HOW TO BE A WORK FROM HOME WRITER... WITH KIDS

About a decade ago, when I only had two children, I wrote a piece for WAHM.com called The Working Mom's Tricks to Writing a Novel in Your Free Time.

The tips boiled down to:

* Think First
* Skip Lunch
* Write Longhand
* Get Your Kids Into the Act

I have been told by many moms since then that they found my advice very helpful. You can read the extended version of the article, here.

At the time, I was working outside of the home. With the birth of my third child almost eight years ago, I switched to working from home, which led to its own set of challenges.

My current project, after a dozen traditionally written, edited and published books, is writing my latest family saga live online, where readers can watch every key stroke, every mistake and every deletion - and offer feedback as I go along. (After all, what's the point of telling a writer what you don't like after the book has been published? What am I supposed to do about it then?)

You'd think writing naked, as it were, would be enough of a challenge. But add three kids into the mix, and you end up with days like the below:

UPDATE 11/11/14
Tales of the Work From Home Mom Writer. Yesterday, 5th grader was off from school so we went to the park and to a Book Club. Today, the 15 year old is home from school, so we’re going to buy him a winter jacket. I lead a glamorous life! (And write around it.)

UPDATE 11/12/14
First time since I started live writing that I am going into a scene with absolutely no idea what’s going to happen. So take a look and see if anything actually does.

UPDATE 11/13/04
Now the 7 year old is home sick from school. It’s a Working From Home Mom Trifecta!

Want to know what happens when a mom writes live... with children? Go to: http://www.alinaadams.com/live/ to see it happen - live! And make sure to let me know what you think in the Comments (and read what others have already had to say. My favorite comment so far? "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!")