If you're a parent on social media you've probably seen those articles or blog posts that are meant to tug at your heart strings. The ones that say, "the dishes can wait, your children can't." They implore you to relish every moment of your precious children's life because they grow up so quickly. And it is precious. And they do. But... I'm here to say - close that article, get off social media and go do those darn dishes, they won't do themselves. The children are alright. They really are. See, when my boys were little, those posts DID tug at my already tender heart strings. But seriously, life must go on. I don't like eating off the floor. Or wearing the same clothes for a month. Or letting my garden to turn into a jungle. It's ok to take care of the things that need to be taken care…
After a lovely summer, I've thrown myself into working on a novel, a chapter book, some picture books and some poetry. I'll be attending a conference in May and have booked manuscript assessments with two publishers and had to submit these manuscripts last week. Plus I've entered a writing competition and submitted a poem for an anthology called Celebrations which will be published later this year. It's all been a lot of fun playing with words while the children are at school but I've also been playing with visual arts - drawing, painting and collage. These have been amazing for stimulating my creativity and almost a form of meditation, so calming. So much so that I started sneaking into my "office" on the weekend to do a quick sketch or watercolour painting and ended up with my boys following me out and joining me. And by "joining", I mean taking…
