Pros and Cons of Having a Writer for a Mom

I asked my kids what some of the good and bad things were about having a writer for a mom...and I filled some in from my own observations :D

Con - When she's working on a picture book, you get scolded in rhyme..."Please flush the toilet before you leave, wash your hands and turn off the light!Get those dang toys off my living room floor and don't make me break up that fight!"

• Pro - You get the best bedtime stories EVER

• Con - You spend your days with the tv and mealtimes with a box of cereal

• Pro - You spend your days with the tv and mealtimes with a box of cereal

• Con - Mom tends to forget mundane things like doing the laundry and grocery shopping

• Pro - You get to wear your Halloween costume to school for three days in row and live off of PopTarts and Goldfish crackers (*ahem* I'll admit to the junk food but my kids have never worn their costumes to school...they do occasionally have to wear their bathing suits to bed instead of underwear but they always have a full set of clothing by the time they wake up :D )

• Con - The house is a mess

• Pro - Mom doesn't notice your room is also a mess and therefore doesn't make you clean it

• Con - When Mom says "Just a second, I just need to finish this scene real quick" this really means you'll see her in about a week

• Pro - You can get away with a lot more than usual because she's usually too distracted to notice what you are doing

• Pro - It's kinda cool to have your mom come to your school and read one of her books to your class

• Con - Mom can be kind of a dork so it's not always so cool to have your mom come to your school to read a book to your class

• Pro - you get a bunch of books dedicated to you and you can tell all your friends you helped your mom write her latest book

• Pro - As soon as Mom's project is done you get extra special attention to make up for all the hours she spent glued to the computer

• Pro - It's kind of fun to have a mom with an imagination as big as your own
  
  What would your kids say are the pros and cons of having a writer for a mom or dad?

Occupational Hazards

Someone stole an hour from me this morning....not nice, people...not nice at all *ahem* I guess I better go fix all my clocks now - although some of them are finally right since I never changed them last time daylight savings rolled around LOL

Anyhow, in the midst of all this NaNo0ing, blog posting, revising, rewriting, new writing, critting, making fun swag for my book release, sweating over when my galleys are going to show up, and all the other fun/crazy/sometimes stressful stuff that goes along with being a writer, I got to thinking....

Despite it all, I love being a writer!

Though it definitely comes with its nutbag of occupational hazards.

For instance:

The older I get, the more I find I have to write things down immediately, so there are strange little notes all over my house. Like “break up after the pallbearer fight” (that one prompted my husband to ask if we were splitting up and if so, why would we split over pallbearers) or “100 year old skeletons could still have hair” (which made my poor husband ask if I was hiding a body somewhere that he should know about).

It’s going to take years of therapy to get me over the roller coaster of the writing and revision process…and the querying and submission process…and the publication process and marketing process…and…well, you get the point…

I need a lifetime membership to Weight Watchers since I live off of chocolate and goldfish crackers when writing.

I tend to scare perfect strangers because I can’t stop staring at them and muttering to myself (in my defense, the guy looked EXACTLY like one of the characters in my book, but he had a cool scar on his forehead that I wanted to incorporate and I didn’t want to forget so I was leaving myself a mental note…out loud…’cause that helps me remember :D )

I’m constantly afraid Social Services is going to take my kids away since I haven’t cleaned the house in a month and give them cereal for dinner every night. They DO have clean clothes though…they just have to dig them out of a basket or one of the piles on the couch….

But all in all, the joys of being a writer far outweigh any of the *coughcough* side effects :)

What are some of your occupational hazards? Do the joys of what you do make up for any of the less joyful bits? Do people think you are crazy stalker just because you plan on using their look or personality in your next book? :D