However, I started thinking about it, and I really DON’T like the image of myself teetering along a rooftop, or walking a tightrope. Nor to I like to think of myself carrying a heavy bag on each shoulder in an attempt to remain balanced.  And I am definitely NOT a scale.

Yes, it’s just a saying – but I believe the way we think about these things matters. If I keep visualizing myself barely staying on the tightrope, I’m going to be scared and stressed out, and that is definitely not healthy.

So how can I visualize my life and manage all of the different demands it brings me?

Story is one way, and it’s something I’m learning more about. What is my story right now, and what do I really want it to be? How do my job, child-rearing, housekeeping, marriage and writing all fit into my story?  And how am I part of the larger story of God and the universe?

Big questions.  And I’m starting to find answers. I’m cooking up something on the writing front, and have a long-term goal in mind. But I think finding my story is about more than just goal-setting. I mean, a story is supposed to have a plot, and a theme, and a conflict to overcome.  It’s not just a steady plod toward a goal.

The glimmerings are there, in my head. I just have to put it all together.

I had this post half-written when I found that Chris Brogan was asking people to post about the importance of story in their lives. And he’s offering free books, so I figured I’d better get it done!  This post was also partly inspired by Christina Katz’s piece on balance in her weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer. And further inspired by a retreat I attended with Narrative Actualization.

Actually, I’m suddenly wondering whether balance is really a good metaphor for life after all. I’ll have to think about that more.

But for now, here you go:

Author Christina Katz (The Writer Mama) recommends A Lovely Little Book About Claiming the Physical, Mental, and Emotional Space You Need to Write. Christina also has a new ebook out, Author Mama.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi interviewed Katz earlier this year on Time Management For Writers.

Fellow Portlander Katy Wolk-Stanley recently noted that control is an illusion.

And here’s a post from Zen Habits on The Lost Art of Solitude.

Good night!

On What’s the Mission, I post spiritual reflections and book reviews (I belong to a great program called Viral Bloggers in which I get free books!).  Latest reviews include Picking Dandelions by Sarah Cunningham, Thy Kingdom Connected by Dwight J. Friesen, and A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren.

Six Boxes of Books was started by my sister Wendy (who once read all of the Newbery Award winners), and has expanded to include all three Burton sisters. We mostly write about children’s and young adult books. Some posts are reviews and some cover other book-related topics, like school book orders.

ParkroseGateway.com is a local news site/blog that I started for the neighborhood in which I live. It runs on the Neighborlogs platform.  I write about local schools, community events, sports, crime, businesses, or whatever I see that is interesting. Neighbors are invited to post, too. My most recent post is a roundup of coverage on the Aaron Campbell shooting, which occurred not far from here.

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook pretty much every day.

Cookie-baking: I wanted molasses cookies, because I had some delicious, buttery ones at an earlier holiday gathering. But rather than asking for the recipe, I searched for one online: “thin buttery molasses cookies”. Apparently there is something called “thin molasses cookies,” but they’re intended to be thin and candy-like. When I mixed up the batter, I didn’t like the consistency (mostly butter, sugar and molasses and very runny), so I added more flour.  When I baked them, they were first thin and chewy (didn’t puff up at all), and then thin and crunchy when they cooled. I had a lot of batter left, so I decided to add an egg, some baking soda, and a splash of vinegar to see what would happen. They pretty much turned out the same; just slightly less crunchy in the middle.  I didn’t like them, but the family ate them all.

Calling the optometrist’s office: Um. I still never did that.

Teaching the kid to read: That would be my four-year-old. No, I never intended to have her reading in two weeks. We did work on phonics and play games and read out loud a lot. She’s progressing nicely.

Losing weight: Ha ha. Yeah. I had good intentions of at least getting exercise, and did exercise on a few days out of the two weeks, but not enough. Why? We did have a lot of cold and/or rainy weather, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the only reason.

Spending time with family: Yes, definitely.We played games, read books, and watched movies together. We spent time with extended family members as well.  Last night we shrieked with laughter just from rolling a ball around the room. This was easily the most successful item on my list.

Writing: This went quite well, too. This is only the fourth entry I’ve put up on this blog in two weeks, which is low, but I also managed five pieces on ParkroseGateway.com and one on Six Boxes of Books. Best of all, I did some soul-searching and goal-setting.

I took advantage of Charlotte Rains Dixon‘s offer of a free 15-minute coaching session, in order to clarify where I want to go as a writer.  And in preparation, I did a lot of thinking about that, and came up with several things I haven’t been liking about my writing life. First, I haven’t been doing enough writing. But why? Sure, life gets in the way — but I think it’s also because writing is a dilemma for me. The dilemma is over what I should be doing – should I be writing list articles aimed at parenting magazines to make money, or cheap online articles for money, or blogging, or just whatever I want to write? We can certainly use money, so if I’m using my time not making money (as well as not cleaning house, spending time with family, etc.), I feel guilty.

Well, I’ve decided I want no more of that. I’m going to work hard on things I feel passionate about, whether it’s blogging or writing articles for magazines or trying some fiction.  My goals right now are simple: daily journaling (even if brief) and daily blogging (on at least one of my several blogs; it won’t always be this one). I’ll also be trying my hand at personal essays, with the goal of getting one published.

Reading good books: I read ten books I hadn’t read before, plus re-read The Dark Is Rising, The Grey King and Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper (it’s a seasonal thing).  This resulted in too many late nights, but was both enjoyable and worthwhile.

Keeping up with social networks: I felt like I often spent less time horsing around online than usual, but was able to keep up just fine. Yesterday I took an entire day off from the internet, and my life did not fall apart!

Lastly, did I do all of this on a schedule, as I originally suggested I might? Not really. I did make a list of things I wanted or needed to do, and divided them into morning, afternoon, and evening tasks. For instance, I put writing in the morning, because once I’m fully awake that’s usually when I have the most energy. But I didn’t always follow that plan; just used it as a guideline.

Overall, I feel good about how I spent winter break. I felt a great deal of joy and optimism (no mean feat, as I’ve been struggling with depression all fall), and although I didn’t do everything I wanted to, I did do the things that were most important to me: reading, writing, and spending time with family.  I feel good about the writing goals I’ve set for the year, and about life in general.

I’ve also found my blogging mojo, thanks to NaBloPoMo. Yes, I missed a couple of days, but between all of my blogs, I did manage more than 30 posts in November. I saw traffic go up on both of my two main blogs, and I discovered that telling a story is generally more popular than preaching. And apparently, people like socks.

I’d like to thank you for reading and commenting and “liking” on Facebook.  I do enjoy interacting with you all, and hearing in person that you’ve read my blog always makes me smile.

I’d also like to invite you to do a couple of things.

• First, if you like this blog, please recommend it to another person or two.
• Second, please check out my other blogs, ParkroseGateway (local news and reviews for east Portland) and What’s the Mission? (spiritual musings and book reviews), and another blog I occasionally contribute to, Six Boxes of Books.
• And finally, please follow me on Twitter and/or become a fan of TechnoEarthMama on Facebook.

Thanks again, and please stay tuned!

In other news, I’m planning to do NaBloPoMo this month. What? That’s National Blog Posting Month. That means I’m going to write at least one post per day. They may not all be on this blog, though. You can also find me at What’s the Mission, ParkroseGateway.com, and Portland WordPress User Group.

New genre?  Sure. You see, when techie types get together (or get into a chat room), they often end up comparing notes on what their earliest technology experiences were.  What was your first computer?  Your first programming language? Who has the oldest and most obsolete knowledge in the room?

I know.  GEEKS!  But it is an interesting topic to me, so it got me writing. It’s a way out of writer’s block, or a way to keep writing even when you’re brain dead — just write about something you’re interested in, or about a memory or series of memories, and don’t worry about whether anyone will ever read it.

I’m not publishing my technology memoir (at least not in its current form), but for the record, my first computer (my school’s first computer, that is) was a Commodore PET, on which I learned to program in BASIC.

It starts with me not getting enough sleep, either because I stayed up too late playing on the internets or because some kid was keeping me awake. Or because I was hacking and coughing all night.

The next day, I lack energy, and I get very little done.  I sleep in until the last possible moment, and rush through getting myself and the kids out of the house.  I push through the day at work, and arrive home around 5:15 to make dinner. I look in the fridge, sigh at the fresh vegetables beginning to turn brown, and pull something easy out of the freezer.  Beans and rice and salsa.  My husband groans because he wants meat. If I’m sufficiently cranky about this, I send him out to Papa Murphy’s and save the beans for another day.

After dinner, I’m ready to fall into bed, but the dishes at least need to be done. The kids empty the dishwasher, and I load it up.  There’s probably still stuff left over.  I may or may not take care of it.

I really need to sweep the floors, and clean the bathrooms, and put away my clothes.  I need to go through my inbox and make some headway on the other piles on my desk.  I want to write a blog post, and there’s that article I’ve been meaning to write, and another I wanted to send a query about.  I’ve got an unfinished novel from NaNoWriMo, too.

The kids want to sit on my lap.  All three of them. And I want them there. We sit and watch Live at 7 and Wheel of Fortune; or we sit and read. I can sit there with the laptop, but if I have things to do besides surf the internet, I need them off my lap.

When they go to bed at 8:00, I’m too tired to do anything interesting.  The energy isn’t there for writing. I might be able to get more household tasks done if I have to.  Or I could go to bed early.

If I have things that must be done that night, I won’t go to bed early. I might even go to bed late.  And the cycle continues. I don’t get enough sleep. I lack energy. I get things done slowly, so I stay up late again.  Or, I drink a couple of energy drinks during the day, I do get things done, but then I can’t fall asleep at night.  FAIL.

I’ve got to break out of this loop, but I’ve forgotten how.

The winner, by random drawing, is Erin Goodman of exhale, return to center!  Erin has won a signed, numbered copy of Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz.  Congratulations, Erin!

Before the class was even over I’d sold my first piece and become a published writer. Christina’s wisdom has been invaluable, so I’m very pleased to have her guest post on TechnoEarthMama as part of The Writer Mama Two-Year Anniversary Blog Tour. Christina has been posting on various blogs about becoming a book author. Today is part 18; you can find links to the other parts of the blog tour at The Writer Mama Riffs blog. Don’t forget to check at the end of this post for details on how to win a signed copy of Writer Mama! I’ll be drawing and announcing a winner tomorrow.

And now….

The Writer Mama Two-Year Anniversary Blog Tour Giveaway!

Post #18: Reasons to Write A Book

Let’s cover the upside of writing a book. I realize that yesterday’s post on things that can go wrong might have been a little discouraging. The good news is I’ve not yet covered all the positive reasons to write a traditionally published book.

These are the reasons that make your book-writing marathon worthwhile. Here are ten things to remember while you are working harder than you ever imagined possible on your first book:

1. You will establish yourself as an expert and build your credibility. Hopefully you already have before you start writing (as I discuss in detail in my second book, Get Known Before the Book Deal).

2. You will get paid to dive deeper into and expand on the expertise you already have. Think of your hours of research and exploration as a paid internship (but save that advance money because you are going to need it for book promotion!).

3. You will learn what it takes (and that you have what it takes) to write a book-length manuscript. This is very empowering in and of itself.

4. As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, writing a book will invite you to collaborate with a wide, diverse group of teammates. It will test your level of commitment, your follow-through, your organizational skills, and your ability to stay cool under extended deadline pressure.

5. You will learn how to be more generous. If there is one thing all authors must learn and learn quickly is the importance of the word FREE. Therefore, you will also have to learn your limitations and when you really need to say, “No thanks, I really need to pass this time.”

6. You will learn how to cultivate a community of readers and be a leader in that community. You will have the opportunity to create your own culture and be a thought leader in that culture and the world. You will become visible and known to folks all over the world.

7. You will get to experience all the hard work involved in book writing, production, sales and promotion process and this experience will transform the way you perceive yourself and therefore how others view you.

8. Writing a book is extremely humbling. Putting yourself out in the world means making yourself vulnerable and learning how to tolerate criticism and the occasional blast of negativity. You will definitely develop a thicker skin in the process.

9. You will learn a ton about the writing, selling, marketing, and promotion of books from your experiences writing, selling, marketing and promoting your book.

10. Your professional rates will increase. Of course, rate increases are contingent on audience and timing more than anything. But generally speaking, being a published author comes with a certain amount of cachet, so it’s quite likely that you can charge more for your time than you did before writing a book.

Today’s Book Drawing: To enter to win a signed, numbered copy of Writer Mama, answer the following question in this blog’s comments:

Why do you wish to write a book? These are certainly not the only reasons. The possibilities are limitless. Please share yours!

Thanks for participating! Only US residents, or folks with a US mailing address can participate in the drawing. Please only enter once per day.

Where will the drawing be tomorrow? Visit http://thewritermama.wordpress.com to continue reading the rest of the Writer Mama story throughout March 2009!

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Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz (Writer’s Digest Books 2007)
Kids change your life, but they don’t necessarily have to end your career. Stay-at-home moms will love this handy guide to rearing a successful writing career while raising their children. The busy mom’s guide to writing life, this book gives stay-at-moms the encouragement and advice they need including everything from getting started and finding ideas to actually finding time to do the work – something not easy to do with the pitter-patter of little feet. With advice on how to network and form a a business, this nurturing guide covers everything a writer mama needs to succeed at her second job.

Christina Katz is also the author of the newly released Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books 2008).