It's late and I should be sleeping.
We're midway through Spring Break in Colorado and I'm discovering what it means to work at home with five kids underfoot. This is the first time my writing career has been challenged in just this way and I'm wondering whether I'm staying afloat or merely treading water.
I live by my whiteboard these days. I list off all the things I have to do. This includes everything from answering queries, to checking in with both my bosses, the copyedits and market research and all the other minutiae of a life well absorbed by the publishing industry.
At the same time...I have to remember to find that balance. It's vacation for the kids after all. And if I let it, I'll be at my computer working (yes I'll admit it) like I did today for 12- 14 hours.
The other day I spent three hours in the park with the kids. Does that make a vacation? Well, not really. So when the copyedits are turned in at some point in time tomorrow (or today as the case may be) it'll be time to lay aside the projects in favor for something that I would mark in black on my board, the color I use for "Do This NOW." Maybe we'll bake cookies. Or take a walk. Or some other thing that involves making a memory or two so when the kids are older the first thing that comes to mind about dear old mom isn't, "Well, she worked a lot."
And you know something? As much as time can be of the essence in the publishing industry...I suspect that the business of writing won't go anywhere until the cookies get out of the oven.
How do you balance work and family?
