A private message to our members:
In joining Pen Parentis, you have made a commitment to your writing career. You have acknowledged that what you are trying to do is impossible. Both writing and parenting are 24/7 jobs, and no one has enough hours in the day. If your toddler isn’t begging for more juice, your manuscript is.
How do we not go mad? We must, as all working parents do, acknowledge our limitations and instead of doing everything all at once, we must learn to juggle—we must give our full and undivided attention to the thing at hand, while everything else sails smoothly on its way. Catch what is falling, fix the problem, move on to the next big thing.
Acceptance of this image helps a lot; jugglers know that gravity will (naturally) win—it being a law of nature—and yet they serenely stand and throw more than one thing into the air. And catch. And toss. And catch. And it is art.
So let it be with us: in our daily lives, we will naturally drop a ball or two, but for the most part, if we can maintain internal serenity, we will be an art form unto ourselves, dancing against laws of nature while creating something beautiful.
Practically, how do we do it? The ways are myriad. Pen Parentis offers a members-only private message board. Any member can start a new thread. You can, whenever you log in. Some suggestions are managing guilt, managing time, forgiving yourself, prepare-ahead recipes, timesaving tips… there are endless possibilities. What’s on your mind today?
Share your ideas with your colleagues. No one can access these boards without membership—your fears and hopes and advice may address or answer issues that other parent-writers have. You can help them. They can help you. Visit the members-only message board and start a thread, or add to an existing thread. This is the core of our community—as writers we are all vehemently private. In this space, guilt can be confessed and alleviated, hopes can be uttered and possibly engendered. This is your private club, your safety zone, your home. Use it!
We hope you will be frequent posters and we wish you best of luck in your writing and in your parenting. We have kids and other works-in-progress too -- joining the juggling act is the first step in ensuring that your writing gets as much attention as it deserves.
Hang in there—
--M. M. De Voe
executive director
Pen Parentis
Parenting done, write.