Nineteen Years of Interruptions and A Lesson Learned
Where has the time gone? I remember his birth so clearly, mainly because he came 4 1/2 weeks early, and I decided to bring him into this world without an epidural. (Didn’t make that mistake again.)
Two Saturdays ago I dropped him off at college with no tears. He’s only three miles away and has already been home three times for dinner and to do laundry…(um correction, four times. He just walked in the room to pick up more stuff from home.)
But it was an exciting time seeing him walk the campus I walked when I was his age. When I was young and hopeful and full of dreams. I didn’t even know I’d write novels back then. I took the journalism track, then television production and thought I’d probably be a reporter somewhere. But I didn’t. I got married at 23 and that’s when I was hit with a novel idea. I remember the fire I had writing the story. There were no rules, just passion. And I wrote. And wrote. And wrote.
Then my son was born and I stopped writing. I was twenty five. I didn’t have a critique group or writer friends. I didn’t know there was an organization like ACFW. I didn’t know it was possible to write while I raised kids. I became a writer…interrupted before I even coined the phrase.
It was about ten years and four kids later before I felt I could pick up my novel and finish it. Looking back on it now, it would have been easier to write during those ten years, but I didn’t know I could. I thought I had to choose to be a good mom, only a mom, or maybe I was just too tired and didn’t have the motivation. I really can’t remember.
When I picked up that novel again, I felt guilt as I struggled to write with four kids, never quite getting the hang of balancing the life of a mom and writer. When I wrote I felt I was neglecting my kids. I’m not sure I’ve figured it out now that my son is 19 and in college. The big difference for me today… I’ve stopped worrying about it.
I’ve stopped worrying about being a good mom or a good writer. I just do what I can, and I leave the guilt behind (most days!)
Yes, my son is 19 today and is having a blast in college (he just told me!) He’s full of hopes and dreams, and he has the rest of his life ahead of him. But you know what, so do I.
Yes, I’m a writer…interrupted, and a mother, and a dancer, and a wife, and a woman with more dreams than I can number. Many of those dreams haven’t come true yet, but instead of worrying about it all, I’ll just do what I can and enjoy what’s in front of me.
That, I believe, is the secret to being a content writer…interrupted!
How about you? What’s your secret to being content?
