With schools closing on 30th June, and the 8 week summer holidays looming here in Northern Ireland, it’s time for me to think about what I do every year: how to balance being an author with being a mummy.
Admittedly it’s easier now that I have a school age child, and not a toddler or preschooler. But it’s still a juggling act between managing my writing goals with balancing a fair amount of family fun activities to entertain an energetic youngster.
Write in the mornings
I can snatch moments of writing while my youngster eats breakfast, since I fast until lunch time. Intermittent fasting plus low carb/keto helps me to burn fat and get a few paragraphs written. Win-win.
Manage expectations
This one is harder for me to manage as I’m a perpetual planner. Over the summer I’m going to try to lower my expectations of getting some writing done everyday. There may be longer stretches of no work on my current novel drafts (I’m working on two at the moment – WIPs #7 and #8.
Set more publishing or marketing goals instead of writing
Okay, so in an ideal world, I would be maximising my writing time while I’m off work for two months. But other promotional activities are more manageable and easier to juggle alongside full time childcare than cranking out new work: my third full poetry collection is scheduled for release in July and is currently available for pre-order. I’m also planning to buy more ISBNs for my next novel due for publication, hopefully later this year.
View reading time as market research for writing
Doing the Libraries NI summer reading challenge is a fun activity that my little literary one enjoys doing. While we’re browsing for suitable kids books, I can always grab a book or two for myself. Reading is time well spent, especially within the genres I write.
Leilanie Stewart 