My Return From Hiatus

            My family is always my priority. Somewhere later down the list, there exists a slot for writing, but just one. I discovered that writing and marketing my writing were at odds with one another for this space in my life. One had to be cut.

            The last time I posted an article was seven weeks ago. This has not been a break but a decision to channel my focus and energy into one aspect of getting my books out; the actual writing. I stepped out of all forms of promotion, including TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and this blog.

            Shortly after New Year's, I sat at my kitchen table with pen and paper as I mapped out how to tell the world about the book series that would be completed in the coming year. This was part of my process outlined in the article My New Year's Tradition.

            I organized my goals into action steps creating some clear parameters. I decided to publish a weekly blog post and a weekly social media post. Relentless consistency was my focus. I decided to stick to my deadlines and not slack for a week, knowing this would lead to a complete unraveling.

            For nearly five months, I was in perfect compliance with my self-imposed appointment. I posted with absolute consistency striving to put a piece of my life that was both vulnerable and of value to the world.

            Now for those who know me, even if only through my writing, you understand this was not my priority. My family is. And I choose to give much time to my family. I am also in a helping profession filling an underrepresented section of mental health. This is both a passion and a calling. My mission is to create middle-grade literature that entertains and serves as a medium that brings families together while teaching life lessons. It is important to me, but it is not the most important mission I have.

            This means I will not replace my time spent on my true priorities for marketing, no matter how noble I may be able to make it sound. I could tell myself that the writing may help my family and use that as justification to put them on the back burner, but I’m too self-aware for that lie to work. This is an example of how I prioritize and execute.

The core of my mission, of my writing, is illustrated in the act of reading to kids while they are still young enough to want to be read to. This blink that passes too quickly forms the bond and relationship that will last decades past those short years.

            I would rather wait until my kids are grown and out of the house to write and market if the result is time stolen from those years.

            As my time creating content that will allow my writing to be known consist of time left after I have given attention to my other priorities, I had nothing left for something else I do in my spare time; actually writing the books that the blog and social media post serve to market.

            I manage my time very well. I also strive to manage my psychic energy well. After all, staying up late squeaking out pages of poorly constructed rambling is not useful.

            I also refuse to write well, yet be an exhausted shell of a person when spending time with family. This dance is not just about the hours in the day. It’s about managing my own life force and understating its limits. I don’t see a  point in creating something positive for kids at the expense of being a positive influence for my kids day to day.

            This left me to revisit the commitment I made to myself. I decided to focus all of my effort and energy allotted for this project solely on completing the initial draft of book three. I have done so. The initial draft for book three is completed, and now I’m back to building a place where those that need me can find me.

            I belong to a small group of authors who meet regularly to review and critique each other's work. My first book has been through this process. It took over a year for this review. I have learned so much as the group's strengths and weaknesses seem to complement one another perfectly.

            So if the initial draft of book three is complete, why is the first book yet to be published? I decided early on to finish writing all three books of the series before publishing the first book. I don’t think this is necessary; many creative decisions come from being limited by previously published parts of a story forcing a writer to dig deep. But I am happy I chose to do it this way because I have had the opportunity to learn so much about my characters as their journey unfolded.

            As a teenager, I discovered the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior. The story deeply inspired me, which is profound because I rebelled against any talk of spiritual principles at the time. This is a fun and impactful story laced with plenty of humor, and the stakes are real. The author Dan Millman gives a spot-on description of depression, one of the aspects that resonated and moved me to action.

            I would not have heard the lessons of this book had they been told to me directly.  Even if it had been made clear how important these principles would be to my life, I would have ignored them. I rebelled regularly as great advice was thrust at me.

            This well-told story not only managed to sneak these ideas in through the backdoor of my psyche, but because of how I strongly identified with some of the feelings of the main character, the story inspired me, filling me with motivation to continue exploring these ideas.

            In my series of books, the community of characters demonstrates healthy ways of communicating, how to work with others to fix problems, letting go of anger and control, and dealing with things that go terribly wrong. This is done with adventure and silliness in a way that helps to show life skills in a way that was so important to me – fun without preaching.

These stories can be a guide to kids of every age.

            I do feel good putting articles out once again. My intentions of inspiring kids or the quality of the stories I write do not amount to much if no one knows they exist or for what purpose they are intended.