It's been almost nine months since I became a mom, which means it's been nine months since I've done any real writing, let alone, work on my former blog: Fiction Foodie. That's right! I gave up working and became a stay-at-home mom.
It was an easy decision to stay home for our baby boy— no one WANTS to leave their child with someone else all day. It was, however, difficult knowing that after years of working and honing my writing skills, I would likely stop getting any practice. And thus become the worst writer ever. Dramatic? Perhaps.
I just completed a year and a half of going back to school earning a professional writing certificate and was worried that it might go to waste. Knowing this, my supportive husband gave me a book several months ago for Mother's Day about how to get published while being a stay-home mom. The gesture was very sweet, but there was a problem with the book. It was all about becoming a freelance writer and making money and I wasn't finding it to be very helpful. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at every page. It rattled on and on about how to write when baby sleeps (yeah, good luck!) and you have to make time to do the thing you love. "You can do it— yay!" Use your established connections (But what if I don't have any?). Like I said— eye roll. At the book, not my husband.
Sure, that's great, but in reality I want to be an attentive stay-home mom. My focus is my child and not making money, which was the whole point of staying home. I don't want the stress of working and managing a kid if I don't have to! But writers need to write. When our son was first born, finding any "me" time was quite difficult. I gave up on any thought of writing while I am at home. It was just too much work when there were basic household chores to do and even getting those accomplished was a battle. Then life slowly got a little easier as our son grew from newborn to infant. No more round the clock feedings and constant sleep interruptions (sort of). I found things get easier to accomplish as you get into the "groove" of being a parent and on occasion, I find myself twiddling my thumbs about what to do while baby sleeps for a short while— might I add, a very short while. Shortest... napper... ever. Gotta fit in some "me" time quick, but what should I do? Catch up on the old DVR? Put the laundry away? Take a nap?
Then I remembered my long forgotten blog. Self publication— hazaa! I can write without the stress of someone else pushing deadlines as long as the cleanliness of the house and sleep can be put on hold for one or two naps a week. I started to tinker back in October, unsure of exactly how I wanted to approach this. I even posted a first version of this entry back then and quickly decided I didn't like it so I didn't bother to announce it's publication. I thought I would fix it, then share. Then I found myself distracted with other things and next thing you know it's December. Failure to announce is failure to keep working. So here we are! I'm biting the bullet and sharing this thing. Thanks to my husband who will not allow me any more excuses to not write. He knows what he's done!
My hope for this blog is to share my stay-at-home mom perspective through observations and stories that I hope will keep my brain fresh and make you laugh. I can't promise that it won't have the occasional child update and doting remarks, but my plan is to stick to the topic that springs out of any given situation with my son and spare him as much embarrassment as I can. Remember, I didn't promise.
Stay tuned for The Adventures of Home Mommyhood!
No comments:
Post a Comment