A fun "hobby".

I drawing inspiration from my writing partner, Jess McCallen's, blog (http://jessmccallen.blogspot.com) today. She really is kick a**. Published writer, mom, wife, runs a farm, going back to medical school. No seriously, I'm waiting for her to sprout wings. It's crazy.

But anyway, she wrote about being a writer the other day, and it inspired me. Mainly because I hear some of the same comments she gets all the time. People say to me, "Oh, you write? That's a great hobby." Then I get some giant line of BS about how since my youngest is special needs, maybe I should put my "hobby" on the back burner and focus on my family.

There is no quicker way to piss me off than telling me that. Like, seriously.

0 to 10 in 3 seconds. Not a joke.

So this morning I am going to write about my "fun little hobby".

Okay, so most of you know that I have written 4 books, and that I am working on my 5th. My fourth book is out there in cold query land, trying to catch the illusive Literary Agent's attention, and I am writing my second book in my Fairfield Series. I write night and day. If the kids are busy watching a movie, I write. If I am sitting in the pickup line at my children's school, I write. I stay up until AT LEAST 11 or 12 every night writing, because when you have four kids and a husband, there isn't much other time to write during the day, though I always sneak some time in somehow...

The bottom line is: I write all the time.

Until my book sells and I can afford to put my kids with a sitter (part time, you family activists...back down.) so that I can work normal hours, like a normal person, with a normal job...this is what I've been left with. Here and there and everywhere. I write during family movie night. I write when my friends are all out for girls night, I skip it so that I can stay home and write. I skip family get togethers (not all of them...again, family activists...back down.) so that I can stay home and write. I put almost everything (except my nerd and my kids) on the back burner for the sake of staying home and writing.

And I get beat up for it, too. Because I don't have a paycheck yet, I get harassed. I get sass from my friends because I'm not paying enough attention to them. (Because my friends should be my top priority, right? Even above my kids and husband and CAREER, however unpaid I am, right?) I get sass from my extended family because all I focus on is my kids and my writing, and "shouldn't you find a better balance?"

Well, yes, balance is important. But in my opinion, I've got things balanced just fine. I am an attentive mother to my kids. I take them to their appointments and to school, and I feed them and play with them and read to them and love them. I love my husband and give him attention and feed him as well. And I write. Those are the two most important things in my life: My family and my writing. Sure, I do other things, too. I go to the movies with friends and I spend time outdoors in the Spring and Summer. But...my top priorities are: My family and my career.

And yes, I realize I am still unpublished.

But, to me, it doesn't matter. My friends read and like my stories, and someone, somewhere will see the potential and publish them. It might be after I die, and everyone is driving hovercars, and my books (which are now contemporary) will be considered historical romance...but still. I'll get there.

What my point is: After reading Jess' post about how many hours she logs in as a writer, all on top of being a wife and mom, I decided to do the same. So...in the last 2 days, I've logged in...

Get this, you'll freak...

21.5 hours of writing.

Nope. Not kidding. I did some late at night, some early in the morning. Some while the kids were playing, some while they were napping. A bit here, a bit there. A bit while dinner simmered, a bit more while the kids ate their dessert. And in the last 53 hours....I've written 21.5 hours. No kidding. And no, I don't sleep much at all.

Now....next time you want to send me a guilt ridden text about how I'm not paying enough attention to you, or how I should find some more balance in my life, or how I need to focus more on my family, or how I am spending too much time on my hobby. Let me just make this clear:

This is my career. You wouldn't ask a doctor to stop doing his or her rounds so that she can sit on the  phone and gossip with you for an hour. You wouldn't ask a judge to skip court, so that he/she can go out and party all night with you. You wouldn't ask the captain of a ship, to leave the helm so that he/she could "do lunch" would you? Um, no. This is my career, whether or not there is a big fat paycheck involved. It is what I do. And right now, it is the only source of balance I have in my life.

When you spend most of your day with a child on the Autism Spectrum, it is almost the equivelent of banging your head against a wall at times. IF I couldn't escape into my writing every day, I would be the most unhappy wife and mother alive. This is my one source of escapism. Don't take it away. Don't knock me for it. Don't pretend you know what it feels like to live my life, or be a writer.

Only writers get writers. And that's a fact.

So back off, and stop knocking my "hobby". The joke will be on all of you when I am signing MY book for you. HA!

Brooke Moss.