How to maintain creativity when your brain's stretched to the limit

There was a night this week we had a showdown. It was of Wild West proportions and all in the name of vegetables. Apparently my two-year-old wasn't in the mood for the summer squash sauté I'd prepared.

And, frankly, any night I make dinner with a cutting board and skillet is something to be celebrated.

So after a peaceful resolution despite lost privileges and hostage-style negotiations (she has just learned how to bargain), cleaning up dinner, and writing a few work blog posts in attorney-speak, I sat down to get some writing done.

And that part of my brain goes:

Here are some tips for getting into creative mode when your brain is a little low on real estate. At least, this is how it looks for me sometimes.

1. Leave your house or go to a quiet, secluded spot if such a thing exists in your home. It's the only way.  
2. Remember something urgent that needs to be done. This happens without fail.
3. Do it or make a list if it can't be accomplished at this moment in time.
4. Acquire caffeine/sustenance. Lots of it. In IV form, if possible.
5. Turn brain onto creative mode. This is also known as "research", which if you looked it up in the thesaurus, would also be called procrastination. And if you took truth serum, it would be called YouTube video rabbit trails and chatting with your BFFs on Facebook.
6. Hit your creative stride with approximately 5 minutes of allotted time left. This might also involve passive aggressive looks from the coffee shop baristas who can only go home when the last straggler leaves. Done.
7. (optional) Work into the early hours of the morning and go to sleep or watch the sunrise with a smile on your face. Knowing that, after some serious editing, the thing you've just created will be totally worth the punch-in-the-face reminder that you're not 19 anymore. 

I might post a more...practical...list next week. Because it really is possible. Promise.

Is this how life looks for you sometimes? What do you do to make time for yourself in the middle of your responsibilities?