Balance
Life as a new mother is all about balance. I want to spend as much time as possible with my beautiful new baby. On the other hand, I also want to maintain some form of my life before baby. In those first few weeks, I had a lot of teary nights when I wondered, “Will I ever be ME again?” Those emotional moments were no doubt very hormone-filled, so I can’t entirely be blamed, haha. Still, there was some truth in that fear.
I am a lot of things. Writer. Wife. Music-Lover. Horror-Film-Connoisseur. Reader. Now I just have to learn to balance all of those things with this new role of Mother. So far in the first 7 1/2 weeks of my baby boy’s life, I’ve been primarily a mother with a few dabs of those other things mixed in. That’s the way it should be, right? I mean, this little person is just being introduced to the world. George and I want to make his transition and safe as possible, and I think we’ve been doing the best job we possibly can.
But it’s time to start adding more writing into my life-balance. Not only are there lots of readers waiting for Book 6 (yay!), but I really need the creative outlet. I have Harper’s voice in my head, and I need to get her back on the page. George and I had a long talk about balance and how much I really need more time for writing. My amazing husband listened to me and has agreed to give me a few nights a week and time on weekends to get out and write. Last Sunday was my first time away from the baby. George and his parents hung out with Andrew at the house while I took my notes to Cafe Carolina to work!
It felt AMAZING to be back in the role of writer-sweetie (which is what my husband lovingly calls me). There were some parts of my rough draft that didn’t feel right. Scenes that didn’t fit exactly the way I know they should. But when I finally got to sit down and work on my notes for Demons Forever after all these months, the ideas just poured out of me. The perfect scenes just popped into my head, as if my subconscious mind had been working on the problem all along. I can’t even tell you how exciting it was for me.
Of course, I was equally excited to get back to my baby after 3 hours of working at the cafe. I actually felt like I was a better, more patient mom because of my time to myself. It almost feels guilty to admit that, but it’s just me being completely honest. Since then, I’ve had a few more opportunities to write, and I’m loving the emotional and practical balance that is coming from it.
Oh! And this weekend I also got out for the tax-free weekend and bought a new writing tool! A brand new MacBook Pro. I haven’t owned a Mac since I was in college, so I know I have some learning to do before I’m completely comfortable with it, but I’m excited for the challenge. My main reason for buying it? I am currently getting my books into the iTunes store through Smashwords. Well, as some of you know, the process of getting the book published that way takes FOREVER. Rival Demons published on Amazon and B&N January 20th, but I don’t think it got up on iTunes until March. Ridiculous.
Well, Apple has now opened up a way for writers like me to upload to their store directly. The problem? You have to upload with a Mac! I didn’t have one before, but I bit the bullet and got one so that I can hopefully get into the Apple store much faster in the future. Also, my current laptop is about 5 years old and the battery doesn’t last super long. I needed something new for when I go out writing, so why not a MacBook? I’m so excited! Hopefully it will help me get motivated for my new writing outings in my search for balance with a new baby.
You are a much stronger mom and writer than I. I didn’t manage to pick my pen back up until my son was nearly a year old. I was however returning to school and needed to figure out how to balance motherhood and schooling first then added writing. Though I did take a creative writing class to quell the loss of book work. Though, you are already an established writer and have readers who are waiting for you to finish..so there again you have me beat. I am shooting for a Early October release but it may turn into a November release.
Yay! I’m so excited your back in the groove! Because honestly I dying to read Demons Forever!!!!! And you shouldn’t feel guilty about enjoying the time to yourself! I have 2 boys and if I didn’t have alone time I would go insane lol. Sounds like your doing wonderful!
Sarra! I am a huge fan of your work, and of Harper 🙂 Congratulations on your new baby and I’m so glad you are beginning to work on the next installment of Beautiful Demons. Take care and all the best!
I am super excited about the release date being a short while away!! I am getting married on the 20th of October so now I have 2 exciting things to count down too!! I can’t wait to read the book!! 🙂
Andrew is a real cutie!! We have 3 boys ourselves and they are lots of fun!!
Im a big time reader and i look at free books so i can get into new series and thats how i find yours and i absolutely love these books everytime a new one comes out i just have to get it and cant wait for this last one to see how it all ends 🙂 and congrats on the adorable baby boy
When Marie returned a few weeks later, she told Dr. Hanley that after her first visit she had a dream that the hairy cyst on her ovary was a testicle, and that graphic vision had been a great inspiration to make the necessary changes in her life to create more balance!