On Welcoming Interruptions

A ringing doorbell should always signal Jesus is stopping by. 

As a writer and a homeschooling mom to seven growing sons, I've learned to not only tolerate interruptions but to welcome them. I wrote my debut novel Brave Water during my last two pregnancies, and I very often had my best story ideas while being beckoned away from my computer to nurse a crying baby. 

By the dim glow of a blue nightlight, my rocking chair would creak to a familiar rhythm, and I'd figure out a plot twist I hadn't imagined clearly until that exact quiet moment. I'd burp my baby, and a minor character's personality flaw would suddenly become clear. I'll never forget laying my 1-year-old back in his crib only to have to pat-pat-pat his back for many long minutes so he'd stay down. It was in that blessed time-span my book's title finally appeared clearly in my mind's eye (after years of struggling to come up with one). 

[Note: An interruption is not the same thing as a distraction. Distractions, especially silly ones such as social media, must be resisted firmly if one wants to grow as a writer.]

Even now that my kids are older, I have never been able to carve out more than two broken hours a day for writing (15 minutes here, 10 minutes there; a little longer at nap time and bedtime). But schedule limitations have always worked in my favor, because I'm forced to be consistent and to make the most of the time I do have. 

Every once in a while I get tempted to cringe when the doorbell rings while I'm engrossed in typing out a new chapter. But then I'll remember the words of St. Vincent De Paul who, in essence, talked about 'leaving Jesus in the chapel to greet him at the door.' 

The Rule of St. Benedict speaks of joyfully welcoming the interruption of a guest and, referencing Matthew 25, seeing Christ in that guest. Father Joseph Cisetti writes in his popular blog about how our faith itself ('from Genesis to Revelation') is a 'theology of interruptions.' From the Angel Gabriel surprising Our Lady at the Annunciation, to Jesus Himself knocking on the door of each heart, Fr. Cisetti stresses how important it is to see 'God's hand in the surprises and inconveniences of life.'  

Very often, after I tend to the blessed interruption of the moment -- whether it be a delivery man, a teapot whistling on the stove, or a teenager needing help with trigonometry -- I'll sit back down at my desk to find my thoughts are a whole lot clearer for having stepped away, and my story winds up writing itself. 

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About the author: Sarah Robsdottir is a Catholic convert and a homeschooling mother of seven sons. Her debut novel Brave Water won a Catholic Media Association Award. Her most recent novel Joan of Arkansas was released in 2025 by Voyage Publishing. Keep up with her at www.sarahrobsdottir.com