Can Life Get Any Crazier? by Lacy Williams

Lacy Williams

My family welcomed a new addition this year: our youngest daughter was born in March. My husband and I also have an almost-four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy.

My mom thinks I am a little nuts to try to balance a writing career with the little ones at home, but I don't see it much differently than having a part-time job outside the home. And there are some days that my characters and writing is the only thing keeping me sane.

I'd love to share some tips on how I get things done. These may not work for everyone, but they do work for me.

1) When I do get writing time, either after bedtime or when I have a babysitter, my focus is all on writing. No email. No social media. No goofing off.

2) I try to keep realistic deadlines. This has been a learning process for me working with my publisher. For some reason, my kids always seem to get sick the week before my deadline is up. So I've learned to plan for a few extra weeks for each deadline within the contract. I've also learned to work ahead, and not procrastinate until the last minute--unless I want to be up all night finishing the book (which I've had to do a couple of times).

3) Count on others. This has been a big one for me. I'm an independent person who doesn't like to lean on others much, but I've had to ask for help from family to watch the kids or let my husband know when it was his time to put the kids in bed.

4) Enjoy the small moments. It's a constant balancing act to remember that my needs and goals aren't the only ones that matter. I want to spend time with my kiddos now while they're small, and not miss those little moments like when my son blew his first bubbles or the littlest one learning to roll over for the first time. The first laugh. First ballet class. I think a lot of parents share this same struggle, because on one hand we have to put food on the table, but we all need to learn to slow down and enjoy the small moments.

For our family this year, that meant taking a family vacation (we invited my parents and sister since we were outnumbered by kids!). What a fun time to slow down, spend time together and do things we haven't done in awhile. We visited a theme park and hubby and I got to sneak away to ride a big roller coaster--something I haven't done since before the kids came, but it was like having a few moments of my own childhood back to go on the exhilerating ride.

I'm certainly not perfect at balancing my priorities, but it is something I've been working on!

Dora here. What about you? 

Do you struggle with balancing writing and family life?

Maybe a full-time job, too?

How do you balance everything?

Roping the Wrangler
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Teacher Seeks a Husband
Schoolmarm Sarah Hansen longs for a family of her own. But horse trainer Oscar White is the last man she'd consider. Still, she can't help noticing the care he shows three motherless girls and the gentle way he helps Sarah overcome her fear of horses.

Too bossy by half—that's the Sarah that Oscar remembers from their teenage years. Yet as a former orphan, he finds the little Caldwell sisters—and their pretty teacher—getting under his skin. Could the tender heart Sarah's always hidden tame a once-reckless wrangler?

Meet Lacy: By day, Lacy Williams is a stay-at-home mom battling dirty diapers and dog-hair dust-bunnies. By night, she is an award-winning novelist. She loves dogs, chocolate ice cream, romantic movies and her number-crunching husband. Her most recent book, ROPING THE WRANGLER, comes out in August from Love Inspired Historical. http://www.lacywilliams.net

Finding the Time to Write by Lacy Williams

I started writing seriously (aiming toward publication) almost six years ago. At that time, my biggest challenge was learning the craft to get my stories in shape to be published. Then my challenge became finding time to write around a full-time work schedule (and still fit my husband in there somewhere too!).

Now my biggest challenge is writing books with two small children in the house. I have a two-year-old daughter and eight month old son, and right now I think I work harder now than I ever did in the corporate world! My days are busy with potty training, feeding both of them, and somewhat trying to keep the house clean.

So my usual writing time is relegated to naptime (if I can get them both down at the same time—some days I can’t!), and after bedtime. That means my writing time is limited to about 2 hours a day. Here’s how I’m coping with this significant challenge:

• Turn off email, TV and all other distractions when I have my writing time. I need to do this to take advantage of all the brainpower I can and not be distracted. (Thank goodness for DVR!! I’m addicted to CASTLE.)
• Know where I’m going. I am a halfway seat-of-the-pants writer, but for me to get in a good word count of quality writing, it is important that I have the next couple of scenes thought out or a rough draft of them scribbled on a piece of paper. So that way when I actually get to sit down and write I can write quickly because I have a plan of where the story is going.
• Think about my story when I’m not writing. See the above tip about having scenes in mind for when I sit down to write. When I can, I think about my characters, story, etc. when I’m doing something mindless like folding the laundry. Or I get a lot of inspiration in the shower. Used to get a lot while driving but not now that I have a chattery two year old. :)
• Prioritize. This was essential when I was working under my last deadline. It meant I couldn’t work on marketing stuff or check email or other important projects and I even had to put aside a few times of going out with friends or dinner with family to get the book done. But it did get done on time.

These are my tips for writing with small children. I’m sure they’ll change as the kids get bigger. I feel like my writing has been something that morphs into whatever time I can take for it—but it is important to me and I have never been able to stop, which some people says is a sign of a true writer.

Lacy Williams is a wife and mom from Oklahoma. Her debut novel, MARRYING MISS MARSHAL, won ACFW's Genesis award before being published. She promises readers happily-ever-afters guaranteed.

Lacy combines her love of dogs with her passion for literacy by volunteering with her therapy dog Mr. Bingley in a local Kids Reading to Dogs program.

Lacy loves to hear from readers. She posts short stories and giveaways at her website http://www.lacywilliams.net and can be found on social media at http://www.facebook.com/lacywilliamsbooks and www.twitter.com/lacy_williams.

Be sure to check out her special promotion with freebies and giveaways all through the month of May. Check it out at www.megamaybirthdaybash.com.

About THE HOMESTEADER'S SWEETHEART
To escape a dreaded arranged marriage, Penny Castlerock will face anything—even life on her grandfather's farm. But it isn't the rustic lifestyle that's got the Philadelphia socialite tied in knots. It's the handsome homesteader and his eight adopted children next door….

With seven boys and a girl to raise, transplanted farmer Jonas White could sure use some help. He just didn't expect it to come from the high-spirited, copper-haired beauty he's always admired from afar. But surely working the land is no life for a woman like Penny. Yet a threat to Jonas's farm just might show him how perfect Penny is for him after all.