Living in a smaller house, I am going to have a harder time finding a quiet space for writing. Take, for example, this very moment. I can barely concentrate, and just stringing together words in a sentence seems like quite a challenge.

It’s not as though everyone is running around the house being noisy–but with a limited amount of space, everyone is forced to think about the ways in which their activities have an impact on others. It may be that we will have to figure out some “house rules” on things like: how late is too late for playing video games, or watching television, or playing a guitar. But I am guessing it is also going to mean that I am going to have to figure out how much “quiet” I can realistically expect–and how (and when and where) I can do the daily writing that I’ve managed to maintain for the past 30 weeks.

Don’t get me wrong–there are plenty of quiet moments around here. Just not here and now. Which leads me to three possible solutions to my current dilemma:

1. Stomp around the house, shout at everyone to be quiet, and reclaim my writing time;
2. Surrender to the noise, give up on writing, and go watch some reality television; or
3. Find a time, and a space, for writing that works for me and my family

Let’s assume I’m going with option three for now.

What about the porch, for example? Sure, it’s a bit chilly right now, but why am I in an upstairs loft on a computer, exposed to every passing sound in the house, instead of writing on the laptop on the porch?

And why have a drifted into late night writing? Perhaps writing in the morning (when the house is truly silent) would allow me to write in a less distracting environment?

And there are other options too.

The question is really this: How can I manage to partition my time, my space, and my expectations to allow for a balanced approach to writing at home?