There is not much easy about our job unless you compare it to something like digging ditches or building a skyscraper. But that at least wears out your body rather than your mind. At the end of a day wrestling obligations to kids and careers, my brain is tired. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels mentally split almost constantly throughout the day.
We all know that the work-at-home-mom (WAHM) writers aren’t considered the upper echelon of the writing community. If you didn’t know that, you’ve never read about the cost-savings to be had by tricking desperate WAHMs into providing ultra cheap articles in a particular forum’s Special Offers. Well, as a few of us here can tell you, having children and enjoying a professional writing career are certainly not exclusive entities, and even
It’s that time again! The kids are going back to school! This means my house will in an uproar for a few weeks while we try to get everyone and everything settled again for the school year. While you might expect me to celebrate my kids going back to school as a sign that I’ll have more time in the day to write, I am
I ran out of patience the other day and I should have run across to the neighbor to borrow some more. After all, this working mom doesn’t rise to perfection without a liberal dash of patience. I must treat my children with patience. I must wait days or weeks patiently for a free hour to watch my favorite show. I must patiently wait on clients
There was an interesting comment in a recent article of mine that made me think. Another mom-who-happens-to-work-at-home mentioned that she “just can’t call herself a WAHM.” It made me smile for a couple of reasons. One – I smiled because I suspect I know exactly why that particular title makes her uncomfortable. And – Two – because I use that particular term on purpose here
I’m split at times about how kids affect my working life. In many – okay most – cases I feel very limited by having kids underfoot or in the house when I’m working. But other times I wonder if I’d be as effective as I am if my children didn’t already have me so well trained. It takes a lot of dedication and discipline to
Every now and again I think about what it must be like to have all day to work on the writing career. How much more could I do in a day? How much more could I make? If only I’d started all of this writing before kids! But here I am, just like so many of you, a freelance mom working from home. I’ve done
When I started writing online, my daughter was a baby. Today, as my business has grown, so has she and surprisingly, has taught me several important lessons along the way. Freelancing, they say, is not child’s play but one can surely learn a thing or two from kids. Here are 5 things that I learned about being a better, more productive writer and business owner
If you’re used to sending your kids away to school and working, you’re in for a rough ride – summer is almost here! Of course, those mothers who are insane like I am don’t have to worry too much about this. In fact, the summer months are the most relaxing months for my career, simply because I’m on summer vacation as well. My mornings won’t
I’ve been working nights for years. This wouldn’t be a big deal if I wasn’t already working days and mornings, too. I’ve mentioned a few (dozen) times already, but I have the two kiddos to get up and out of the house every morning, while I get up and out of the house as well to head to the school where I teach at-risk teenagers.
I’m obviously totally awesome at what I do because I’m not completely burned out yet although I do get very, very close at times. In fact, I admire my productivity and economy so much I thought I’d share some real-world tips for saving money while starting up a freelance business any moms just breaking into this madness. This is, after all, a very, very serious
I realize that my mothering style isn’t normal. Martha Stewart would have a heart attack at the number of unfinished projects in my home. Emily Post would faint dead away before she made it past the six laundry baskets stacked in the living room. In my universe it’s perfectly normal to stash little boy underpants in the living room furniture and keep playdough on the
We are a special breed, yet we often divide ourselves up into groups – presumably so that we can defend ourselves by putting down the others. I’m a working mom, so I’m obviously better than the mom stuck at home – unless she’s a work-at-home mom. Then she gets top billing because she’s able to work at home, make money and teach her children three
As regulars might know, I’m a work-at-home mom and a work-away-from-home mom, too. I normally teach during the day and then get two boys to bed before settling down for three or four hours of writing most nights at the computer. It makes for a full day, but it’s so nicely organized and routine now it works for me. Today though, in honor of my
It’s that special time of year again! Orders are up slightly, time is decreasing dramatically and best of all – the kids are home! Having the kids home is both a blessing and a curse. The days are great fun filled with ornament making and breaking and dessert-face-stuffing, and the nights are filled with work to make up for the lack of time during the
In our last installment, we established that all mothers tend to judge each other from time to time. Okay, you’re right – you don’t, but the rest of us at least recognize that the thoughts cross our minds from time to time. I think I might be worse than most because I deal with the product of poor home lives more than most adults (I
It’s not a secret that moms have to work hard to not openly judge other moms. You see a parent disciplining a child in a way that you’re not comfortable with and immediately you’re thinking about that technique and what sort of mother would do such a thing and how you would never in your lifetime even consider….etc…. Judging is insanely easy to do, and
For some it’s a dream, for others a necessity, but it can be tricky to find an ideal situation for work-at-home moms and they don’t usually mind. There isn’t much about parenting that’s ideal, after all. For the record, Carol Brady had the ideal set-up. I keep waiting for my Alice to come to cook, clean and offer sage bits of wisdom while I do
It’s secret time! It’s been my experience that we all have a few dirty little secrets stashed away, and working from behind a computer screen lets us get away with a few harmless fibs every now and then – not that I would lie. I really do still look like that picture I posted from ten years ago…before two c-section deliveries…really, I’m still that hot!
My fellow WAHM, have you ever noticed just how ridiculous certain aspects of our life can be? I, for one, rode around today with my youngest’s chocolate pudding cup in the front of my truck next to a plastic container full of worms my oldest determinedly collected yesterday. But this pales in comparison to the other pieces of my WAHM life that just slap me
I’m fully convinced that the most hilarious, deep-seated irony of the universe revolves around freedom of choice. Think of those teenage years when you struggled, fought, threatened, snuck out and wore horrible clothing to express yourself and gain true independence from the overbearing monsters we call parents. For most of us, now that we have free will, we live with gusto. We stay out all
I know now what I didn’t know then. I spent quite a bit of time working up to a full-time income freelancing while keeping the day job during pregnancy so that after my baby arrived, I could stay home and spend more time with him and do the mommy thing the way I wanted to. I was thrilled that it seemed to be working out
Want to make money? Watch an enterprising 4-year-old. Granted, my kids have watched two parents work from home and have been to the bank more times in their short lives than most kids go in a few decades, but they’re fun to watch and have taught me quite a bit about making money. Maximize Productivity If I have a project that takes about two hours
Anyone with a home office needs an arsenal of tools and tricks of the trade. Parents, however, need not only the basic office supplies, but other essentials as well to balance their obligations to family and professional lives. The needs of each individual and family can vary, but here are a few of my essentials as a work-at-home parent. Your Own Computer If you’re sharing
It’s funny, really, that the toughest year of my maternal life was the one I thought would be the easiest. I spent a year finishing my Masters, teaching every day and writing every night. In my spare time I raised a toddler while I worked on growing his younger brother. That was the year before the hardest year. During those seemingly hard months, I dreamed
Every freelancer needs a real work space –a place to tackle your projects and assignments without wrestling with your child’s latest play dough creations and free from the risk of any crayon incidents on important contracts. It can be a trick to find the ideal space for a work-at-home mom or any other freelancer as many of us don’t have the luxury of our own
In the many categories society assigns to mothers, the freelancing mommies have the envy of other mothers for the supposed flexibility of their schedules. Yet those envied work at home moms have another story to tell – especially when there are young children involved. Being a working mother of any caliber is tough, but when the balancing act of working at home is a free-for-all,