Excerpt From Chapter: This House is Not a Home (Currently)
It’s a bright Saturday morning and I’m looking around my kitchen wondering when, exactly, I let it get THIS bad. The dishwasher has been run, but nobody has bothered to unload it, resulting in piles of dirty dishes in and around the sink. There are empty cereal boxes lined up, I assume, so I can cut out the Box Tops for Education labels…because I’m the only one who can what…use scissors? Break down the boxes for recycling? Throw away the empty bag inside the boxes that once held cereal?
Speaking of recycling, there’s a bag of recycling on a stool waiting to be taken out on our “next trip” out of the house. It’s been there for three days and we have, in fact, left the house several times in those three days.
The clincher, though, is the kitchen table. Our puppy has a best friend that lives next door. He comes over to our back deck door and barks for Sullivan to come out to play. They wrestle, run around, investigate, bark at each other, bark at passersby, lay down to rest, and then start over. When they’re out and I’m working or writing, I bring my laptop up to the kitchen table so I can check on the dogs from time to time.
At this very moment, I’m sitting at my kitchen table and surrounding my laptop are:
One little girl’s black shoe.
One little girl’s gold shoe.
One little girl’s pink slipper.
The Nancy Drew book we’re currently reading.
Large bag of colored pencils.
Pair of my husband’s dirty socks.
Empty napkin holder on its side.
The art project brought home by my littlest little girl.
Pad of paper with my work notes scribbled on it.
Three place mats (one was a casualty of yesterday’s juice fiasco).
One black marker.
Work documents of my husband’s.
A partially completed drawing.
My kitchen table isn’t even big! How, or perhaps a better question is WHY, is there so much sh*t sitting on it?!! And does anybody else find it a teensy bit disconcerting that there are two shoes, a slipper, and dirty socks on the table at which we EAT OUR MEALS? Anyone???
If I told you about the kitchen counter, you’d have a nervous breakdown, which I’m on the verge of, but I’m trying to hold it together. Here’s the deal. We do not have the little girls this weekend, so we should be able to get everything organized, cleaned, and put away, but there’s more…
My husband is in school. He was in school last night and again this morning. Also, have I mentioned he has a small business on the side that he’s owned since he was 18 years old? After he bolts from school today, we’ll be frantically preparing for his trade show tomorrow. Any ‘free’ time otherwise used for sanity-saving-house-organization will instead be spent on trade-show-preparation-in-hopes-of-finding-new-clients. Ugh.
Our dog is even looking at me with disgust. Yeah…YOU’RE one to talk, Sullivan…I believe that pile of firewood on our back deck is YOUR doing. It looks like the frigging Blair Witch Project out there.
I take issue with a disastrous house for many reasons.
A – When it’s disastrous as it is now, I feel totally out of sorts and stressed.
B - It wouldn’t be like this if some people didn’t refuse to put dishes in the dishwasher, unload the dishwasher, hang-up their coats, put away their shoes, and so on, and so on, and so on.
C - We don’t have the square footage to allow for unusable space…and as far as I’m concerned, this kitchen is NOT USABLE.
D - It’s FREEZING outside which keeps us INSIDE this war zone of a house.
E - I believe our home is supposed to feel safe, and cozy, and comfortable, and lovely, you know, as opposed to chaotic, dirty, cluttered, and filled to the brim with crap people haven’t put away.
Therefore, on a day I technically could have slept in, I’ve been up since 6:30 trying to get this house back in order. I’d rather be sleepy from a late night and an early morning than be CRAZY because the house is so awful. For me, sleepy is less dangerous than crazy.
Which brings me to the real question: is this my gig from now on? Husband in school, swamped at work, busy with small business, little girls here half the time, so while they’re willing and eager to do chores, it only happens every other weekend, leaving me to take this on and be sure this house is in fact a home and I AM in fact sane? No, seriously…REALLY?
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with . . . Carrie Monroe O'Keefe . . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
I started writing a blog and wrote like I was talking to my friends. In the beginning, they’re the only people who were reading it anyway, so it made sense. As I continued to write my blog, and for this book, I continued to write as if I was having a conversation with friends. People often tell me that they can hear my voice as they read my work – which I just love to hear. I hope that people who do not know me feel like they’re chatting with a friend over a glass of wine, or coffee.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
Writing about my life and my experiences feels natural to me but making myself sit down to actually do it is often the challenge. I have two kids, a husband, a full-time job, a dog I have to walk, exercise I need to do, and we’re in the midst of building a house. Prioritizing writing, and making time for it, is always tough. I have to remind myself how much better I feel when I’m making time to write. Which, in turn, makes me better at all of the other roles I play or things I have to do.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
I write every morning for a half hour. It’s part “prayer,” part mind-dump, and I’ve found if I don’t do that I can’t sit down to write blog posts or work on a manuscript. I have to get that out of the way first before I can be productive in my writing. It’s like a clearing of my brain and heart before getting down to business.
Do you have a character that you have been working on for a long time that still isn't quite ready, but fills you with excitement to work on the story?
Not a character but a topic – I LOVE Christmas. I have many Christmas stories that have been percolating in my brain for years and I just haven’t fully formed any of them enough to get started just yet. But I think there are many Christmas stories in my future. Every holiday season I search for Christmas books I’ve not yet read and I pretty much only read Christmas books from mid-fall through January. Some of the stories I have in my head are middle grade, some are children’s books, and some are for adults. I can’t wait to get into this but I’m not quite there yet.
One of the reasons I’m so excited about Mamacadabra is that it has been in my head for such a long time, in different iterations, and I needed to get it out in order to move to other projects about which I’m so excited!
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
Yes! I am working on my next non-fiction book which is an exploration of the idea of home. How we define home and feel at home – within ourselves, (our brains and our bodies), and then externally in our actual physical surroundings and the people we choose (and sometimes don’t choose) to be surrounded by.
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
I am trying to channel Stephen King and get my next book out about a year after this one was published. Hoping for November of 2024. I also hope to be much more active with my blog. Lots of writing in my future this year!
Thank you Carrie Monroe O'Keefe for joining and giving a little insight to you and your process. Your work is appreciated.
Website: https://mamacadabra.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cmonroeokeefe
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@monroeokeefe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mamacadabra
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriemonroeokeefe/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18816687.Carrie_Monroe_O_Keefe
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