[Laura Lond]

So my bundle of joy #2 is here! A nice Christmas gift and a happy time for all the family, but, just as I had thought, my writing is non-existent. My first girl will be 3 in February; I had learned to work around her schedule and get some writing done - not nearly enough, but some is better than nothing, I kept telling myself. Now the second one has messed things up again, LOL.

Those of you who have kids, how do you manage to write? How many books / words do you get out in a year?

 

[LilianaHart]

Well, I've got 4. The oldest two are in elementary school, but my boys are still at home. It was really hard to get writing done when they were home 5 days a week. Writing is my full-time job, and I knew I needed to do something, so I enrolled them in Mother's Day out a couple of days a week. I also get very little sleep That's the only way to meet all my deadlines. It has gotten a lot easier since my husband quit his job and works full time for me now. He does a lot of the Mr. Mom stuff, so I'm a lot more productive during the day. I have no idea how I got all my work done before that though. It's really hard. I'd get up early and stay up really late. And I'd fit in writing whenever I could during the day. It's all you can do. I wrote 2-3 books a year when the kids were home. I write 5 now they someone can watch them in the daytime.

Congratulations on the new baby!

 

[Laura Lond]

Thanks Liliana!

Yes, not getting enough sleep is probably a given. I've been sacrificing sleep before the baby's arrival and I'm certainly doing it now. At least the little one seems to have started sleeping well at night! Makes things a bit easier.

 

[AndreSanThomas]

Congrats! 

Sleep is for sissies.

 

[Margo Karasek]

Well, I've got 4. The oldest two are in elementary school, but my boys are still at home. It was really hard to get writing done when they were home 5 days a week. Writing is my full-time job, and I knew I needed to do something, so I enrolled them in Mother's Day out a couple of days a week. I also get very little sleep That's the only way to meet all my deadlines. It has gotten a lot easier since my husband quit his job and works full time for me now. He does a lot of the Mr. Mom stuff, so I'm a lot more productive during the day. I have no idea how I got all my work done before that though. It's really hard. I'd get up early and stay up really late. And I'd fit in writing whenever I could during the day. It's all you can do. I wrote 2-3 books a year when the kids were home. I write 5 now they someone can watch them in the daytime.

Congratulations on the new baby!

Liliana, this is so inspirational! I've got two kids (one is 4 and the other is not yet 2) and I am just now getting back into writing on a regular basis. The first year with my second kid was tough because he was an awful sleeper. I walked around like a zombie. I'm just blown away by your discipline. The amount of work you managed to produce with 4 kids is absolutely mind-boggling. I guess I absolutely have no excuses. It can be done!

Laura, huge congrats on the second bundle of joy! For me, getting my oldest enrolled in a full-day pre-K was a huge help. I also became selfish about asking relatives to pitch in with the kids. Anyone I can rope in means more time to write.

 

[sarracannon]

Congrats on the baby! I had my first in June and it's been a nonstop struggle ever since. Like Liliana said, sleep is the first thing to go. The only way I was able to finish my most recent novel was to start working on it once he went to sleep at night and then stay up most of the night working. I would go to sleep at 6Am and get a few hours before he woke up, then nap when he napped in the morning. I have no idea what I would do with a toddler!

I'm sure you will find what works best for you though. Don't be too hard on yourself right now! Hang in there and congrats again on your Christmas baby!

 

[quiet chick writes]

Awww, congrats on the new little one!

I wouldn't even worry about it until the baby is sleeping regular naps. I don't think I wrote a thing for the first 3 months or so. I didn't even have the brainpower to read! But I remember when he got to be about 3-4 months old and settled into regular naps, I used to grab little writing sessions any time he slept. It could have been 30 minutes or 2 hours - you never know, but you take what you can get. Then once he started sleeping through the night, I had the nights too, though I figured I should pay attention to my husband then too.

Most of my practice novel was written when my son was between 1 and 2 years old. I used to write and plot in my head while I walked with him in a stroller. Then when we got to the playground, I'd let him loose in the sandbox for 5 minutes and vomit-write whatever good ideas I had into a little notebook, lol! He was always so good in the stroller though. That's where I got most of my drafting done - and I used to always see other parents out with their strollers and phone headsets on, making conference calls and such. Man, I wish I had my iPhone and Siri back then!

My son is 6 now and in 1st grade, so I have all day to procrastinate and waste time on Twitter... I mean, write.

 

[Emma Daniels]

Newborns and writing! I didn't even consider it. My brain was so fried from lack of sleep, I couldn't possibly have a creative thought in my head when all I could think about was; when am I ever going to get some sleep. So if you can write anything at all with a newborn AND a toddler around you're a super hero. Really truly.

 

[Ernie Lindsey]

Kid #1 and writing...

Our newborn son is 2 1/2 weeks old and still on an erratic sleep schedule.  My wife and I are both zombies at this point.  I'm (officially) an out-of-work technical writer, which means I'm at home and doing as much Mr. Mom stuff as I possibly can to help out, but this is all completely new to us so everything is a challenge.    We're just now settling into a rhythm and sleeping in shifts, but I've somehow managed to squeeze in 10K words on the new novel and completed a 4K word short story since we got home from the hospital on the 16th.  That's honestly about 13,999 more words than I expected.

I've been writing when they're both down for naps, or at 3AM when I'm up with him while my wife sleeps, or when she'll order me to go write and not come out of the office for a couple of hours.  Our circumstances probably allow for more available writing time than most, but it's there if I use it wisely.  I'm sure it'll be completely different for me when she goes back to work in March!  My plan is to learn how to write while wearing the baby in a Moby.

Or to grow a third (and fourth, and fifth) arm.

 

[CJArcher]

Congratulations, Laura!

My 2 are a little older than yours now but I was writing before I had them, and continued to write afterwards. I think the best thing you can do right now is cut yourself some slack. Set low word count goals, or none at all. I think once you have in your mind that your writing expectations are zero, it's only up from there  Your little bundle of joy will soon fit into your household rhythm and then you can write again when the kids are in bed. Once my second was sleeping through the night, my brain switched back on and I was able to get 2 hours of solid writing done every night after they were in bed.

Good luck and be kind to yourself for awhile. You deserve it!!!!

 

[Laura Lond]

Thank you for your replies everyone! Yes, I think I need to take it easy at this point. After all, I knew I wouldn't be able to sit down and write for hours - so no surprise here, LOL. At least I am managing to get some promo stuff done, place my existing books in more stores, etc. Every little bit counts. And I am doing some freelance work, too, so I guess I am accomplishing something.

 

[Becca Mills]

Big congratulations, Laura! Yay!!!

Sent from my LG-VS700 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Chantal Halpin]

Congrats 

I have two kids and I work so writing has to slot in around all of that - not to mention my hubby. When my youngest was little I used to write whenever she took a nap. My house looked like a bomb had gone off and I was eating a pack of chocolate hob-nobs a day to stay awake, but hey, I was writing. The hard bit was when her routine changed and she didn't nap much.

Anyway - enjoy them while they're so teeny; they grow up too fast!

 

[Amanda Brice]

Congrats! I had a baby last Thanksgiving, and I actually had a fairly productive year writing-wise. I did NOTHING the first yer of my daughter's life (she turned 3 three weeks ago), but I got a ton done during maternity leave this time around.

It sounds like a cliche, but second kids are just easier. You already have a routine and can fit them into your life. You don't have anywhere near the same upheaval as with the first.

Besides, your older daughter will be going to preschool soon (if she's not already), right? If not, definitely consider it. Mine are both in daycare/preschool because I work full-time, but when I was home on mat leave I sent the older one to daycare while I was home with the little one and it actually allowed me to get things done while the baby was sleeping.

 

[Laura Lond]

It sounds like a cliche, but second kids are just easier. You already have a routine and can fit them into your life. You don't have anywhere near the same upheaval as with the first.

Yes, I'm finding it to be true. There's the same amount of work, but at least we know what to expect and what to do. We were better prepared for some things, too - like we bought "swaddlers", for example, that keep the baby neatly wrapped (well, for the most part) instead of me trying to control those little hands that wander all over the place and wake her up.