I'm posting from sunny California and will be here for the next month or so. One of my sisters is having her eighth child (yes, 8!) and her Air Force husband has unexpectedly had to deploy to somewhere scary far away that I'm not supposed to mention. She's on bed rest because of pregnancy complications and we are all hoping and praying that she makes it at least a couple more weeks before she has to deliver her baby.
It's great to see her and my cute nieces and nephews but let me just say that taking care of nine children (her current seven plus two of mine) is exhausting. And since she's on full bed rest, I need to be the main person to also keep the house clean, do the laundry, cook, grocery shop and run errands. I had no idea that just keeping that many little kids fed, basically clean (which includes changing diapers for three of them) and supervised is a constant job. Like - barely get to sit down for more than a few minutes in an entire day - job. I have three kids which keeps me busy but NINE feels like far more than triple the normal work I do in my home, more like ten times the normal work! I have an even greater respect for my sister and her husband than before.
Needless to say, all my goals for summer writing have been shelved for a while. I brought my laptop with me in the hopes of squeezing in a few sentences on my WIP now and then but I've realized that even blogging once a week or so may not happen. I'm happy to be able to help my sister and right now that's more important that my previous plans.
Hopefully I can jump online occasionally and enjoy some bloggy time visiting your blogs or writing on mine. But if not, I just wanted to share a little update.
Hi! I'm Leslie. Mom to three fun kids and two fluffy kittens. Chocolate and caramel aficionado. Occasional domestic goddess. Resident of the sunny, sagebrush side of Washington state. Book reader extraordinaire. Middle grade and young adult writer in training, one word at a time. That's me. Thanks for visiting and let me know what you think in the comments.
Quotes and Cookies: Failing... And succeeding
3 hours ago
Oh my goodness! One or two children can be a handful at times, but nine! I wish you the best of luck! I hope everything goes well with your sister's pregnancy, and that the baby hangs on inside for a bit longer!
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! But hey, at least you are in sunny CA! :-) Good luck with everything. Maybe you can get some reading done in your spare moments instead of writing.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool you're there to help take care of her. Of course that takes precedence. Hope all goes well for your sister.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, that's a lot of crazy.
Good luck to your sister (and her husband). You are amazing for helping them out. Good for you and I'll be here when you're back in the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteLucky! That's my home state. Enjoy your vacation! :)
ReplyDeleteYou will be missed during your hiatus. Good luck with all of your responsibilities!
ReplyDeleteYou dear sister! Wow, what a job. That's quite a brood of kids! Good luck and I hope everything goes well with your sister! (and her husband)
ReplyDeleteLeslie!!! 9 chitlins???!!! I was in PG again this last week, and between me, Mark, and Erin, there were 7 children...we thought that was crazy. You have all 9 basically to yourself?! I am sending you positive energy vibes right now :) One of these days, we need to coordinate us being in PG at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI'm just getting off a blogging hiatus. It's pretty refreshing :) Can't wait to see you back. Keep sane!
ReplyDeleteEIGHT KIDS!!! Wow! So awesome for you to go help her out, hope everything goes well both in CA and with the life you left in UT!
ReplyDeleteWow! Good luck for your sister and husband, and you, too! Nine kids at once, three in diapers. That's an amazing amount of work. We'll see you when you get back!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your message. Have you read lots of picture books? It's an excellent way to get a really good feel for what works. And it's worth checking out the recent ones (so you could go into a bookshop and read through lots of them -very carefully of course!). And if you buy some that you think are great, or get some really good ones out of the library, try typing them out and looking at them as manuscripts so you can see where the page turns happen and the shape of the story. That can really help give you a feel for it. I would really recommend joining SCBWI and there are all sorts of events where you can learn from other authors and editors and agents. We've got critique groups which can be extremely valuable in helping you make your story the very best it can be. My latest post is all about feedback on your writing, which might help (click on my name on the right hand side of the blog and it'll come up). And don't worry about your story not coming out perfect first time round: it often takes lots and lots of editing to get it right.
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