Be good to yourself…

Even though I’m retired, I find that life seems to get busier by the day. We have six grandchildren now and it is a joy to be able to look after them when we spend our six months in England. In Italy we have a small holiday business and a large plot of land to tend to.

Writing is also a joy but I have to know how to balance everything. For me, I have to be in a quiet place to be creative and that isn’t always easy. I don’t mean physically quiet: I mean to have time to think.

I so admire mothers who still have children at home, hold down jobs and are also writers. Carol Thomas is an author friend with an extended family and I chatted to her about how she manages her time. I would love to receive thoughts from others about their strategies for a good work/life balance.

Over to lovely Carol:

Being a mum to four children (three still living at home), a full-time teacher, and a romance writer is both fulfilling and challenging. Writing time has to be balanced with family time and meeting my professional responsibilities in ways it never did when I started writing –over four novels, two children’s books, and ten years ago; but, despite the demands of life, I am finding my way.

Instead of waiting for a free weekend or taking an extended amount of time to write (as I used to), I aim to utilise the small pockets of time I have during the week. I think about my plot in the shower or on the drive to work. I write when my daughter is doing football training, or my children are swimming; I take time between the end of my working day and my local coffee shop closing. This occasional half an hour or an hour (if I am lucky) becomes valuable.

As much as I aspire to be as productive as I used to be before life got so busy, I have learnt to accept that progress is often slow. Writing requires concentration and focus, which can be challenging to achieve with multiple distractions or time pressures.

I remind myself that small steps are still progress, no matter how insignificant they may seem when my word count hovers around the same number, or I am still writing on the same chapter when I want to be moving on. I try to remember that every step counts towards my final goal.

As a writer, I have the habit of editing, sometimes extensively, as I go. This can feel (and probably sometimes is) counterproductive, especially with limited time. I know other writers who aim to get their thoughts and ideas on paper, even if they are not perfect, producing what they might call a first, messy draft. I wish I could be more like that, as it would be easier to see the progress in my word count. But what I have learnt, is to trust my process and to have faith in it.

For anyone with a busy life trying to find time to write, I would say utilise small pockets of time and celebrate small milestones. Find and trust what works for you, know your go-to places where you have (mental and physical) space to write, and remember to be patient and persistent. The small steps you take each day will eventually lead you to achieve your writing goals.

About A Summer of Second Chance:

A heart-warming romance full of love, friendship and four legged friends!

Does first love deserve a second chance?

Ava Flynn sometimes feels like the clothes donated to her charity shop have seen more life than her, but ‘maximum dedication for a minimal wage’ is what it takes to keep her mother’s beloved wildlife charity, All Critters Great and Small, running especially in the village of Dapplebury, where business is certainly not booming.

But when Ava’s first love, Henry Bramlington, returns to the village, suddenly life becomes a little too eventful. Henry escaped Dapplebury many years before, but now he has the power to make or break the village he left behind All Critters Great and Small included. Can Ava trust the boy who ran away to give both her and her charity a second chance?

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Published by: Choc Lit

Buying Links:

Amazon: http://getbook.at/SOSCAmazon

Other books by Carol Thomas

Maybe Baby: http://getbook.at/MBAmazon

The Purrfect Pet Sitter: http://getbook.at/TPPSAmazon

Crazy Over You: http://getbook.at/COYAmazon

About the Author:

Carol Thomas lives on the south coast of England with her husband and four children. She has been a primary school teacher for over twenty years and has a passion for reading, writing and people watching. Whenever the opportunity arises, Carol can be found loitering in local cafes drinking too much tea and working on her next book.

Carol writes contemporary romance novels, with relatable heroines whose stories are layered with emotion, sprinkled with laughter and topped with irresistible male leads.

Website and Social Media Links: