After Page One: Growth

Click, click, clack. My fingertips tap the laptop keyboard and only pause when my mind is wrapped in thought. The digital clock in the right corner of the screen is speeding onward, and my eyes sporadically glance down at the video monitor.

“Did he just move?”

My eight-month-old son is wiggling like a worm. A cry shatters the silence. I run upstairs to the nursery, snatch him out of the crib, plop down in the rocking chair, pull up my shirt, and undo the snap on my nursing bra. A few minutes, then he’ll go back to sleep in his crib, and I’ll sneak back downstairs.

Then the door hinges squeak, and a little blonde head pops through the crack of the door.

“Mama, I can’t sleep.”

This is my writing reality. I check out fairy tales books at the library, but my writing world is no fairy tale. A few stolen moments. Some quiet, some not. A half-written blog post put on hold by a nursing baby, a demanding toddler or just to transfer a load from the washer to the dryer. Spurts of inspiration scrawled on a notepad throughout the day, while throwing my son on the potty at his every little squirm. My brain getting exercise amidst nursery rhymes, ABC’s, and peanut butter and jelly. My thoughts and words soar above the mundane, but the mundane is the string that pulls my kite back to the ground.

I’m learning to fit writing in the nooks and crannies of busy motherhood. I know every season of my life will look different. Sometimes I’ll be able to write more and sometimes less. Sometimes I’ll have to sacrifice the pen to write unseen things in my children’s lives. It can feel like a tug of war.

Before motherhood my writing lacked clarity. I didn’t know what topics I wanted to write about and I didn’t know my audience. I wanted writing to come easy, have magazine editors clamoring for me, and pick the money off my fake tree. I went to college to learn more about writing, but it seemed I was subconsciously avoiding the writer’s life.

Motherhood matured me as a writer. It made me face writing head on. I realized I couldn’t pursue everything if I wanted mothering to be my priority. I had to be strategic. I had to have focus and purpose. I feel like I finally have that now. I’m figuring out what kind of writing I’m best at, and I’m finding my voice. I know writing can’t always bring home the bacon, and I’m ok with that. I write for me now. I write to become a better writer as I take pleasure in developing my craft. Motherhood provides inspiration for me as well. It’s my getaway from the daily grind, as I write about the daily grind.

I’m learning to embrace my beautiful interruptions as additions to my writer’s life.

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Join our After Page One series. We’re looking for 300 to 500-word guest posts that motivate, inspire, and encourage other mama-writers, and we’d love to feature YOUR thoughts about getting started, getting back to a writing project, integrating writing with motherhood, reading, or having a positive attitude. The list is endless, but here are some questions that might help you get started. We’ll publish a short bio so readers can learn more about you and your projects.