Writing as a Mom

Mom life is hard. Writer mom life is HARD. But I have to give it to my little guy. I overslept by my writing time this morning and he was awake and happy to see me. I cood to him and sleepily asked him to give me about an hour and bless him, he smiled his sweet little at me and closed his beautiful blue eyes. He is five. months. old.

I don’t know how I got so lucky with this little one, but I’m so grateful for the nature of my child. He’s the most chill little guy. But I won’t spend this whole post talking about my baby. More so, my plan and execution of my writing career from finding out I was pregnant up until now.

The minute that second pink line showed up I began to think of how this would affect my writing. 99 Days was still with the developmental editor, and had so much work left to be done. And by week 10 I felt AWFUL. I could barely move from my work desk to the couch. But somehow I persevered and was able to incorporate the edits. Then as I was beginning the proofing stage I had to have emergency surgery! That was the least fun I’ve had in a long time! However, I did get 10 days off work to sit in the recliner and I was able to complete all the proofing of the book. I could barely move, so what else was I going to do? All that happened and I released my book only ONE week late. That was a miracle.

Well, I took a break after the release because the third trimester is a beast, for sure. I thought I would take four weeks off after my little man was born, but that turned into three months. I wanted to write. I craved writing. But I couldn’t think of anything! My brain would not focus on anything creative at all for more than a minute.

I thought things would get better once I went back to work, due to the structure, but even then, nope. And I had the time in the mornings after his ridiculously early morning feeding. I was up, the baby was back to sleep, it was the time I normally wrote before him, and all I could do was stare at a blank computer screen. At best I scribbled down a few ideas for a parenting book because I had a kid now, that made me an expert, right? Even that went nowhere (yet!).

But then, one day something… I won’t say it clicked, because that’s not right. But I guess one of my ideas had a little more strength than the others. I was able to formulate a beginning and an end, and it didn’t feel as forced as my previous attempts. I was able to come up with characters and it seemed to fit. They became real people to me. Now it's sitting with my editor and I’m so excited. It feels so great to be writing again.

Is it challenging? Absolutely. I knew it was going to be completely different once the baby came, but it’s true when people tell you that you can’t really prepare for how much a baby changes your life. However, at least in my case, he’s motivating me to get more work done, faster. To build my business, and put a lot more effort into that side of my writing career. Which makes perfect sense because this will (hopefully!) be what puts him through college. And I’m rooting for Vanderbilt!

So, as someone who is very bad at social media, and basically had no online presence before I started writing 99 Days, what’s the best move I can make? I have no idea! At least not at the moment. I’m researching. And I’ll be seeking out the help of others who are far more knowledgeable than I am. Fortunately I know a friend or two that are willing to help. I’m going to learn about more platforms than just Instagram, which I have essentially been ignoring since not long after 99 Days was released. I’m going to try my best to create some content. Some valuable, or at least entertaining, content. And I am going to plan better so that I have time to do that.

What I won’t be doing is skipping time with my son to do any of this. I can survive off less sleep now that my body has healed from his birth, and his development is my top priority. So, while he’s napping I’ll be quippy online. Just like I try to get my writing in before he wakes up in the morning.

I was honestly so scared that having a baby was going to kill my writing career before it really got started, but it turns out that he is the motivation I need to thrive as a writer. And, even if I never make another dime off of my books, I know he’s going to be proud that his mommy wrote them. That thought has gotten me through the hardest mornings of the last few weeks. And I totally owe it to my husband for pointing it out to me.

I have to go now, I got 49 minutes, but in his defense, he can’t tell time yet.