We are sixteen days out from the Realm Makers 2021 conference in Missouri. I’ve spent six months getting ready for this! I don’t know how I feel…some high-octane mix of nerves, fatigue, and euphoria.
Having printed and bound my actual manuscript proposal yesterday, today I spent my afternoon on household projects. I like to take a break from writing when I hit major milestones. This lets me get ahead in home organization (a never ending battle with toddlers in the house) or start prepping homeschool pre-k activities.
Today’s project? Organize the filing cabinet. The bane of my organized existence was the awful drawer of manuals. Lacking an organization scheme, we dumped them into one drawer with no rhyme or reason. No more, I say!
Before
After
I also reorganized toys in our living room. I picked up this awesome organizer at a garage sale. I was able to condense a few large toy boxes into this smaller organization scheme.
I love any excuse to bring out my label maker…and I may have been coaching Justine on the concept too.
Any parent can tell you one of the stressful things about living with toddlers is keeping track of all the “special” toys.
We have balls, but then we have special yellow and orange squishy soccer balls from Grandma Pigford.
We love all sorts of small cars, but we absolutely must know where Pink Car and Blue Car are located at all times.
Now I have a bin labeled “SPECIAL SOCCER BALLS.” I hope this will save me from ever again (who I am kidding, maybe less often?) frantically searching the house for a small yellow soccer ball any time I need to go buy milk.
I guess no matter what happens at conference, at least now I have an organized filing cabinet and living room!
I did the math yesterday. Between early AM sessions, nap times, and a few evenings a week, I spend an average of 25 hours/week on writing. That amounts to a respectable part-time job–around the full-time twin mom thing! The number will change as my parenting seasons shift, but it’s enough to see the cold hard math validate how much I strive to give my best to this.
It’s definitely a juggling act to bring my A+ mom game and move my writing career forward. Some days, you gotta take the hit and just take a nap! But I am crazy passionate about both my jobs, so it’s worth all the fatigue, energy, and sacrifice. I’m so thankful to God for trusting me not only with the amazing job of raising two precious little Chaos Monsters, but also helping impact other kids (and adults!) through fiction.
And as always, THANK YOU to the people who come alongside me to help make it all happen. (Looking at you, Handsome.)
Sixteen days and counting.