Life of A Writer

Does being a wife and mother disrupt your writing time? Of course it does. As a wife, mother and writer myself I know how hard it is to keep the family happy and find the time to write too. So today I'm going to reveal ways that you can multi-task by still being a great wife, loving and caring mother, and write all at the same time. Yes, that's right, it can be done! And after you read my multi-tasking tips, you should be ready to multi-task your wife, mother and writer duties as well!

Before I continue, I would like to thank Stephanie Calahan for the inspiration for this post. Stephanie commented on Jim Smoot's post, Time Wasters for Bloggers, over at Pure Blogging. In her comment, she shared some of the ways she multi-tasks and I could relate. Not only could I relate, but her comment inspired me to share more multi-tasking tips with you. So, without further ado, here are those tips:

1. I cook supper for the family and write while supper is cooking. I set the timer on my stove for the food, and once the timer goes off, I get up to check on the food. If you have a real busy writing day ahead of you, fix something that cooks all day. For example, prepare a roast. Throw in the potatoes and veggies on top of the roast, and then place the roast, potatoes and veggies in the oven or a crockpot to cook all day. While the roast is cooking, you'll be writing. Some other meals that you can let cook all day without getting up and down to check on them are ham and beans or any other crockpot recipes.

2. As Stephanie mentioned in her comment to Jim's post, you can write and do your laundry at the same time. She also reminded that you'll eventually have to stop to fold the laundry, but while you're doing this, you could do as she does and listen to teleseminars. Unlike Stephanie, when I'm folding laundry, I sit in silence and brainstorm while folding the laundry.

3. If you're like me and your kids are now teenagers or old enough to do chores, then you can have them load the dishwasher while you write. As soon as one of my kids finish loading the dishwasher, I always check to make sure it was loaded correctly. If it was, I start it. The dishwasher then runs while I go back to writing. After the dishwasher has finished, I have one of the other kids unload it. Don't have a dishwasher? Have the kids do the dishes for you. (Don't forget to reward your kids for their chores.)

4. When my kids were little, I wrote during their nap time.

5. While breastfeeding your baby, grab a digital voice recorder and recite your story, article, article ideas or etc. outloud. Who knows, the baby just might enjoy it too.

6. When your kids sit down to do their homework, join them at the table. Grab your laptop or a notebook and pen and tell them you're going to do your homework too, which could be research, writing an article or whatever writing you need to do. Research is always better, because you need to prepare yourself to stop what you're doing in case you have to help one of the kids with a math problem or something they need assistance with. Nonetheless, homework time for the kids may become hassle free since they'll enjoy you sitting next time them doing your homework.

7. If one of my kids are sick or has a doctor's appointment, I take along a notebook and pen to write while waiting to see the doctor.

Do you have any other tips for multi-tasking your wife, mother and writer duties? Share them in the comments section or a blog post of your own. If you share your multi-tasking tips to your blog readers, please leave a link to the post in the comments area so I can surf over to read your tips.

Photo credit: Flickr

Posted by Misti Sandefur, Christian author/freelance writer at 4:47 PM