Mommying and Writing: The Nitty Gritty - Priorities

I've been running a 'Mommying and Writing' series. Just a few things I've learned along the way as both a Mommy and a Writer! To read the previous posts, scroll down!

Focus on Priorities.

Another thing that has helped me focus on both Mommying and writing is prioritizing. In both cases it’s easy to get caught up in “good things” while missing out on the “best things.” This is a mistake I made for many years. In the publishing business there are always trends—things that are hot at this moment. There have been romance trends, sci-fi trends, teen novel trends, and everything in between. My natural instinct was to look at a trend and think I can do that. Then I’d set to work trying to produce something that fit with what the editors seemed to be looking for. The only problem was often I wasn’t writing out of passion, I was writing for publication. And it showed. A second problem was that by the time my stuff was ready to be submitted the trend had run its course (either that or the market was flooded) and those projects were no longer needed.


The same is proved true in parenting. There were “trends” around me—things others were getting their kids involved it that seemed like a great idea at the time. There was the t-ball trend, the ballet trend, the art class trend, and the karate trend. Again my tendency was to go with the crowd instead of considering my kids’ natural talents and interests.


In both cases, it took stepping back and considering. What am I designed to write? What are my kids designed to do? Through the process I learned that what God had designed me to do was unique from what everyone else was doing. And that He’d created my kids with natural giftings, too. So as I studied my kids, I learned how to better study myself and my writing. And as I focused on what I was called to write, I also became more aware of the areas I needed to encourage in my kids. And as I focused on priorities in both areas I became better at doing both. I also had more time to spend doing things that would matter most five years down the road. Things like family dinners, and Bible Studies, and afternoon picnics at the park.