Back to School: Time to Write

Do you hear that?

The pitter-patter of tiny feet?

No? Me either!

Although the pitter- patter in my house sounds more like a heard of still-drunk elephants trying to climb in through an apartment window at 3 a.m. the point’s the same-

The kids are gone- time to write.

My first novel Reachers was born from the boredom of being home all day with a one-year-old.

For the first time in more than a decade that I had actual free time. My older two girls were in school, my husband worked out of town, and the baby had settled into the sweet spot between desperate newborn and relentless toddler. I knew the boredom would be fleeting, but I realized I may never get another chance to explore my inner writer who had been dormant all those years while I built a life.

I had started many stories that would end up filed away incomplete on a shelf somewhere over the years. But having all day (in between naps, chores, errands) to actually write?

It was as if something switched on in me that day. The point when my ideas would usually lose steam and I’d put them in the “someday” pile never came.

I wrote all day, every day, as often as I could. Sure when my family was home it was nearly impossible, but that was fine because I was putting down ten pages a day. I had decided that I was, in fact, going to finish a book, and I did it. You can too.

How I Write 100,000 words a month

How I went from stay-at-home mom to work-from-home writer

The key to success was using every moment I could to write and then spending my evenings after the kids went to bed organizing my ideas for the next day.

I’d plan out the next chapter, jot down notes on other things I’d like to change, and had a plan of attack every day until my novel was finished.

It only took three weeks.

So I wrote another one. And then started a blog to practice my writing, learn about my audience, and freshen up on social media.