At least six people a day (give or take three or four) ask me this question. It's taken me awhile, but I've come up with a really great answer. "Um...I'm not sure really." And I'm not. I can tell you what I do know. Yes, let's start there.

I do know that I love to write and always have. I do know that it's my passion, my sweet spot, what I was born to do. I do know that reading and writing are two of my most favorite activities in all of life. I do know that if I had a free day to myself to do anything at all--anything at ALL--I would curl up with a pile of books in a bookstore. Then write for awhile. Then read. Then write. Then read some more. And somewhere in there, I'd find something to eat and drink something yummy and coffee-ish.

So, that's part of the answer. Writing is my hobby, what I do for fun. When the kiddos are sleeping and hubby is otherwise occupied, I don't crave TV or scrapbooking or (heaven forbid) housecleaning. I just want to write. And so I do.

I've learned to write in chunks, in snippets, in spurts. I have ideas for books scribbled everywhere--journals, scraps of paper, backs of receipts. And when the house is quiet (and sometimes when it's not), I start pulling pieces together and putting them where I think they should go. I don't write books from beginning to end. Each of my books is a result of (literally) thousands of bits of info sewn together over time.  Lots of filling in the cracks, adding missing parts, smoothing out transitions. Lots of rewriting, cutting, fixing until I'm happy with the result. When I can read something out loud to myself, and it makes me smile (either with satisfaction or because I find it funny), I know it's ready to go.

I'm always praying about (and often stressing over) finding the balance between my family and my writing (and everything else in my life that doesn't fit into one of those two categories). Some days I think I've got it. Some days not. It's definitely a daily discussion between God and me.

I have lots more to say, but my five-year-old is dying for a snack. So, I'll leave you with something I posted today to an online Writer's Group I'm a part of. The thread for this week was--What do you do to recover your creativity after a long writing assignment? (or something like that) It fits here, so I'd like to share it.

As a young-ish mom (32) to three small-ish girls (7, 5, and 2), I can't relate to all this talk of five-day escapes to the beach or secluded mountain cabins. But instead of being envious and wishing my daughters' childhoods away, I can make the most of what I do have right this very moment. And it's a lot.

I can get up at 5:45 a.m. and jog around my neighborhood block five or six times, talking to God and bringing my requests before Him. I can sit and read an inspiring book in my fenced-in backyard while my girls swing and play soccer (I'm really good at finding my place again after my 2-year-old says, "Mommy, look!" every 20 seconds.). I can sit and write between their bedtime and mine--either at my desk or on the couch while watching playoff hockey or cage-fighting (?!?!) with my hubby. I can even write in the mini-van (while my husband drives) during 90-minutes trips to visit family.

Someday (oh, someday!), I'll go to the beach all by myself and luxuriate (is that a word?) in the solitude. But for now, God is faithful to bring me inspiration in continuous spurts in the midst of everyday life. At the grocery store. At the park. On a field trip. Even the McDonald's drive-thru. I don't know that I'll ever have time to write all the books I have ideas for. If that day comes, I'm sure I'll long for the days I'm living now. I don't know that I've ever written for more than three hours at a time. And never at a beach or by a window with a mountain view. But that's okay. God has blessed me with three published books in two years amidst diapers and dishes. Isn't He good?

I've never really had to recover my creativity. Life with little ones is a life immersed in the creative. And I'm finding it a very sweet place to be. Thank you, Jesus. Praise you!