuCafé.

And then there's the new book Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues, the spine of which I hope to crack at some point this weekend. There are plenty of blogs, too, of course, but maybe I'll link to them at another time because, um, I need to go stare at nothing right now.

Have a good weekend! I'm doing my darnedest to make it to this reading on Sunday to enjoy some poetry from Bec, Barbara Jane, and Oscar.