Prescriptive, delightful, and packed with girlfriend-style advice that is right on the money, this funny yet practical, month-by-month guide helps busy women strike a balance between family, work, and home.
About 10 years ago, I sat at a board meeting for my local YMCA and thought, "When am I going to do something for me?" (It was one of the five nonprofit organizations that I was a board member.) At the time, I was an at-home mom with two children, running a family daycare from my home. I knew it was time to make some changes. I gave up my home-based business and had taken a position as an Events Coordinator for a major Western PA corporation. Although, I had this niggling in the back of my mind that I wanted be a writer. The problem was I didn't have the credentials or the experience.
With this goal, I started taken some non-credit writing courses at a local community college and tried my hand at writing children's fiction. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. And I knew it was time to try another genre when I read my short story and the leader of my critique group announced, "You'd have to be on drugs to like that story."
I was crushed. I remember driving home thinking "Is this what I really want to do?" What I hadn't realized at the time the critique group leader did me a favor. Over the next few weeks, I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to become a published writer I needed to change directions.
So, I followed the advice every beginning writer hears, "Write what you know." Moving forward, I wrote the directions for the craft/game idea I created for my son's second-grade class and sent it to Disney's FamilyFun Magazine and about six months later the editor bought it. Not only did they pay me $100 for it, but they published it in two other publications. Excited, I started writing articles with short tips for parents. These pieces were about birthday parties, organizing the house, balancing work and family, homework, sports, camp and home cooking.
I found I had a knack for writing practical tips for parents. Though I had a lot of rejections, I had a lot of acceptances, too. More than 100 articles later, it was time to move to the next phase--a book. And the busy lives of today's women would be the perfect topic for a book. A couple of years later, with agent representation "The Frantic Woman's Guide to Life" was released.
Now, two years after the release of that book, my second book "The Frantic Woman's Guide to Feeding Family and Friends" will be released in Sept. 2006.
Today, I'm still writing practical tip articles for parenting magazines and recently was the Bronze Winner for the Parenting Publications of America (PPA) 2006 Awards.
Ten years ago, I didn't realize that little niggling in the back of my mind was the first step. And it reminds me of Joyce A Myers' quote, "A number 2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere." She is so right!
Follow you dreams and have a sunny day!
Cheers,
Mary Jo
