When a Single Mother Writes

"Mom, do you want me to pack my own lunch this morning so you can work more on your novel?"

This was an actual question by an actual 7-year-old in my household this morning, and amazingly, I almost said no. My mind went to images of excessive amounts of plastic wrap and grape jelly streaks on counters, and I almost said no. But I didn't, and in the process, not only did my daughter get a chance to show off her new-found self-sufficiency (albeit with some amount of excess plastic wrap), but I got 10 more minutes and five more sentences. How great is that?

Recently, I renewed my commitment to my writing life and have been making daily (if sometimes small) progress on a novel. Since I am single mother with a job (a few small jobs cobbbled together, actually, but I digress), I worried that my daughter would feel slighted by my taking on yet another project. Instead, she asks how it's going, and how many words did I write today. Instead, she offers to pack her own lunch.

It will not always go this way, I know. There will be times when she wants my focus at the same time as I'm urgently trying to start or finish a paragraph. Times when she needs me more, or differently, or is just less patient about it.

But what I'm finding is, at least at this stage, she has taken her cue from me. She is treating my writing as a serious and important pursuit because I am.

For any creative writer, and for a single mother writer especially, this is no small deal. To invest one's time, energy, and creativity to kind of work that is not and may never be paid or even seen is an act of dedication, faith, self-care, and profound belief in the value of art for art's sake. I sometimes still struggle with making it a priority amidst a daily over-long To Do list. Life is short, and there will always be laundry, forms to fill out, toys to put away.

Here's to the many kindred spirits who are tuning in to the urge to create and making it a part of their lives. We all have Other Things which threaten to eclipse our creativity practice.  But we can keep on creating, and affirm one another's need and right to do so. Starting... right... NOW.