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June 19, 2003 Busily I write away and then it happens, a mental file flies open. Quickly grabbing a post-it note, I jot down the time of soccer practice, the name of a game my son had said he wanted for his birthday that was coming up in two weeks, and a website that I read chocked full of quick and easy recipes. No sooner have I done that then I zone out for five minutes, wondering where the time has gone, my son is entering the double digits, how can that possibly be? The questions loom in my mind about the way Ive raised him and how he has turned out. A memory of the time he first spit up on me sends me into maternal bliss. Then a story begins to take shape. Back to the keyboard I type a new entry, aware that I have fifteen other half started stories and articles. A parent has that unique ability to multi task better than any corporate CEO could dare to dream. Important dates and sports events are logged away in a mini file stuck between hundreds of other files of equal importance whether of things that were or things to be. Somewhere amidst all that we have our individual file where we try to keep things so when we are out without the children we can at least hold an adult conversation. Though challenge me to a Disney Trivia game and Im all over it! Somewhere inside, everything is logged, filed away, and we spend all our time opening and closing them. Grocery lists, birthdays, and bill payments oh my. Then there is the writing parent. How do we do it? As a writer our greatest talents are our ability to communicate our words with humor, attitude, drama, and fun. Our minds and imaginations place us in the ultimate writers pedestal. All day we know how to float on lifes clouds bouncing from work to home to writing to meal planning to gentle kisses on the booboos to story time. Then if we are lucky our bodies get a little downtime but rarely does our mind shut down. Even during sleep we are dreaming up another story. As a parent who writes I think we are the ones who push our kids to really use their imaginations and take them places they wouldnt otherwise go. We know the value of what our minds can do. Reading and writing become the fundamentals and the first time our little budding writers bring home their picture book we pat them on the back and visualize their names on a bestseller list someday, of course after our own has been on there for sometime. I mean, its only right. Someday I will go back to those fifteen started stories and complete them and then watch out literary world! But still we move on and I think parents who write have the hardest job of them all. Who else can stumble through the day, taking care of breakfast and lunches, staff meetings and interviews, dinner and family time, insomnia and sickness and still punch out a story that can make you cry, laugh, scream, or ask why would someone write that? A single day is filled with distractions, intrusions, and visions in our heads. Checking our email with fingers crossed that someone out there gets it, understands, sees the potential you know you have. Hoping that our stories of happy endings and the world going right for a change can actually find a home amid all the deep psychological how much stranger can we get stories that seem to get top billing. We scramble on those few minutes for the new markets, the projects, contests that dont charge a fee. There arent enough hours in our day to be everything to everyone, but we as writing parents come closer than anyone I know. I believe there is enough out there for all of us. Let the lesser-known parent writers take center stage for a month and Ill bet there would be an increase in both print and electronic books. But we are patient and accept that until we get the interest of just the right person, our normal routine of parental mental filing will go on and hey why not, it is what we do best. I stare at my computer screen, the one that has a post-it note border and watch the words fly. Another story has made its way to the paper and it is halfway there. I am so close I can almost taste it. Oh no, I hear a file open! Yes, I must order the birthday cake, decide on a theme, get wrapping paper, and make a list of the gifts he wants. I guess another story will have to wait because my son has a birthday and that is the most important deadline I have to worry about right now. ------------ About the author: Nancy Jackson is a full time author and poet with works in Literati, Twilight Times, Anotherealm, Sonny World, and various anthologies. Her pasttimes include spending time with her loved ones, drinking wine, and lots of writing! Email Nancy Jackson: coryann93@yahoo.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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