Escape to M&S

My latest trick to allow myself to write is to leave the house.
Never had a problem with this one before. People have always said to me, as they do to any home-worker - 'how do you do it without getting distracted?' - and I didn't know how to answer. I loved my writing and genuinely wanted to do it. But that was in the far off days Before Children.
It's not just time. Writers are experts at procrastination, but after deep discussion with a friend of mine over the Per Una rails in M&S in York recently, I came to the conclusion it's all about the roles you play in your life - and this is the reason I could write at home easily before I had children and I can't now.
My friend needed to shop. She had a holiday coming up and nothing suitable to wear; her wardrobe at the moment is made up of work clothes and riding clothes, her twin daily lives.
There is nothing more fun than shopping for a friend - even better if you choose one of a different colouring and size. There is no temptation to join them with your own credit card and you can have huge fun picking out clothes for your reluctant shopper and indulging the experimental side you'd like for yourself. We left M&S with three or four new outfits for her - tops, trousers, a cardigan ... bright colours and patterns!
She told me how she had tried to shop in her own M&S at home. She would rush in after a day at work, still in teacher mode, look vaguely, pick up, put down, and give up. Go and buy some new school socks for her son and some food for supper and go home to parent mode, probably thinking about the horses on the way. But in York, far away from both our homes, on a weekend away, we were ourselves for once, as we'd been when we met there, thirty years ago as students.
So back to the beginning. Pre-children, I was always in work mode because that was all of who I was then. Now, when I'm at home, I am in work mode but only for those things that sell. So I can write my womag fiction, because that's acceptable in my role of parent and part-time worker who Contributes to the House. But fiction that is taking a wild stab in the dark, an optimistic, long-term attempt at success - that doesn't fit my role. I see myself as a short story writer, but not yet as a children's author.
So I leave the house, my desk, my washing machine (critical, that one) and all other things that tie me down to my small view of myself and I head out. At the moment, I go to a National Trust carpark which has a glorious open view and a cafe. There is space and light and huge skies and gazing out over half of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, I can work much more freely. Maybe one day, I can bring that home and work here again when I've convinced myself of who I am.
Writers don't need creativity in their souls - they need ruthlessness and single-mindedness and conviction that they are worth it, enough to push aside the washing and the dishes and write.