A week at Owls Well

When A Becky Lee and I started up Owls Well, our idea was to have a project that the two of us can work on together, despite being in different countries and leading different lifestyles. It is a way for us to grow together as sisters, and a way for us to have a shared experience.

Although we do try to stick to a ‘three posts a week’ schedule, our responsibilities to our own families will take precedence over writing updates. For myself, I have some flexibility of time as a RAWK-mum with which to use for writing, which is why you quite often see me posting more than A Becky Lee.

Having a flexible schedule as a RAWK-mum doesn’t mean that I have a lot of ‘free’ time to do whatever I wish, as my children’s schedules are fixed. My own schedule flows around their fixed schedules.

During these precious pockets of time that I have, I don’t spend all of it working on my blog. I divide my time between running the household, volunteering at J and Little E’s school (often with Thumper in tow), and making sure that I stay in touch with my friends.

I have been very fortunate that maintaining a blog and having a reputation as a ‘mummy blogger’ has allowed me access to experiences that would otherwise not be open to us as a single-income family.

However, I have to be selective in what I choose to accept, which does often mean that I will turn down many good blogging opportunities that require me to compromise on my duties as a mum. For example, I may turn down a weekday lunchtime or teatime event if it means I won’t be able to pick up J from school or send Little E to her ballet class.

As for finding the time to write, when the children are awake and with me, I have to make the effort to be fully present for them. This means the usual things that any other parent would do – help with homework, supervise them in their daily activities, make sure that they are healthy and well nourished in mind and body.

I can occasionally do a little bit of photo-editing when I am helping J with homework, or when Little E and Thumper are playing on their own, but I find that I write better when I can spend an hour or so just typing away at the keyboard. I’m not the kind of blogger who can post from a phone. My sausage fingers cannot manage the touchscreen keypad.

For me, this means that the two best times for me to write during the week are:

1. During Thumper’s morning nap when J and Little E are at school
2. In the evenings after the kids have gone to bed.

The former is heavily dependant on whether or not Thumper decides to have a morning nap at all. Sometimes if he doesn’t nap, I can occasionally still do a try quick blog-related activity like taking product photos, but really, Thumper needs my attention face-to-face, not through a camera lens.

As for blogging after the kids have gone to bed, I have very limited brain power and energy by the end of the day. If I choose to use up all my remaining brainpower and energy in the night on my blog either writing or editing photos or videos, it means that I don’t use it on the Barn Owl.

So if I am writing, our evening will go something like this:

Barn Owl: So, something important happened to me today.

Debs G: *typing* uh-huh

Barn Owl: It was super-important.

Debs G: *clicking on things* uh-huh

Barn Owl: Blah blah blah blah blah

Debs G: *drag and drop* uh-huh

Barn Owl: And then, blah blah blah blah

Debs G: *proofreading* uh-huh

Barn Owl: So, what do you think?

Debs G: *clicks publish* YES!

Barn Owl: Yes, what?

Debs G: Huh, what?

Barn Owl: You said “Yes.”

Debs G: Oh, sorry, I wasn’t listening. *yawns* What were you saying?

Barn Owl: I was just saying that something super-important happened to me today.

Debs G: *no response because fallen asleep*

As you may imagine, this is frustrating for the Barn Owl as well as for myself, when I fail to remember super-important things that he’s apparently told me about at length. Marriage maintenance is also high on my list of Daily Things To Do!

One other thing that I do during the week, is get A Becky Lee to proofread and critique each post as it becomes ready[1], and then I make changes. I do the same for her as well. This way, the both of us act as each other’s editor, and it forces us to make an effort to talk on the phone or through Skype, or send messages to each other on Facebook or via WhatsApp.

In general, if I am putting out a post, I spend one to two blocks of time choosing and editing photos, two blocks of time writing the text and one block of time proofreading and perfecting it. That is essentially a week’s worth of ‘free’ time!

This post is part of a blog train hosted by Singapore Parent Bloggers! Click on the photo above to check out how other blogger moms and dads use their time throughout the week.

It’s Shub!

Tomorrow, the blog train continues with Shub from Rainbow Diaries. Shub is a mom to 2 wonderful kids, wife to a very supportive hubby, an IT professional and a multitasker. This multi-tasking ability makes her write RainbowDiaries, which is Parenting, Lifestyle and Food blog site created to explore the whole new and enchanting world of social media. Click here to read her post!

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[1]A Becky Lee’s Note: Also, I do things like fixing up the formatting and cutting out extra code so that our blog has a consistent feel. And I make these jump links for footnotes!