You’re mother of the year by comparison.ġ1. Embrace the concept of the good-enough mother. You’ll learn to make something pretty good out of semi-prepared stuff from Trader Joe.ġ0. Even if you have to go to bed after your spouse. Make sure there’s an early enough bedtime that you can see your spouse for an hour, and then go to work for an hour or two. But when you need five more minutes, what the heck. Why do they always want to draw on the couch with the Chanel lipstick? Can never be the Maybelline. “Draw me the inside of the spaceship.” “Draw me the controls of the spaceship.” “Draw me the planet the spaceship comes from.”ħ. “Draw me a spaceship, honey.” There’s five minutes, ten if you’re lucky… Get them to include details, like rivets and eyelashes. Once I had a kid, I could work at Grand Central Station. Then I couldn’t work if someone was in the room. When I first started writing I couldn’t work if someone was in the house. If you have a few minutes to write, grab them. Be prepared for your child to love that kid more than you.ĥ. Find a mother’s helper babysitter, a junior high kid who can use a few bucks and will keep your toddler amused while you’re home. It will remove the temptation to do the laundry or wash the dishes.Ĥ.

If you have help for a few hours, or if the kid’s at pre-school–LEAVE THE HOUSE and go work. Tend to the inanimate only when you have to. Then, take care of the animate–kid, spouse, dog. Buy the one that takes the whacking big D batteries, those suckers last forever and you’re going to be using this a lot.Ģ. Put the baby in there, and guaranteed, 45 minutes of peace to get some work done. The number one essential tool for the new writer/parent–The Baby Swing. Here are her thoughts on writing while under the influence of children:ġ. On Janet’s own blog she shares her writing based on single word prompts. Her upcoming book is set in the years of the Russian Revolution. The following is a guest post by Janet Fitch, author of Paint it Black and White Oleander (an Oprah’s Book Club book).

Janet fitch author