April Newsletter

Keeping the Balance

Happy Spring! I’m so happy to see green grass and little buds on the trees. This week it was extremely warm and I got to work on my patio which is my favorite indulgence.

This month I wanted to talk about balance. I shared part of this story on my socials last week but there was more to the story. I was at the dentist earlier this week and my hygienist was new, so naturally we’re making small talk and they asked what I did for a living. I answered automatically with my 9-5 job, the office job I’ve held for 16 years. But later in the appointment we were talking about summer plans and I mentioned going to visit an indie bookstore. They asked why I’d be going out of state just for a bookstore and I said, “Well my book is there - I’m an independent author.”

Their face morphed from indifference to delight almost immediately. Suddenly our conversation became animated and at one point we stopped looking at my teeth altogether and started talking about TJ Klune and how much loved his books. But then something funny happened, my hygienist looked at me and said, “Wait, you work full time and you’re an author. How do you do that?”

And reader, I was stumped. How do I do that?

Balance.

I’m fortunate enough to have a partner who encourages my interests. My children are older so they’re (mostly) self-sufficient. And my “real job” isn’t so demanding that I only work my scheduled hours (no OT, no weekends, etc.). But that’s not saying any of it is easy. There are plenty of times I put down my laptop, on a scheduled writing night - because yes I have to schedule them - and play an impromptu round of Mario Kart, or take the dog for a walk, or run to to grocery store because we forgot something. But what I’ve learned in the last year is that putting it down doesn’t mean putting it away.

What I mean by that is I wasn’t always comfortable with balance. If stopped, I’d lose my train of thought or sometimes the story altogether. I’d become frustrated that I couldn’t work the way I wanted, when I wanted and I started to hate sitting down to write. I’d love to tell you some miraculous change happened, or my husband happily handed my my keys and told me to go write at a coffee shop for two hours. But that didn’t happen, I just… kind of got over it. I realized I’m never to going have 100% perfect writing conditions. Someone is always going to want to show me a YouTube video, or the dryer will be done, or my sister will call… and that is okay. It’s okay to walk away, and I can always come back. The story will always be there.

And that dear reader is the balance I needed to achieve.