Dealing With Change

I had a writing routine that worked really well for me. I’d write for an hour before work and then sometimes after work depending on how my brain felt. But everything has changed now that I have a baby. Even though I’m on family leave, my time for writing is minimal. So much time is spent feeding him (he’s a SUPER slow eater, I guess he likes to savor each drop of milk!). Although I have plenty of time to binge shows or read a book on kindle during the endless feeding times, anything that uses my hands has to be done during the limited, remaining non-feeding time. And to be honest, sometimes a nap takes priority, because I’m just so tired all the time, which is another reason that writing has recently been absent in my life. Sleepless nights are not a great breeding ground for creative thoughts.

At first this was harder to deal with than I expected. I mean I knew that I wouldn’t be writing everyday anymore, but I didn’t expect the inability to not write at all (except for this blog post). It’s such an odd feeling. I have been writing almost every day since 2015. But I’m starting to come to realize that this is okay. I’ve already written three books with one being published soon in June. It’s okay to not be working on a current project. I’m keeping a human alive and also working on marketing and editing my debut book. That’s nothing to scoff at. And I do have an idea for a new book and even had my husband type out the first line for the book while I was feeding the baby!

I also had to remind myself, I had a writing hiatus before when I was in an emotionally abusive relationship and I was scared that he would read anything I wrote. I was in such a traumatic situation that there was not a single creative bone in my body. I didn’t write for years. But I bounced back from that relationship and I must have had so much pent-up creativity, because after that I wrote three books.

My creativity and time to write will return. I just have to be patient and enjoy the time I have now with my baby before he grows up too fast!

Big thank you to my author friends in the @debuts23 chat for telling me it’s okay to not write during this time. That I’m doing a great job with my new situation. All your wisdom and chats have been so helpful!