a website & community for women who write & blog
A few years ago I had the honor of attending a lecture by renowned journalist Soledad O’Brien. During the Q&A period of O’Brien’s talk an audience member asked her a question often asked of highly successful women who juggle busy careers with motherhood: How do you balance it all?
O’Brien’s answer was quite simple. “I don’t,” she said.
Many writers find themselves on a path that leads them to the classroom and I am no different. Teaching literature, composition, or creative writing is an excellent way to use your love for the written word to make money and make a difference.
My teacher life started in graduate school where I taught poetry and communication classes to undergrads. Several years later after leaving my full-time job as a newspaper reporter I would return to the classroom, this time as a full-time high school English teacher at my alma mater.
Because of the success I had in the classroom in grad school and because of my deep love for the school at which I was teaching I thought my first year as a full-time teacher would be easy.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
When school is in and I’m back to juggling my full-time teaching job with my part-time blogging business, my whole life changes. My workout schedule changes, my wardrobe changes, what I eat changes. Even the bag I carry gets a makeover. I go from carrying a chic handbag from H&M to rocking a huge Target tote that could be mistaken for carry-on luggage. But in that tote are all the things I need to manage both my teacher life and writer life and my life as a boss babe blogger.
Let’s take a look inside!
Some nights when I can’t sleep I do the very thing you should not do when you can’t sleep: I reach for my phone. I know that staring at the light from the screen is going to keep me awake till daybreak but I do it anyway. I grab my phone and binge read blog posts.
If you’re a Birmingham babe, kick off your weekend with a performance of Cirque du Soleil: TORUK.
From artsBHAM:
When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy the sacred Tree of Souls, Ralu and Entu, two Omaticaya boys on the brink of adulthood, fearlessly decide to take matters into their own hands…So begins the adventure of Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK – The First Flight. The arena spectacular brings the world of James Cameron’s AVATAR to Birmingham’s Legacy Arena for five performances only: August 19 – August 21, 2016! Tickets are priced beginning at $33.00 (prices subject to change).
Tickets can be purchased at CirqueduSoleil.com/TORUK or by calling 205-458-8400.
Because brunch is bae, start Saturday with Birmingham Restaurant Week’s inaugural brunch festival, set for August 20, at noon. This event will bring together some of the “best of the brunch” restaurants of Birmingham and will feature hot, iced and nitro coffee from Royal Cup, mimosas, wine from United Johnson Brothers, sodas and lemonade from Buffalo Rock. Get more information here.
Then end the evening with jazz flutist Kim Scott. In celebration of the release of her third album “Southern Heat” Kim will give a concert Saturday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Alabama School of Fine Art’s Dorothy Jemison Day Theater. Presented by Magic City Smooth Jazz, she’ll be performing all the music from the album, including her newest Billboard charting single, “Sizzle”, with some of her most talented musician friends. There will be a pre-concert reception for VIP attendees, surprise musical guests and much more. The album will be released for sale immediately following the show. Tickets and info at http://www.djdtheater.org.
What are you doing this weekend?