WOW! Women On Writing Blog: working writers

Thursday, September 06, 2018

Tonight my son had a baseball game. He just made the majors, so I don’t know the other moms on the team. While I sat by myself (they were cliquey) I heard three of them (who had already established themselves as stay-at-home-moms) complaining about how they only had forty minutes to get their children fed and dressed before getting them out the door in time for practice. One was annoyed she had to cut her yoga session short.

Let me tell you how my day went. I left the house at 7:30 to get my daughter to an early club, so was at work by 8:00. At 4:15, which is the earliest I can leave work, I dashed over to get my son from school. He’d been waiting around for forty-five minutes because middle school ends before high school but there was no way I could get home and get him to the game on time. He jumped in the car, buckled up, and wiggled out of his school clothes and into his baseball uniform. We made it to warm-up five minutes late. I raced back to Chick-fil-a to get dinner. He ate in-between innings.

But this post isn’t about baseball. What I’m really leading up to is a toast to the mothers who work full-time and still make writing part of their life.

Here’s to you, working mother. I see you stumbling around in the morning, corralling your children, barely squeaking out the door on time, often with coffee or spit-up on your shirt.

I see you jotting down book ideas in-between work meetings and writing during your lunch break to capture that one idea you had during a boring conference.

I applaud your massive to-do lists, where writing is at the bottom – or maybe even the top – but it only gets crossed-off sometimes.

I sympathize with the big sigh you emit when you get home and see the mess your children have left; still, you muster up the strength to not only cook dinner, but to clean it up afterwards.

I’m so grateful that you still find some time to spend with your children – to read to them, help them with homework, and listen to them talk about their day.

And I admire that, when your children are in bed, or watching television, you boot up that laptop, hunker down, and find even a little time to write.

Working full-time isn’t easy. Neither is being a mom. And it certainly isn’t easy being a writer.

So here’s to you, my full-time working moms. I raise my glass and wish you the best life has to offer. And I urge you not to give up writing. The book world needs people like you.

Bethany Masone Harar is an author, teacher, and blogger, who does her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious, book-reading nerds. Check out her blog here and her website here.

2 comments author, Bethany Masone Harar, stay-at-home mom, tired mom, working moms, working writers, writer

Breaking the Silence

Thursday, February 09, 2017

I recently learned something about myself: when my house is filled with moving boxes, I ignore my desire to write and give in to a deeper, more animalistic urge to nest. As a result, my laptop sat, unattended, for more than ten days.

My fervent unpacking didn’t stop writing ideas from popping into my head, however, and I realized I needed some way to satisfy both cravings at the same time. I tried jotting down random thoughts on sticky notes. I tried writing down ideas in my journal. But each time, the boxes won out, and many of my great ideas were packed away (pardon my pun).

Then, I came up with a solution: I could record my thoughts and ideas while I unpacked. At first the notion seemed strange – almost anti-writing. The more I thought about it, however, the more it seemed like a good idea. We listen to books on tape, which is considered reading. So why not dictate a chapter out-loud and call it writing?

When it comes to dictation, past memories cast a dark cloud on the method. I recall my first job as a paralegal, dutifully transcribing the letters and memos of my micro-managing boss, developing a true distaste of the dictating practice.

But the more I dictate to myself as a writer, the more I like it.

I recorded an entire chapter into my phone as I unpacked a few days ago. The chapter wasn’t perfect. Not even close. But it was more than I had accomplished in the previous ten days and, with a little revision, it has potential.

Dictation helped me break the writing silence. It was an effective, temporary solution when I had no choice but to multi-task. If you find yourself in situations where you can’t be in front of a computer, give it a try. Dictation could be especially helpful for those of us who work and have long commutes. Instead of cursing the car in front of you, make the commute valuable “writing” time. Soothing a baby to sleep? Dictate a story as you jostle and sway.

Just because we’re writers doesn’t mean we don’t have other jobs and responsibilities. If we want to make writing a priority, we have to work at it, stick with it, and move (😊) forward.

Have any other writing solutions when you’re stuck performing mindless tasks? I’d love to hear them!

Bethany Masone Harar is an author, teacher, and blogger, who does her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious book-reading nerds. Check out her blog here.