What A Difference A Year Makes

Well, well... I can't believe I haven't written here in almost a year. There's not just one reason that has led to that, but the primary ones are, probably not coincidentally, the two things that are most needing my attention right now: my literal baby and my literary baby. My son is now 8 months old, and I'm having such a great time being with him. Even when he's fussy and I can't get much (if anything) done, I try to remember how lucky I am to be home with him, especially when I know so many people who had to go back to work as soon as their maternity leave was up. And then there's my "book baby," which makes me joyful yet is also demanding of my time, much like my son.

The funny thing is, when people ask "How are you getting anything done with a baby at home?" I can honestly say that I'm actually getting more done with my book now than I was before my baby was born. How? Well, let's just say things like housework have fallen a bit on the priority list (though now that my son is almost crawling, that may have to change). Laundry gets done these days when my husband runs out of socks or we put the last clean cover on the changing table in the nursery. It took having a baby to help me learn to do something I haven't been very good at in the past: prioritizing. If only my former boss could see me now--it wasn't the expensive time management seminar she sent me to that did the trick, it was having a baby! She'd be very impressed at how much I was getting done in a limited amount of time each day.

There's another (very) important component in being able to get more done on my book lately, and that's having a fantastic critique partner, Tanya. While I'm part of a critique group, we don't meet as often as I'd like, so for almost a year (I think), Tanya and I have been trying to meet weekly to exchange our work with each other, about a chapter at a time. By doing this, there's an accountability--if I don't have anything to be critiqued, I feel guilty. The process is helpful, and Tanya is a great critiquer (as well as a great writer). If you're a writer reading this, my best advice is to find someone to read your work, whether it's a group (which is not always easy to do) or one person. It can make a difference in your output as well as the quality of your work.

So, here I am, just finished up with this year's SCBWI conference, feeling in a totally different place than I was last year. I'm farther along with my revisions and getting closer to submitting (that's a different post for a different day), I feel like my writing is stronger, I've made more writing contacts, and I was more comfortable talking to people at the conference this year (not an easy task for a reformed shy person). Maybe it's because after 9 conferences (eek!), I'm starting to feel that I can be a published author, that I do belong around people like Linda Sue Park, Kathleen Duey and Carolyn Mackler, and that I don't want to do anything as a career besides being a children's author. Besides being a mom, that is...