I was asked yesterday how do I manage
being a stay at home mum (SAHM) and a self-publishing business owner.
It is a really great question. I have only been a sole trader
business for 18 months and learning to manage my home, the squidlets,
laundry and a book business has been interesting. It became much
easier when my daughter turned three and we could place her in kindy
a few days a week. It also helped that my hubby lived in another city
at the time, studying towards his degree. Empty evenings became full
of writing and illustrating, formatting and publishing.
I love what I do and I only do what I
love. That means the stuff that I should be doing doesn't always get
done. I am two months behind on my accounts, and laundry - although
washed and dried daily, it doesn't make it off 'cloth mountain' until
the weekend. Some days I nail it! I write new stories, connect with
my illustrator, promote my books and a bunch of others, and move up
the Amazon rankings, all the while keeping kids safe, fed, clothed
and the house spotless. Other days – not so much. It wasn't until
after leaving the house, dropping Mr 5 off at school, and arriving at
our first appointment today that I realised that, not only had I not
brushed my daughter's hair, but she had glumps of tooth paste in it,
on her face and on her Petal the Owl hat. Oh. My. Goodness!
What I have come to realise is that my
business comes second to my kids - always. It didn't use to. I spent
camping last New Years glued to my laptop watching book sales roll in
– not that watching it would have made any iota of difference to
the numbers. I get carried away at times, so excited about writing my
latest story, reading my latest novel, watching my latest numbers
that I forget that two littlies need my care and attention. Tooth
paste fights in the upstairs bathroom only ever happen when they
believe I'm not going to take notice.
We have a rule in the house now. No
computer time before or after school. That rule applies only to me.
Pretty bad, I know, but at least it works - until I made the local paper yesterday and got inundated with workshop registration enquiries. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/9281179/Family-live-e-book-fairytale
I'm a SAHM who sells self-published
children's ebooks on Amazon. And I am bloody good at it!
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