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Showing posts from March, 2013

Mothering and Writing and Teaching

This is not going to be a whiny post. We don't need any more of those in the world. I have already contributed my fair share of them. This is going to be a an honest post about a major issue in my life. I've already spoken to so many of you about it, so why not just type it up already? Teaching and mothering and writing are sometimes beautifully interwoven and connected. The ideas and dreams of one endeavor inspire progress and creativity in another. It would be unfair to say that I never notice this symbiosis. I'm truly grateful for it. But then... each passion can also drain and deplete another. Each commitment can be a great and endless source of guilt. At least for me. So how do I make sense of giving myself to all three passions? How do I find balance? I don't. I try not to over-analyze. (But I do anyway.) I spend my time where I can, when I can. And do the best job I'm able. But every now and then I feel that shiver of fear that I'm "doing

Spring Plans

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Today is one of those glorious days that inspires the moving of furniture, the skipping of feet, and the dreaming of big, bold, sun-soaked dreams.  I spent the morning frolicking with my son in the new Spring and rearranging a little used and often abused corner of our kitchen. And now, the children are napping, and I am seated in a coffee shop window, sipping chai and preparing to dive back into my new novel. I should be grading and planning and doing all sorts of teacherly work, and I do have some guilt about that, but mostly I am just feeling grateful for this weather and my fortune. There is still no major news on the publishing or agent front, but I remain hopeful about a couple exciting leads. Fingers crossed. In other news, I recently signed up for the SCBWI WWA conference in April, met with a kind and kindred spirit (thank you Kelly!) who shared her writing-world knowledge with me, and batted around the idea of starting a new critique group with my longtime writing