The Woman Behind The Pen

Some people like to think of a writer’s life as being relaxing, maybe even a life of liesure—typing in your pajamas all day, steaming cup of coffee set to the side, maybe a croissant (chocolate filled, of course) next to the keyboard, and no distractions. Oh, how I wish! Let me unveil a few secrets of this writer’s life.

The world does not stop when it’s writing time, and I, for one, have never written in my pajamas—but I’d sure like to! I have children, a husband, and household chores that nag at me while I’m writing. I’m not complaining, just saying…the silly things won’t go away!

Writing from home has its advantages—the keyboard is always just a few steps away. I can take a two minute break to throw a load of laundry in the washing machine or empty the dishwasher. I can sit at my keyboard all night, if I choose to, or well into the wee hours of the morning. Then again, working from home also has its disadvantages—like being able to take breaks to do household chores, and being just a few steps from “work” at all times.

Managing family and career is difficult for any working parent, and working from home offers its own challenges. There’s the ever-present snackage in the kitchen calling out, the open-door policy of the house itself, begging you to procrastinate, and the kids who often say, “Mom, all you ever do is play on your computer. That’s unfair. How come Daddy has to go to work?” ** Mommy rolls her eyes**

When I take apart the pieces of my life, writing is a very solitary act. It’s something I cannot do when my children are running under foot, or when family is milling about waiting for Mom to take care of one urgent thing or another. It has to be just me, my keyboard, and some rockin’ tunes on the radio (doesn’t matter what station – if it has a beat, it works for me).

I finally have a system that works for me. I write from September through June, during the hours when my children are in school. I leave my desk only under duress, and love every second of my writing time. I do admit to jumping up to change a load of laundry over from the washer to the dryer, but then it gets dumped on the bed until later in the evening—I no longer give up writing time to fold clothes or sweep floors. Those things, it turns out, can wait. Summer months are meant for family, and I take full advantage.

There’s one last piece that I’ll expose, and perhaps expand on in a future post if Cheryl would like to have me back. Writing, I’ve found out, is the easy part. I never believed this before writing my first book, but it’s true. Once the book is written, then it’s off to find a publisher, then the world has to know about your book, so there are months of marketing ahead of you, and let’s not forget the all important social media (a discussion we’ll save for a future post).

I would not trade my writer’s life for anything, even if it means that when all my time is accounted for, I probably make negative $1.00 per hour. Writing, family, and helping women are my passions. As long as they’re all in my life, I feel like a millionaire.

Now that you have a true picture of a woman with a spring on her butt, jumping up every ten minutes to face the evil food demons in the kitchen or the chore demons that are tugging at her leg, you see that the writer’s life is one of controlled chaos. It’s a complicated juggling act that’s quite beautiful, at least through the rose colored glasses that I wear.

Thanks for listening to me ramble, and I hope you enjoy my books, because I enjoy nothing more than writing them for you and discussing them with you. Drop me an email and let me know your thoughts on writing, reading, and life. Thinkhappygirl (at) yahoo (dot) com

You can visit Melissa at the following sites:
Her website, Facebook, Twitter, FB fanpage
Chat with her The Women's Nest
Sign up for her monthly newsletters here

Original article written as gues post for C Mash Loves To Read