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!
Energetic. Bubbly. Joyful.
These are all words people have used recently to describe me.
One person even said, “I wonder if you ever have a bad day.”
Another said she admires me because I am “so together.”
While these comments are sometimes flattering, sometimes that make me wonder if I’m being fake.
“A woman must have… a room of her own if she is to write.” – Virginia Woolf
I never needed a room of my own to write, but I longed for one anyway.
As a girl when I shared a room with my younger brother I found a way to write my really bad poetry in spite of all the chaos that little brothers can bring. (I love you, C.J.!)
But when I finally got a room of my own at age 12, I felt like a queen reigning over her queendom. My bad poetry got a bit better and I started writing short stories, too.
Fast forward to adulthood and at age 25 I found myself sharing my room again — this time with my husband. I continued to write nonetheless. No longer much of a poet or fiction writer, I was busy writing articles for newspapers and magazines, blog posts for websites, and personal essays for myself.
I could and would write anywhere — at our dining room table, on our sofa, in our bed. But that famous quote from Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own stayed in my head and I kept dreaming of a home office.
Last year, when my husband and I became first-time homeowners and traded in our two-bedroom apartment for a three-bedroom house, my dream came true.
I love my whole house from its high ceilings to its hardwood floors, but my office is the apple of my eye. And the reactions my girlfriends give when they see it for the first time cause me to swell with joy.
“Oh my gosh! Hashtag goals!” one person said.
“This is a YouTube office!” exclaimed another friend.
“Your office is like a Pinterest board come to life,” declared someone else.
But I’m not writing this post just to brag about how dope my office is. I want to offer a few tips to help you create an inspiring workspace of your own.