Fi Phillips

Yesterday, my husband went back to work but it wasn't until today, when my children started the new school term, that I began to feel that life had returned to normal. Of course, it's a new normal for us all. We moved home just before Christmas and although we now have a working house, we're still unpacking boxes and bags with the resulting "That's where that went to" or "I'd forgotten about that". This morning, without husband or children, my home is peaceful. I'm indulging myself with a coffee and my laptop. Soon I'll get on with more unpacking and tidying away but for twenty minutes or so, I'm going to own this moment. If you're finding it difficult to get back into your creative stride, have a look at my post - 7 ways to get back into your writing routine . Return Expectant faces raised to the light of a new term, my children skipped into school with no backward glance or wave. I released the breath that had dragged me...

The summer holidays officially start for me today. No more school until September. Six weeks of entertaining my children, vacuuming around them and not having to get up so early. This time last year I lived in a different place, a different country even, and life felt more hemmed in creatively. I wrote about the summer in holidays in the August Monster . This year I'm better organised and life in Wales has created a much more relaxed and happier person. I have the children's routine drawn up (with a built in flexibility just in case it rains) and a writing routine too. I'm not sure if it will all go to plan but fingers crossed. Wish me luck!

Or to be more precise, the child-filled, mostly unproductive six weeks that is the school summer holiday has taken over my life and my mind. My normal writing routine has been replaced by trips to viking museums and desperate shopping trips where I attempt to stop the octopi that are my children from destroying the comic or sweet display at the local supermarket. Everyone is different but for me, I need peace (i.e. children at school or at least asleep in bed) and usually to be alone to get any quality writing done. Cue many many midnight writing sessions after my husband has gone to bed to keep up with what I need to do over the holiday break. One advantage of having so much time with my children, however, is the boost to my imagination. I think it's a mixture of being around these magically creative little people and visiting new places (i.e. the viking museum mentioned above, a train museum , a different city, couple of zoos). I have almost filled the note capacity on my mobile...