Clamouring Patches

(from the Wikipedia article on Patchwork)

I'm all for patchwork as a template for the writer's life - there's the teaching, performing, talking, admin-ing, blogging, website-ing, proofing, editing, researching, taking photographs (that may just be me), thinking ... oh, yeah, and then there's the writing.  And I think that that is all to the good, and each bit enhances each other bit, and makes us stronger and better, though sadly not taller.  The thing I really don't like about it, however, is the noise. 

The patches I am not at any given moment paying heed to, tend to clamour.  They're noisy and they're sneaky.  They say things like, "You?  A writer?  When you're not focusing on ME?!  I don't think so."  These last few weeks it's been everything on the list except thinking and writing, and the decibel level from those two is reaching ear-drum-damage level.  And I can't quite see when in the near future I'm going to be able to shush them.  So I wake up in the middle of the night to worry.  You'd have thought that would be enough.

I think I need to invest in some really good ear plugs.