My son has been job-hunting, and watching him go through the process has reminded me of when I was hunting for work myself. Working on long fiction without a publishing contract and trying to college-educate children are not monetarily compatible. Although my wonderful husband has been supporting us all along, I needed to have some quick and steady income to supplement the family budget. I looked at part-time work, because I didn’t want to diffuse my focus. I considered getting some writing assignments, say resumes or small business copy. That would work, too. However, successful marketing for those kinds of assignments would be a full-time job in itself, so I stuck to looking for more mundane types of work. [Actually, I wound up with a position that used my writing and web skills on a regular basis, and in encouraging, supportive surroundings to boot.]

Job-hunting is always a bit tough on the conscience and self-esteem, though. I was plagued by questions. Was I better than that job? Did I have a responsibility to do more than that, earn more than that? Was I supposed to contribute to bettering the world in some faster, more concrete, notable way?

I’m not famous. I’m still working hard at the whole writing gig. I’m still a wife, a mother. We don’t have much money, and most of my contributions to the world consist of giving advice, raising responsible children, and promoting creativity. I do try to contribute in positive ways wherever I can. But, since I have a brain and some talent and a degree in Sociology, should I be doing more?

That’s when I remind myself why I write.

My goal needs to be publishing my work. That is my forum, my way to contribute. That is my job. I can’t give it up, and I shouldn’t.

Sure it takes time. Sure it means doing that and holding a part-time job for ready cash.

Writing is rewarding in the same way social work and rearing children are. Each takes time, and the pay-off, the glory may be late in coming or, truthfully, may never come at all. It has to be done for the satisfaction it brings. It has to be done for the fulfillment of our responsibility to try to take our understanding of the world and share it with others.

If we are writers, it is our duty to write. That is how we leave our thumbprint on the world, how we contribute. Pursuing accomplishment in this field IS doing our job. And if success takes time, it takes nothing away from the nobility of the effort.

A word to those writers who have crises of confidence, especially when you have only published a little or not at all. Treat yourself like the professional you want to be, and act that way as well. Nothing commands respect more than giving it yourself.

One such paper — from nearly 12 years ago — was a response I’d planned to write to an article that appeared in The Writer. The author of the article had written about the guilt she felt spending time away from her family writing, and the converse guilt she felt spending time away from her writing with her family. She was in a quandary, afraid she’d lose respect, that she wouldn’t be regarded as a REAL writer unless she put in a set number of hours or words a day when there was no realistic way she could do it.

My response, not terrifically written, nevertheless reminded me that I’d been a busy young mother of 5 at the time (I had 6 ultimately), also beseiged by potential guilt over how I spent my time. Then, as now, I had to divide my time amongst the several top priorities I’d heaped on my plate. And, although it wasn’t great prose, my response holds as true now as it did then. I spend my time where it is needed most, and I spend it as passionately as I can doing whatever I need do: fetching and carrying teenagers, cooking, gardening with my husband, singing with my twin daughters in choir, dancing, writing. As with any long project, great or not-so-great, every little bit adds up to a lot.

Over the years I’ve written an ebook, a mystery, a church history, a communications guide, several magazine articles; created web sites, coached writing and newspaper at our schools — bit by bit. I’ve also helped my husband raise our 6 kids.

Son number 1 (child number 3) is the one graduating high school. 3 more are to follow. And I’m working on 5 more projects and still coaching writing and newspaper.

Bit by bit, word by word, task by task, everything piles up to create the mound that will be my life’s work. I can have it all, just not all at once. Everything in it’s own turn. It takes patience, and it takes passion, and, in the favorite word of my children’s mentor, it takes perseverance.

Perhaps, by the time child number 6 graduates, I’ll have all my projects caught up as well….. or not.

******************
Today: Well, the answer is, not. I am just as busy now, even though we live in a new state, someone has married, someone’s engaged, 3 are through college, 2 are in college, and the youngest is looking for one. He’s the graduating  senior now. I’ve written way more, but I still have half a dozen projects on my plate. I’ve revised my old work, written 3 more books in various stages of marketing or revision, and I’m about to start a new novel. Since discovering NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month where you produce 50,000 words in 30 days, I manage to produce  a new manuscript every year, in addition to refining existing work.

I’m also doing web sites, a monthly newsletter at my part-time job, and I have this blog and 3 others in various stages of maintenance. I still work on renovating our (new) house and even if there’s fewer people living at home, there’s still enough activities to keep me traveling.

We never really finish, do we? Just like the wanderer who wants to see what is over the next hill, we always want to see what happens in our next story, our next play. It’s what makes us write. So, maybe when I revisit this subject yet again, I’ll be caught up in a temporary way……..Nah!

Whether you completely agree with the choices (best or not-so-best) reading these opening lines will stimulate and encourage you to come up with your own scintillating openers.  Enjoy!

Here:

a) novel to market

b) mystery to finish

c) mystery to prepare for Smashwords

d) novel to revise

e) Christmas novella to revise and prepare for Smashwords, maybe

f) 4 blogs to update.

I think I’m getting sea-sick trying to stay afloat.

Like any other overwhelming situation, the key here will  be to organize, hence the to-do list in the first place.
The cool thing about this sort of multi-tasking is that I have something to work on for every mood I’m in. If my attention span is feeling short, I can hunt for agents on-line. If I’m feeling dark but creative, then writing on my mystery is perfect. And if I find myself humming Christmas carols and it’s July (I love Christmas!), then clearly working on my novella is the way to go.

Of course, shifting around like this often means it takes longer to finish any one thing.  If I could only think of a way to write two-headed!

I’m going to make this blog much better than before, with more frequent and pertinent posts. I am a writer, but I’m also a Parish Administrator (that’s the Rector’s term for what I do), and a mother of six. While those six are nearly grown up — actually grown up most would say, I find that being a parent is never-ending. I remodel houses, garden, cook, read, design, sing, and even find time to spend with my husband and family. And, I write. To see how I juggle all these — and to what effect — stop in here. Read my older posts (pre-July 20, 2010) and follow my new ones.

I think it’s going to be fun!

‘ta

As she segues into a new segment of the year, she is moving on to the NEXT humongous writing projects that will, we hope, be more merciful, and away from the nefarious deeds and influences of so-called necessary paperwork designed to keep her from her true callings, family and free-form figment-making and pixilated participle production.

Stay tuned as our heroine resolves to live up to these laudatory goals and marches onward into the parallel universe to assail us with the inflexible if dubious challenge, Can you survive until April without buying Easter candy in the drugstore and eating it in secret?

Film at eleven.