What Would Nora Roberts Do?

At the Romance Writer’s national conference in Atlanta, I went to a chat with the one and only Nora Roberts—me and oh, a couple hundred other readers and writers. I left inspired by Nora’s answers to the myriad of questions posed by the audience.  But one answer in particular stood out. 

Someone asked how Nora handled writing when her children were young. My ears perked up given that a) I write, and b) I have very young children. Her response? The blood and fire rule. When Nora Robert’s children were young, she used this rule to determine when a small child could interrupt her work.

I came home from Atlanta determined to implement this rule with the hopes that I could write a few pages while the kids were awake. The three-year-old is generally pretty easy. He wants to play trains. Unless his little sister bothers him, it is safe to say I can write a few paragraphs before I need to help rebuild a bridge or put a crane back together. But the 19-month-old? She will play with her toys for a minute, maybe two before deciding to climb the couch. 

Thus, I spent most of last couple of weeks asking myself: what would Nora Roberts do? Where does standing on the top of the couch fall within the blood and fire rule? Nothing is burning.  Yet. And she’s not bleeding. Yet. And what about balancing on one foot on top of her toy piano? At one point, I made the mistake of telling my daughter: “You’re not on fire.”  She gave me a bright, devilish smile that said, “just you wait, mommy.”

I decided (without consulting the fabulous Nora Roberts of course, who is probably writing as I type this) that Nora would stop and remove the toddler from the top of the sofa and then she would go back to work. She would weather interruption, prevent blood from spilling and small children from lighting fires, but above all she would get her work done. Thank you Nora for your inspiration. Let’s hope I can do the same 🙂