16 Responses

  1. Lisa Bingham
    Lisa Bingham June 18, 2013 at 11:48 am |

    I love it!

  2. Karen Adair
    Karen Adair June 18, 2013 at 12:00 pm |

    Amen. I read the same blog posting and I have the same desire and passion to write, but the publishing dream has to include a well-balanced Mom and a clean house or it’s no dream at all. 🙂 I did the full time student thing for two years and the whole family bent over backwards to help with dinner, the house, etc. They knew there was an end goal. It wouldn’t always be like that. But I want to believe I can have it all. Heck, I’ve written books, crocheted blankets for friends and children, AND cleaned my house. I think we CAN have it all. 🙂 And btw, my children’s bookshelf looks messy even the day after I’ve cleaned it. *sigh* A sign of a busy, happy child. 🙂

  3. Valerie Ipson
    Valerie Ipson June 18, 2013 at 12:11 pm |

    I would love the link to that article.

  4. Rebekah Grow
    Rebekah Grow June 18, 2013 at 12:36 pm |

    Thank you Jennifer for posting this. I totally feel like this too and I don’t even have a novel out yet. I feel like my family is suffering but I want to be home with them and not at my day-job so I am motivated for something wonderful to help me stay home with my kids. Totally conflicted.

  5. Lehua Parker
    Lehua Parker June 18, 2013 at 1:27 pm |

    You will probably laugh as you read this, Jennifer, but when I come up for air and realize the house is a disaster, the kids are living on ramen and pizza, and the laundry is spilling out into the hallway, down the hall, and threatening to creep into the living room, I think about you. You always understand what my son keeps saying, but few people get: you will out live your work. No matter how big a best seller anyone writes, no matter how many lives she inspired, there’s going to come a point in our existence when it just doesn’t matter. Relationships and family memories matter, feeling good about yourself and the work you’re doing matters; the rest is just fluff. (Now excuse me while I kick the pizza crust father under the table–company’s coming!)

  6. Anika Arrington
    Anika Arrington June 18, 2013 at 3:18 pm |

    You are beautiful, Jennifer. Thanks for taking a moment to be honest. And remember that there will be a season when the kids are grown up and your days can be filled more with what you choose. Maybe all those ideas, tucked away will find their way to our bookshelves in years to come. Besides I just heard on the radio that keeping kids too clean is making them sick more often. Dirt don’t hurt, most of the time. 😉

  7. Brenda Dunne
    Brenda Dunne June 18, 2013 at 3:26 pm |

    Jennifer, I laughed, smiled and nodded my head reading this! Although I only have three, I completely relate. Company coming is just about the only reason to clean around here. With the farm, the constant after-school kid related movement, me working, hubby away for the entire year and the few moments I do have spent writing…cleaning is the LOWEST item on the list! And we eat pasta and rice a LOT.

    I think, though, that I’m showing the kids that when you are passionate about something and you have a dream, sometimes less important stuff has to fall away to make it happen. And pinto beans (or dog hair/cat hair/horse hair in my case) on the floor are not important! The kids see a comfy home and mom doing what she loves doing. In the end your kids won’t remember the beans. They’ll remember mom. 🙂

  8. Elsie Park
    Elsie Park June 19, 2013 at 8:53 am |

    Great post and great response to it, Jennifer! AND SO RIGHT!

    1. Jennifer
      Jennifer June 19, 2013 at 9:49 am |

      Thanks so much, Elsie! You are a writer with little ones, so I am sure you know just what I mean!

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