Five Sure-fire Excuses for not Writing this Weekend

1) Cleaning. This is my best and most often used excuse. Granted the bathroom did need cleaning but it could have waited a couple more days. In fact, I could have kept the cleaning to the shower, as the rest of the bathroom looked alright. However, once I start, I find it difficult to stop, so I polished the mirror, wiped down the vanity, scrubbed the toilet and then cleaned the powder room for good measure. It was only guilt which kept me from vacuuming the rest of the apartment. Every time I looked at my computer, which should have been open and ready for me, I felt guilty. So, I left the apartment to go shopping.

2) Shopping. I can name everything in my fridge and pantry and as my memory isn’t so great, it’s an indication that there isn’t much there for me to cook with. There are plenty of condiments, but I haven’t found many recipes which call for a mixture of mustard and mayonnaise with nothing else. Therefore a few precious hours of my weekend were spent at the small organic supermarket where I often shop and where I can wander almost endlessly looking at the delicious offerings. Of course, I found some gluten free hot cross buns, which are perfect to munch on while reading.

3) Reading. This works even better as an excuse if your reading also involves research for your manuscript. In my case, writing a work of creative non-fiction, or some might say memoir, it is important to get the facts right. To me it is also important to get the feel of the time in history I’m writing about. So, I read. I read other people’s memoirs, I read history books, I read articles about the places and times where my father lived, loved and fought. I also read for pleasure. I read crime novels, memoir, self-help books, and recommendations from friends and other writers. Naturally, in order to hear about recommendations, one must stay in touch with friends.

4) Visiting friends. What better way to spend time on a weekend than catching up with friends you haven’t seen for a long time? Breakfast, lunch and dinner catch ups, good food, delicious wine, fabulous conversation, all add up to a wonderfully convincing excuse of why I’ve spent a good part of the weekend enjoying myself instead of sitting at my desk tapping on my computer. However, meals are not the only way to meet up with friends, art galleries are also great for get-togethers.

5) Keeping up with culture. Since it opened last year, I’ve been meaning to get to the Triennial exhibition at the NGV and today, together with a couple of friends I finally made it. It was a fantastic exhibition, a great mix of artists, genres and imagination. Of course, we didn’t have to go to a gallery to catch up, it might have been at the movies or at a museum, or a concert or the like.

So, there went my weekend of writing. Instead I cleaned, shopped, read, visited friends and saw the Triennial exhibition. I don’t regret how I spent my time this weekend, although I still feel guilty every time I look at the computer!