a website & community for women who write & blog
Earlier this week I interviewed one of Birmingham’s top education professionals for one of my freelance writing gigs. I asked her about her hobbies and after telling me about her favorite places and things to do in Birmingham she said, “If you’re bored in Birmingham, that’s your fault.”
I couldn’t agree more and that statement is especially true this weekend.
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.