Today's guest post comes from Killarney Sheffield.
Writing through the Chaos.
Hello, my
name is Killarney Sheffield and in addition to being the mom of five crazy kids
between the ages of 12 and 18 years I am also an award winning multi-published
romance author, a horse trainer and rancher’s wife. How do I manage it all? I’m
nuts. No seriously, it requires patience, great juggling skills and a family
willing to pitch in when the going gets rough and I’m lucky enough to have such
a family. My office is the living room, un-orthodox I know, but I found my own
office to be more distracting than the chaos of everyday life. Why? Well, I’d
rather be right there to answer, ‘Mom, where’s the toilet paper?’ rather than
down the hall, kids screaming over the blaring TV and pounding on the door. Is
it hard to write a romance novel with all the kids roaring through, arguing,
banging dishes and flipping TV channels? You bet it is! Sometimes, ‘can you
give mommy a minute’ turns into an hour and sometimes it turns into ‘for the
love of God, go play outside for an hour please!’ Would I trade it all for a
brilliant novel career? Yes, some days to be perfectly truthful, but in the
long run? No way. One day the novels in me will all be written but my kids will
still be there, hopefully with kids of their own.
I was at
one of my daughter’s volleyball games one day and a fellow mom leaned over and
asked if I was ‘that romance writer everyone in town was talking about’ (we
live in a small farming community). When I said yes she giggled and glanced at
my hubby. “Are you’re books all about him?” she asked. I nearly fell off the
bench laughing. A ranch and five kids doesn’t leave much time or desire for
romance. Maybe that’s why I pen them. To me romance is hubby actually throwing
a load of laundry into the wash machine rather than on the floor beside it.
Would I trade my life for one of my heroine’s ones in my books? Yes, to be
perfectly truthful some days I would, but let’s face it, life is not a romance
novel. I am content writing about every woman’s dream hero because I know in life
there is no knight in shining armour. What is there? A fantastic dad who may
not be perfect but he’s mine and he loves me no matter if my hairs a mess and
I’ve forgotten what make up is.
I guess for
me writing amid the chaos of a ranch and five kids is my little patch of
heaven.
If you’d
like to find out more about me and my books: http://www.killarneysheffieldromanceauthor.com
Follow me
on Twitter at: @authorkillarney
