Giveaway! Enter for a Chance to Win $200 and FREE BOOKS

Posted on April 13, 2020 ·

Image courtesy of Women on Writing

In an effort to encourage people to stay home and read, one of my favorite ezines has launched an awesome giveaway!

WOW! Women on Writing’s Ultimate #StayHomeandRead Book Giveaway begins today and runs through May 3. Three lucky winners will receive 21 books, including a signed copy of The Fourth Wall—enough reading material to last you the whole summer.

In addition, one grand prize winner will also receive a query or first five pages critique from yours truly, free entry with critique into a Women on Writing quarterly writing contest, and a $200 gift card you can use to buy MORE BOOKS anything you want.

I’m so happy to contribute to something positive that benefits readers and writers and spreads a little joy. The WOW community excels at that, and we need all we can get right now.

Read more about the giveaway here, or enter below (it’s FREE!), and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Small Acts of Kindness

Posted on March 21, 2020 ·

Photo by Alaric Duan on Unsplash

Yesterday I braved a trip to the grocery store for some basic provisions—hamburger meat, hand soap, pasta, peanut butter, bananas. Of these, only the hamburger meat was available.

“Can you believe this?” a woman asked me in the dairy aisle. She was holding a paper grocery list and looking a bit shell-shocked.

“They bought out all the peanut butter,” I said resentfully. “That’s a staple for me.”

“Oh no! I’m sorry to hear it,” she said.

I smiled. “At least there’s milk.” Earlier in the week, there hadn’t been. Not milk, not eggs, not bread.

It had taken three trips over a two-day period to find toilet paper, ending with me in line at Target with about seventy people, several who’d been there an hour before opening. One of them, a young mother, needed baby wipes.

I thought of her as I passed by the baby aisle in the grocery store, where the shelves were bare.

At the checkout I grabbed candy bars for my kids, who have been spending their extended vacation working on creative projects. My son’s built an impressive version of the Queen Mary in Minecraft, my daughter’s printed her novel-in-progress and begun editing it, along with crocheting miniature shirts for her make-believe characters.

So far, I’ve ignored the steady stream of emails from well-meaning teachers offering enrichment activities for at-home learning. Maybe next week. Not this week.

We’re lucky. I know that. My husband and I both work in the medical industry; we won’t be hurting for hours. I have a second job with the school district, and my time off so far has been paid. The largest source of stress for us has been panic buyers causing shortages at the grocery stores, and as I thought again of the young mother in need of baby wipes, I felt discouraged at the selfishness of others.

After inching my cart forward, I looked around and noticed someone approaching fast, her eyes locked on mine, her face animated. At first I didn’t recognize her, and was a little alarmed at the way she was barreling toward me, waving her arm.

“I don’t know if this is the kind you like,” she said breathlessly. “But I found it on a clearance shelf.”

It was the woman from the dairy aisle. She was handing me a jar of peanut butter. I took the jar and stared at it, momentarily speechless.

“Thank you,” I managed to say. “That was so thoughtful of you.” How long had she been searching the store for me, I wondered, clutching this jar of peanut butter?

The woman beamed.

“It’s exactly the kind I like,” I assured her.

It wasn’t. It was the crunchy kind and had added sugar, but of course I didn’t care, of course I bought it, feeling overwhelmed, feeling grateful, feeling like it’s these small acts of kindness that are going to help us get through this, together.

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When Life Gets in the Way

Posted on February 29, 2020 ·

Yesterday, a dear friend of mine confided that she was struggling to focus on her writing and publishing due to some major life changes. Ironically, these changes were implemented as a way to focus more on her writing and publishing. As my wise friend noted, “change is never neat.”

I’m a little envious of her, to be honest. She is packing up and moving from a big city to a small town all the way across the country. It’s the kind of small town you read about in stories or maybe hear about in country songs. Small, simple, quiet, surrounded by woods.

Kind of like a permanent writer’s retreat.

Because my friend is so diligent and hard-working, she feels like she is failing by not writing during this process of change, which includes purchasing one house, selling another, and making arrangements to move 3,000 miles away.

What I told her is this: “There is no way I could even think about writing if I were in your shoes. I’d just get through the move and pick a date on the calendar when I could begin again. And then I’d look forward to that day, dream about it, and let it carry me through the weeks between.

“I do that in summer. Sometimes I’m able to write, but other times I just say, you know what, instead of splitting myself in two I’m giving myself 100% over to my family, and when the kids return to school, on that day, I get to write again.”

I admitted I’d been struggling too, with none other than this blog. Since June I’d managed one post a month, practically a record for me, and I hated to break my streak but couldn’t seem to nail down my February post. Why is this so difficult? I rarely get stuck writing fiction or essays, but blogging just doesn’t come naturally to me.

My friend responded in kind with her own guidance: she suggested I write a few paragraphs about a certain friend’s life situation, how it was getting in the way of writing, and the comforting words of advice I’d offered her.

She even gave me a title for the post: When Life Gets in the Way.

I told you she was wise.

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2019 End of Year Book Survey

Posted on January 29, 2020 ·

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

It’s that time of year again! Thanks to Jamie over at The Perpetual Page Turner for once again hosting this annual End of Year Book Survey. I tell myself every January that I’m going to get better at reviewing books as I read them; alas, it never happens. Still, a yearly wrap-up is better than nothing, and here is mine for the year 2019:

Number Of Books You Read: 62
Number of Re-Reads: 4
Genre You Read The Most From: Mysteries

 

best-YA-books-2014

1. Best Book You Read In 2019?

Adult: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

One of my reading goals for 2019 was to finally tackle George R. R. Martin’s gargantuan high fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. I can’t say I loved all the books, but the first one is flat-out masterful.

YA: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

A brutal and beautiful coming-of-age story told fiercely in verse. Listen to the audiobook if you can.

MG: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Oh, middle grade, you own more of my heart as the years go by. This one involves books coming to life, which of course equals pure magic.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Maybe it was the distracting use of vernacular in dialogue, maybe it was the fact that so much of this was just too unbelievable, or maybe it just wasn’t for me.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

In The Woods by Tana French

In a good way. But also a maddening way. Don’t expect all the answers, but do read this dazzling first entry in French’s superb Dublin Murder Squad mystery series.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

You know you should quit Facebook, but you won’t, so read this for ways to cut back. Way, way back. (And then quit.)

5. Best series you started in 2019? Best Sequel of 2019? Best Series Ender of 2019?

Ah, this is hard! I started and ended 2 series in 2019: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin and Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series. Both are excellent, both have some disappointing entries, but I’d say Tana French’s series is overall more consistent. The final two books in A Song of Ice and Fire are just so different from the first three in terms of quality.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2019?

Anjali Sachdeva, whose debut short story collection All the Names They Used for God is simply divine.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Bully Love by Patricia Colleen Murphy

Poetry can be intimidating for me, but this debut collection—which won the 2019 Press 53 Award—was accessible, atmospheric, and evocative. I especially loved the author’s eloquent observations and reflections on the Sonoran Desert.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson was completely mesmerizing and I read it in one sitting.

9. Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

A Game of Thrones

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?

The cold, wanting, and fractured nature of this cover perfectly reflects the story within, including our conflicted main character Rob who is haunted by childhood memories he cannot recapture.

11. Most memorable character of 2019?

Tyrion Lannister

Really I could have chosen pretty much any character from A Game of Thrones. The Hound, Jamie, Cersei, Daenerys, take your pick. I chose Tyrion for his brilliance, his wit, and his bravery. It’s not his fault he was born a Lannister.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2019?

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

13. Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2019?

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

Comprised of simple, daily entries that describe the often dull day-in day-out life of a bookshop owner, there’s nothing particularly exciting here. And yet it’s captivating. Why is that? I couldn’t tell you, I just know I loved this book and it inspired me to commit more fully to journaling every day.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2019 to finally read? 

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

How can you call yourself a true Constant Reader without having read SK’s critically acclaimed second novel and contribution to the vampire genre?

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2019?

Sigh.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2019?

Shortest: Bully Love by Patricia Colleen Murphy

Longest: A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

17. Book That Shocked You The Most

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

You know why.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

Ellie Winter and James Hawley in Simone St. James’ The Other Side of Midnight

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Detective Antoinette Conway and Stephen Moran. My least favorite entry in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad mystery series nevertheless featured my favorite non-romantic pairing. Just go read some Tana French, seriously.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James

Since reading The Broken Girls in 2018 I am a full-on Simone St. James superfan. I wrapped up my 2019 by reading the rest of her entire backlist and can attest … she is always perfect.

21. Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Reader, I did it. I finally read Jane Eyre, but my dark and twisted heart will always belong to the windswept moors of Wuthering Heights.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2019?

James Hawley from The Other Side of Midnight

23. Best 2019 debut you read?

Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault

Miciah Bay Gault’s debut is a page-turner full of mesmerizing prose and chilling menace. I felt off-kilter for much of the novel, trying to piece together the mystery of a familiar stranger who may or may not be the main character’s deceased baby brother reincarnate. The ending does not disappoint.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

A Game of Thrones

Come on, how could I choose anything else? I am in AWE of GRRM’s worldbuilding skills.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Substitute: Going to School With a Thousand Kids by Nicholson Baker

A renowned author painstakingly documents 28 days working as a substitute teacher in Maine public schools, and the result is as you’d expect: a little depressing but also extremely funny, sweet, and just plain old fun.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2019?

The Day That Went Missing by Richard Beard

A beautifully written memoir about a brother haunted by the death of his sibling and the way his family processed (or not) the loss.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

A gorgeous, unique, coming-of-age story told in poems, story fragments, dreams, and memories. (Thank you to my friend Adrien who reviewed it on Goodreads; otherwise it would have stayed a hidden gem to me.)

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

A Storm of Swords

Yep, I managed to make it to 2019 without having any idea what The Red Wedding was. The horror of reading that chapter in A Song of Ice and Fire’s third installment will remain with me forever.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2019?

Orange World by Karen Russell

If you have never lost yourself in the irresistibly weird and astonishingly inventive stories of Karen Russell, remedy that now. She is truly one-of-a-kind, blending horror, humor, and wit in accessible literary fiction. Orange World is Russell’s third collection of short stories.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

No Apparent Danger by Victoria Bruce

An unflinching, often gruesome account of the tragedies at Nevado del Ruiz in 1985 and Galeras in 1993. Both volcanic disaster stories will have you clenching your fists in fury at the negligence and arrogance that led to so much loss of life, but there are plenty of heroes to be found here too.

looking-ahead-books-2015

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2019 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2020?

The Bone Garden by Heather Kassner

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2020 (non-debut)?

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

3. 2020 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Ignite the Sun by Hanna Howard

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2020?

Winds of Winter? Maybe?

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2020?

Same as every year—to average a book a week for a total of 52.

6. A 2020 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone (if applicable):

Not applicable. But I promise to try and make more recommendations throughout the year (sound familiar)?

Happy reading in 2020, everyone!

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A Fond Farewell to 2019

Posted on December 30, 2019 ·

Image from MAKY_OREL on Pixabay

Like a well-written novel, 2019 was full of twists, challenges, change, and triumph.

It began with my job being eliminated mid-January, which forced me to reevaluate what I wanted to do for a living. I decided I’d rather piece together part-time jobs and work twice as many hours than go back to working as a floor nurse.

I applied for laboratory positions at hospitals (before becoming a nurse, I worked very happily as a phlebotomist), I applied at bookstores (of course it’s my dream job), and I applied at schools, hoping to get a position as a teacher’s assistant.

I ended up getting a weekend job as a phlebotomist which paid nearly as well as my nursing job. And then, over the summer, I received an offer for a TA position with Tempe Elementary School District. Awesome! Only … although this position was at an elementary school, it was actually in a preschool.

Hmm. Many years had passed since I’d been around three and four year olds. I had bleary memories of little balls of energy with the attention spans of puppies and shocking fits of temper. Still, kids are kids. I took the job.

And I completely fell in love with it. The 18 children that I’m privileged to spend 20 hours a week with bring me so much joy; instead of feeling drained at the end of the work day, I feel energized. And I’ve rediscovered something I once knew—that I belong in the classroom. It doesn’t matter if they’re preschoolers, second graders, fourth graders, or middle schoolers. I enjoy being around children, and I truly feel as if I can make a difference to them.

With this in mind, I tentatively reached out to the teaching certification program I’d dropped out of in November of 2016. At the time I was burned out on school, having just earned my bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University, and due to events of that month that I need not name, I’d lost hope in making any kind of positive change in the world.

The teaching program had great news; although it had been three years, I was still technically enrolled and only had to register for classes to jump back in. I did, switching from elementary education to early childhood (I mentioned I fell in love with preschoolers, right?), and already I’m halfway through my first semester. This time next year I will be preparing to student teach, and by spring of 2021 I will be a certified teacher.

The saying “everything happens for a reason” irks many, and I can see why, but in most cases I feel it is true. There’s no doubt that if my position hadn’t been cut at the beginning of the year, something that felt pretty awful at the time, I would not have ended up in a job I love and on my way toward a career that matches my interests and personality.

I also wouldn’t have met the 18 little people who make me laugh and warm my heart every single day. It feels as if everything has fallen into a place I was meant to be.

On to writerly things! Here are a few highlights from 2019:

In January, my short story “Gratitude” won runner-up in Women on Writing’s flash fiction contest.

In April, Women on Writing featured me in an interview on their blog.

In September, my essay “Growing Pains” was published in Mothers Always Write.

In December, Motherwell announced that my essay, published in fall, was one of their seven most read pieces of the year.

I drafted several new short stories and essays in my fall writing workshop; added some layers and an epilogue to my fourth book, The House on Linden Way; drafted a novella that I’d been wanting to write for several years, about boys and volcanoes and the trappings of faith; and spent a month plotting a cozy mystery which I’m now nearly done drafting —it will be finished in late January.

Goals for 2020 include reading a lot (52 books minimum), writing a lot, and finding an agent. This last one is key. I haven’t tried hard enough to find representation for my books; in fact, throughout the years I’ve submitted my second book to maybe six agents, my third to two or three, and my fourth to about a dozen.

Why the anemic effort? Part of it is that I tend to focus on the aspects of writing completely within my control, like the actual writing. Part of it is that I fragment my attention working on novels, short stories, essays, and articles. Part of it is that because I publish short stories and essays fairly regularly I put most of my submission efforts into those.

In 2020 that all changes.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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The Best Scary Stories I’ve Read So Far This Fall

Posted on November 24, 2019 ·

Photo by Greg Panagiotoglou on Unsplash

We may be nearing the end of November, but if you’re anything like me you’re still blissfully haunted by your October reads. When night falls early there’s nothing like burrowing under a thick blanket with a scary story, and here are the best ones I’ve read this season.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Written like a classic Victorian ghost story, this Gothic tale embraces requisite tropes of the genre: an isolated house shrouded in fog and ruin, a mysterious figure lurking in a graveyard, phantom cries that can only be heard at night. Wrapped in a Christmas memory, the story does take a while to warm up, but once the haunting begins it pulls you along in a slow luxury of terror. The ending was a stunner.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Technically I read this in late September; my library loan came up early and I simply couldn’t wait. Considered Jackson’s masterpiece, although less famous than The Haunting of Hill House, this strange little book about isolation, family secrets, murder, and madness wormed its way into my heart on page one. It’s completely twisted, unnervingly sinister, totally bonkers, and also perfect.

Ghost Town (Saranormal #1) by Phoebe Rivers

I’ve been dying to write another middle grade novel; my first remains buried in my hard drive, kicking his feet and howling to get out. Middle grade are special kinds of books, and I’ve been reading a lot of them lately trying to get in the rhythm of the simpler structures and storylines. This one is just the right amount of frightening and fun, with solid characters, whimsical writing, and everything else that makes middle grade so darn charming. (Bonus: the ghosts are real!)

Orange World by Karen Russell

If you have never lost yourself in the irresistibly weird and astonishingly inventive stories of Karen Russell, remedy that now. She is truly one-of-a-kind, blending horror, humor, and wit in accessible literary fiction. Orange World is Russell’s third collection of short stories; favorites here include “The Prospectors” (zombie dancing!), “The Tornado Auction” (tornado breeding!), and the title story, where a new mother bargains for her baby’s protection by agreeing to breastfeed the devil. Not since Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream have I read such an accurate portrayal of parental anxiety.

Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault

What a way to end October! I finished this magnetic debut on Halloween Eve, just in time to celebrate a month’s worth of ghost stories with an indulgent night of tricks-or-treats. Goodnight Stranger is a page-turner full of mesmerizing prose and chilling menace. I felt off-kilter for much of the novel, trying to piece together the mystery of a familiar stranger who may or may not be the main character’s deceased baby brother reincarnate. Like The Woman in Black, the ending does not disappoint.

A few ghostly reads that I didn’t get include The Bone Garden by Helen Kassner and The Whisper Man by Alex North. I may have to wait until Christmas for those, but what better time for more haunting stories than the longest nights of the year?

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

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Why You Should Join National Novel Writing Month

Posted on October 31, 2019 ·

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

As the last ghostly trails of October slither away on Halloween night, November—and the real terror— begins.

That is, if you’re a writer.

November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, and like any scary story worth its salt, the online writing project is an anxiety inducing mix of horror and excitement. Attempting to write 50,000 words in one month? Terrifying. Watching your stats rise on the bar graph with each word count update? Definitely a thrill.

Whether you’ve been feverishly plotting your book in preparation or warily side-eyeing every NaNoWriMo reference in your social media feeds, you should absolutely join. It costs nothing yet offers a wealth of support, positive energy, and useful resources. And if you’re under 18, or teach those who are, the Young Writers Program provides a safe and encouraging space dedicated to children and young adults.

There are plenty of naysayers out there who will point out that attempting to write that many words in one month is crazy, it will all turn out to be crap and a colossal waste of time, but writing is never a waste of time, and if that doesn’t convince you, I’ll let you in on a little secret …

NaNoWriMo is not really about writing 50,000 words in a month. It’s about committing to a project and writing fast enough to outrun self-doubt. This is essential; you can’t write slowly and edit as you go with a novel. With short stories, sure. But a novel is too big; once you start looking back it overwhelms you. Plow through the first draft and get the story down. Fine-tuning comes later (much later).

Also! Writing is supposed to be fun and plunging into the madness that is NaNoWriMo alongside a community of over 400,000 fellow wordsmiths is a blast. Ignore the naysayers and the snarky comments on social media. Maybe they’re right and in the end you won’t use anything you wrote toward a published novel. But guess what? Every minute you spent writing made you a better writer.

What have you got to lose by trying?

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My Accidental Fall Tradition

Posted on September 30, 2019 ·

Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

Fall has finally arrived, and with it, a few of my favorite things: cool mornings, autumn scents, sweaters and boots, Halloween. No one really needs an excuse for bingeing on ghost stories for an entire month, but the long nights of October provide one anyway.

Another fall tradition I look forward to is Mothers Who Write, a ten-week writing workshop that I stumbled upon in 2011 and have taken nearly every year since. Before then, when I was still an unpublished author scribbling mostly in secret, I had no writing community and no idea what I was missing.

Mothers Who Write is structured so participants draft a two-page piece every week to a prompt, then read the piece aloud the following week for critique. There’s a deep level of trust involved with sharing our stories, but even more so when those stories are still being written. In the early stages of drafting, we know our ideas are imperfect, our sentences messy, our words unrefined—but in a room where we are all equally vulnerable, we share them anyway.

And by November, we’ve shared plenty of other things too: lots of laughter, a few tears, some pie recipes, and—because we’re mothers—probably pictures of our children. I’ve met so many extraordinary women in that class.

I’ve also come to embrace the form of flash fiction and essays. Having a 2-page limit forces you to pare a story down to its essence, and there’s an increasing market for works of brevity like these. Of the dozens of pieces I’ve written in Mothers Who Write, eleven have gone on to publication, and all three of my publications this year were started in workshop last fall.

One is a fictional story about a girl struggling through adolescence, one is an essay about a failed attempt to reconnect with my mother, and one is a reflection on my son’s tendency toward nostalgia and his ambivalence about growing older.

The best writing workshops are filled with a sense of anticipation, familiarity, and belonging. Just like the best traditions of fall.

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Six Years of Blogging

Posted on August 17, 2019 ·

Image from Flickr by Will Clayton

It’s hard for me to believe, but this month marks six years since I started blogging.

I remember nervously hitting publish on that first post, uncomfortable with the idea of broadcasting my thoughts and feelings to a public audience, a reluctance that now seems adorably quaint. Long gone are the days when putting ourselves out there inspired such thrilling anxiety; it’s both a relief and a sad kind of loss.

Back then, my heart aflame with the recent news that my book was to be published the following year, I committed to writing one blog post per week. That ambitious goal lasted approximately three months before I sheepishly conceded defeat.

I am not a fast writer, and despite being repeatedly assured that blog posts are meant to be written in a more casual and conversational style, I just don’t write that way. I decided I’d rather take my time and publish one or two posts per month than fire off one or more per week for the sake of producing content.

And I’m glad. Although I’ve never blogged frequently enough to earn much of a following, when I reread my old posts (six years’ worth!!) I’m proud of what’s there. Each entry was carefully thought out: every title, every picture, every paragraph break, every word—all with you in mind. Because if you’re here and reading, I want you to feel these posts are worth your time.

Hopefully I’ve succeeded. Thank you for sticking around, and in honor of that day six years ago, here’s a link back in time. I had just celebrated my 38th birthday and wrote about everything that was most important to me then, which happens to be the same things that are most important to me now: my family, my writing, and chocolate cake.

Some things never change.

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The Everyday Writer

Posted on July 31, 2019 ·

Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

I have never been an everyday writer. There are brief periods of time when I write every day, but when the project is finished or the monthly writing challenge wraps up, I simply stop.

The intention is always to take a short break and then begin again, but sometimes it’s months before I start something new, at which point I write furiously, devoting entire days to my work.

This needs to change, because come August I no longer have the luxury of entire days. When my kids return to school, I will be joining them.

I’ve long wanted a part-time day job but refused to compromise when it comes to my children’s schedules. It’s important to me that I’m available to take them to school, pick them up, and be with them for their holidays off, which include several weeks throughout the school year in addition to summer vacation.

That basically left me one option—get a job with the school district—and finally I found one with the perfect schedule, working four hours a day in student support at an elementary school. I volunteered weekly in the classroom when my kids were younger, and I’ve missed everything about it. I am so excited.

I’m also nervous. Because now my writing time has been slashed from four hours a day to one. Because now there’s no making up for lost time. The only way to produce any reasonable amount of work is to break my pattern of writing in irregular bursts and instead write a little every day.

The idea has its charms. I’ve always pictured the everyday writer as someone who wakes at dawn to steal moments while his family sleeps or visits the same café each morning to fill a page or two before rushing off to her day job.

I treasure sleep, so the former will never be me. However, I can clearly visualize the latter, and with such limited time I believe it’s essential that I write away from home. I even have a coffee shop in mind.

A place free from the lure of laundry, cleaning, and checking email. A place with dim lighting and quiet corners and cheap drip coffee. A place that isn’t quite home but could still become mine—a sanctuary for the everyday writer.

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