Don't Forget the Writing Part

I've been busy with doing some things for the writing groups. Sending out some membership renewal reminders, writing up board and meeting minutes and preparing for the next meetings. Lots of little things that take up bits of time but can add up to a bigger chunk that should be reserved for some writing of my own. This week, no excuses. I'm writing!

If you're one of the IWSG people who prepare their posts well ahead of time, don't forget you can use the monthly question for inspiration for your post. For September;
How do you find time to write in your busy day?

"A questioning man is halfway to being wise."  Irish proverb

Many schools and colleges are back in session by now. And I'm so glad I don't have to follow the academic calendar or the bells anymore. I'm also so happy to be able to visit the library, the bookstore and basically any kind of shopping while all the kids are in school. The joy!
"Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough."
Earl Wilson

Went for a haircut a few days ago. It seemed to grow really fast or maybe time is just flying by. I always thought my hair grew slowly but I've been more conscious of my diet in recent years so maybe it is growing faster. Time for a fun fact about that.
The average person grows about 138 feet of hair per day.
I guess those guys who have to shave for work every day believe that one.

Next Wednesday, get ready to learn the detail of the next IWSG anthology contest. It's very exciting and I'm expecting some great entrees with all the creative talent in our growing group.

One of the members or Pennwriters is hosting an anthology in the Christian genre. I haven't vetted this but I know there aren't tons of paying opportunities for writers in this area. Check out Gina Napoli's page and see if you're interested. She's paying a flat fee for articles.

Back into the writing cave for me between bouts of swimming in the last hot days of August. Not doing anything else except a visit to the library and lunch with friends, a few walks...

Does your hair grow fast? Thinking about any anthologies in the near future? Does the start of school influence your life in any way?

That Time a Little Early

My last child is heading off to college in a few weeks and we've been shopping. I'm not a person who love shopping, but I have always had fun going to Office Max and Staples for school supplies. Target and Walmart have also collected some money for us as we picked up stacks of notebooks, folders, pens and pencils. And being a teacher myself, I always search out the perfect kind of pencils and pens I want.

I always use a clipboard at school and last year I bought a really nice one. Every year I've had to buy a new one. I am a PE teacher and that poor clipboard is always getting tossed aside when I join into a game. It gets stepped on, kicked and sometimes wet in the morning due outside. But the great one I used last year is still in great shape. And this is my last year of teaching. So I'll probably never buy another clipboard.

My daughter only wanted a few things. Highlighters, some nice pens, one pack of pencils and a few folders. We're done with shopping for backpacks and all those other things they want to organize themselves for the first week of school. She already has three little thumb drives and her new laptop we bought her as a graduation present. What more does a student need?

We walked up and down the aisles in Office Max, admiring the markers, the pencil sharpeners, a really cool stapler and planners of every style and size. We didn't need any of them. The only thing I really needed was a pack of pencils. My pens from last year will due me for another year. How much writing do I actually do by hand? At school? At my writing desk at home? Not much. So I still have a stack of 'post-it' notes from before. A cupful of pens. No need to buy any.

I love shopping in the office stores yet I really have no reason too. I'm thrilled my kids are done with high school. I'm excited for my daughter to experience college. But I'm sure going to miss that back to school shopping for supplies.

We're going to Walmart tomorrow for shampoo and other sundries for my daughter. I think I better pick up some paper clips for me.

Do you enjoy the office stores? Do you do much writing with pen or pencil? Are you going to take advantage of those back-to-school sales going on through the next month?

August Chaos and Whining

Every year of my adult life the middle of August is filled with days of chaos. My past included a few years of coaching and the preseason starts two weeks before Labor Day. Preseason practices entail multiple workout sessions each day, usually morning and evening, and when my sons played football that sometimes meant ‘three-a-days.’


These days I’m no longer involved in coaching and I only have one child playing a sport this year but there’s still enough chaos and disruption to go around. For the past seven years August has also meant the packing up and sending off of a child to college. For those of you who haven’t gone through that yet, don’t worry about crying when they leave. You cry trying to get everything together they need to live on their own. Teenagers obviously think shampoo just appears in the shower when you need it let alone something as mundane as toilet paper. They also have to learn, this means you have to do it, things take up less room when packed neatly. All this involves numerous trips to the store to get all the things they don’t think they’ll need but you know they will. It also includes buying a lot of things you hope they’ll use but they probably won’t. Things like Lysol kitchen and bathroom wipes, shower cleaners and fabric softeners.

Beyond the trips running the one athlete I have still competing are the three inservice days I must attend before actual school starts. And hanging over all the busy, not entirely unpleasant hustle, is the dread of another year of school.

School means the end of sleeping in an extra hour, staying up as late as I wish when the writing bug keeps me at the keyboard and the impossibility of a cup of coffee whenever I want it. It means my writing hours have been cut into a fraction of what they were during the summer months. It means fewer website and blog updates.  Every year I dread August more than the one before. Every year I wish I could leave teaching behind and work full time on my writing. But this year is not the year.

For at least two or three more years, I must hold onto the day job and write into the late night and in moments snatched from my family time. I must whip out pieces of scenes between loads of laundry and preparing meals. How I envy those who can not only write full time but have the kids all in school while they’re doing it. I know from how much I write during the last six weeks how much I can accomplish when I don’t have to work another job eight hours a day. The prohibitive cost of tuition and the state of the economy disallows any thought of early retirement or trying to live on my husband’s income alone until I make enough writing to replace my teaching salary. I love teaching and enjoy spending all those hours with teenagers though there are many other parts of the profession I despise. But I want to stay home and write or better yet, go to my favorite coffee shop and write.

Sorry for all the whining today but what about you? Would you give up your day job to write full time if you could? Would you be brave enough to dare it if you weren’t making money yet? Do you know many authors who actually support their family with their writing income?