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5 Ways To Balance Writing, Day Job, & Parenting
Finding the time/energy/emotional balance required to successfully navigate it all
If you’re reading this, you probably know me because of my novels. There’s three of them out now, the latest being WE COULD BE HEROES, and the next one being LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME (January 2022, preorder now!). These have come on an annual cycle, landing every January since 2019 — and theoretically, will be that way until at least 2024.
Which seems like a pretty hectic pace, right? Especially when you factor in my day job (I live in the Bay Area, so even if I had Neil Gaiman levels of success, I’d probably still need a day job) but also parenting a very feisty, very spirited daughter. And my wife and I are pretty intent on having a healthy split of parenting duties, though the pandemic definitely exacerbated all types of stressors.
So one question I’m commonly asked is “how do you do it?” This was pretty common before the pandemic, but even more so during the time of virtual kindergarten and zero childcare. It hasn’t been easy, but you do kind of get into a rhythm after a while, and here are five things I’ve learned that really help all of the time/energy/emotional balance required to successfully navigate this.
