Writing about Writing

Shortly after I resumed writing this blog, I was offered the opportunity to write for both Home Educating Family magazine and Home Educating Family Association’s blog. Home Educating Family Association runs a leading online homeschool curriculum fair and prints an excellent home education magazine. The magazine is nice. It’s a full color, glossy magazine for the homeschooling community that offers practical and spiritual advice, support, and encouragement for homeschoolers. The website is a one-stop curriculum fair where you can view home education curriculum from a wide variety of publishers, all from the comfort of your living room.

 

Writing professionally has been a dream of mine for a couple of decades. I don’t know the exact definition of “professional writer,” but since I am being paid for my efforts, I will hesitantly lay claim to the title. With the offer to write my own column for the magazine came a very short deadline.  I was given two weeks to write an essay about father/daughter relationships for the March issue. That article was far harder to write than I thought it would be. I volunteered to write an additional arts/crafts/activity piece, due on the same day. I wrote it and took the necessary pictures on the morning of the deadline. I was offered my own monthly blog entry for the HEF website, with an article due Christmas Day (that was moved back two days for the holiday) and I had to write the family’s annual Christmas letter.  I was suddenly faced with a lot of writing to complete in a short period of time, and I realized that deadlines are deadlines no matter how strong the writer’s block.

I was absolutely blessed with opportunity, for which I am very grateful. 

The big challenge in all of this is to remain funny and relevant. That requires a lot of mental energy in a house that is not known for its calming atmosphere. Humor on demand is difficult. Clean humor on demand is even harder. As I look back over the years at my blog writing, I see a lot of humorous writing completed at my leisure. There’s the rub. Time. I didn’t have a lot of it. I didn’t post anything here.  

I have submitted all the writing that my editors need at this time. I have a month before my next deadline and I know the topic about which I will write. My Christmas letter was printed, mailed, and in the recipient’s mailboxes before Christmas day, which is a record for me. So, I thought I would visit my writing workshop, this playground of words, and pick up where I left off.

 

I will leave links to the blog pieces when they are published online. My Christmas article will be available online sometime in the spring, if anyone is interested. And as usual, I’ll share the latest hijinks with the kids. They are my constant source of entertainment and frustration. Life is good that way.