Alpaca Batting!
28 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
Because I am more then just an author, I have another blog that I have been keeping on and off through out the years on quilting. Here is a link to my other blog, for those of you who are interested, about my use of Alpaca Batting!
http://snowtopquilts.blogspot.com/2011/07/adventures-in-alpaca-batting.html
Making Time…
10 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Writing
Working from home, especially with two small children at home, is difficult at best. During the day I am home alone with two children and some days three because of a babysitting arrangement my friend and I have together. Finding the time necessary to work can be a daunting task. It has taken sometime to figure out a schedule that works for me. Because writing is only one of the things I do for income, I had to find time to fit everything in my day or week. I started out with a very strict schedule, I had a calender with days and times and each hour had something going. That, I found out soon enough, doesn’t work for me. I am not that organized. Now my calender is used more as a guideline. With small children, anything can happen at anytime. Naps don’t always happen at noon when I want them too, bath time doesn’t go as smoothly as it should, the house hasn’t figured out how to clean itself yet and everyone thinks they should be able to eat 
Cleaning the house, laundry and other household tasks have been divided up between four people. I handle dinner on certain days and others I leave that to someone else. I am fortunate enough to have someone in my life that knows, just because I work in home doesn’t mean I have all the time in a day to do everything that needs to be done. I am not Super Woman, although I like to think I am at times. Laundry in my home is a family chore. We all fold clothes together and not only does this make folding clothes go faster but we can also enjoy sometime as a family. The girls help with dinner every night, I was told sometime ago that allowing the children to help with dinner made them more likely to eat their dinner, and it is true!
As far as being able to get work done in my house, I still maintain that calender strict schedule, in a way. When I am at my computer or sewing machine, I am not to be bothered. I make it a point to do most of my writing and quilting at night or when the girls are napping. However, there are sometimes when I have to get some work done while they are awake, this is when the closed door policy comes into play and it is usually when someone else is home to care for the girls. I leave notebooks and pens around the house to jot down anything that might be useful for a project and I keep a notebook and pen in my car just in case. If I have a hand quilting project to work on, everyone knows to leave my sewing supplies alone and I will bring it with me, if we are going on family outings. I will let myself work on a project in the car or while we are sitting around watching tv or just having some relax time. When we are out on hikes or at the park, I leave my work in the car, it takes some self discipline and it took sometime to get used to leaving my work in the car. The basic idea of working from home is to try and find a rhythm that allows you time to get work done but not burnt out.
How do you keep yourself sane while working from home?
What Are You Reading?
09 Jul 2011 2 Comments
Personally, I have at least 3 or 4 books going at a time. Here is what I have going right now:
The Union Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini
The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
Pride and Ownership A Firefighter’s Love of the Job by Rick Lasky
On Writing A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
What are YOU reading?
The Beginning
09 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Writing
This is the part of my life where I announce to the world that I am in fact an author. Many people ask me what I do for a living and although I love sharing that I am an author, I often find that many people just look puzzled. Some ask me, after the quizzical expression has left their faces, “oh yeah, what do you write?” It is this question that I am here to answer.
Besides writing for clients; newsletters, web content, blog posts, articles, eBooks, short stories and recently I write “How To” and “Self Help” books for a company called UTurnGuide. I also write for fun, in a journal or short stories to share with my two daughters. I have dabbled in song writing and poetry.
At the moment, it is the beginning of July and I am drinking hot coco eating a bagel thinking it feels like Autumn. The afternoon rains we get the in Colorado Mountains often bring cold and wind. I am off to read a book by Jennifer Chiaverini and enjoy the storms. This reminds me, I will start a place where I share what I cam reading and I hope you’ll share what you are reading as well.
