Writing--it's my passion, my escape, my means for traveling even when the bank account says otherwise. But how do I find time to do it? Honestly, I don't find nearly as much time as I'd like. I have six kids, five at home ages 12 and under. I homeschool. I'm a Brownie Girl Scout leader. I make and sell "ugly" Christmas sweaters. I'm an avid couponer. I'm in charge of the youth group at church. I'm organizing and directing Vacation Bible School this year. To save money, pretty much all of our family meals are cooked from scratch. So how then, do I find time to write?
Well, it's not easy. I never get stuff written as quickly as I'd like. If I can carve out an hour a day to write, I'm doing well. I've published one children's picture book, "Dragon at the Cabin." It's a rhyming book about stranger safety, and I have four more that are currently with an illustrator. It's my hope to have them for sale sometime this summer. I've written two novels, one of which is published, the other of which is being polished and proofed.
When I write, I'm whisked off to another world. It's this world that I want to carry my readers to.
What about the housework you say? Well, I'm no star housekeeper. I'm not Martha Stewart for sure, but I do my best. We do crazy scrambled housekeeping when we know people are coming, and when someone shows up at the last minute, well, we just hope that they love us enough not to care too much about the house.
Cleaning with a large family is a bit like shoveling snow during a blizzard--a lost cause. When I write, however, if I write 1,000 words in a hour (typical for me) then at the end of the day, no matter what, I've accomplished something. The house will be messy again shortly after I clean it, but my writing will still be there, and to me, that's rewarding. That's how I get my writing done. I make it a priority. I know I'll feel a sense of accomplishment, so I try my best to remove obstacles to that all-important hour of writing. And I never regret it when I do.
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