The window should be cracked and vent on, for a perfect blend of white noise and climate control. Background music? Any Spanish pop station. Wait—better the Sonic Youth tape my husband keeps in the glove compartment: no commercials.
I don't know if the pediatrician would agree with the fun family activities I'm doing. But in the lingo of writers who operate also as parents, "whatever works." So every morning at 9:00 after the bagel and bowl of Cheerios, I take my baby for a ride up the highway. By exit 5, this infant activity knocks him out. Then I can get started.
It's not that I am fussy or lack discipline. Establishing a routine I can stick to is my issue. After a day spent trying to keep up with an active toddler, anyone would need to zone. Afternoons? Impossible. And those early morning pages? Hard to beat a baby who comes to life at 4:30 a.m. So in order to get a little work done, I write in my car. It's one of my best family ideas.
It started with stationery. I figured I could catch up on correspondence while Izzy napped. Gradually, as he began preferring the car, I got a working journal and kept it under the front seat. Then more stuff began appearing in the side door pockets: dried apple rings, bottled water, and suntan lotion after I realized my left ear kept getting burnt.
Distractions are minimal in this near perfect setting. I do have to watch out for telephone repairmen and crows, which force me to close the window and turn up the vent. This interrupts my flow. And the hot fudge sundae cravings must also wait; the noise I make opening the door is too risky. I can't afford to get sidetracked; I'm only "guaranteed" an hour and twenty minutes.
But I have never been more productive! "It's the enclosed space," my Slovakian friend Iveta used to say when I hid with my journal in her W.C. (otherwise known as a toilet stall). "Your thoughts have no room to fly away." Makes sense, doesn't it? Ideas orbiting like leprechauns or fairies. Now, they must sit on my lap. Perch on the seatbelt while the boss sleeps.
Every new parent should try it. Toes warm beneath a windshield, light breeze upon the skin, a babe asleep in back. Name a more ideal workspace! Just don't park too close to the trees where the crows live.
Lisa Johnson is a mom and freelance writer in Greenwich, Connecticut.