My Guest - Linda Kage (Wife-Mom-Librarian-Author)

Today I welcome Linda "All You Need Is Love" Kage, another Champagne Books writer, who also has an impressive set of books under her belt.  I asked her to show us a peek into her normal, every day life and how she juggles being a wife-mom-librarian-author.

Hello!  I'm Linda Kage, author of contemporary adult and young adult romance stories...oh, and I'm a mom and wife who works full time at an academic library.

It's kind of fun to say all that. A mouth full, huh?  Makes me sound like I'm all busy and important, when actually most of my day is pretty boring, sitting at a computer, exporting book records and answering emails and such. 

The evening pace quickens after I pick my daughter up from the baby-sitter's, yet it's anything but glamorous.  Mostly, my evenings are full of wiping up baby snot, picking up toys (constantly stubbing my toes on the toys I don't pick up), changing diapers, trying to feed a toddler between all the raspberries she keeps blowing, and arguing with a one-year-old--I'm mama, NOT dada!   

The house probably would fall down around my ears if it wasn't for my husband.  He does most of the dishes while I'm putting the ankle biter to sleep. And when I do manage to clean anything, it's not pretty. The kid loves to help me fold laundry--or rather she loves to climb into the basket and sit on the clean clothes when I'm folding laundry.  She'll pull everything out and string items throughout the house.  Takes about three times longer to put the clothes away but at least she's not trying to eat dead lady bugs off the floor somewhere else--but we won't go into that right now!

The husband can be a saint in the helpful department; I don't think I could be a single parent.  It really does take a village to raise a child.  But hubby also demands his hubby-time from me.  I spoiled him when we were childless and used to scratch his back while we watched TV.  So every now and then I have to make sure to give him some attention too!

You must be thinking I stay up late to slot in my writing time.  But no.  I usually drop off about as soon the kid does.  She likes to get up at the crack at dawn (or before), so I sleep whenever I have the chance.  I've tried writing while my daughter plays around the library, but she just ends up pulling most the books off the shelves and either tearing or chewing out pages here and there. Since she's learned to climb, I've put a second chair beside mine so she can crawl up and sit (though she usually stands) next to me.  But that'll only last thirty seconds before I'm yelling at her not to touch the keyboard, or the mouse, or...well, you get the point.

She can be pretty good at playing by herself, when she's getting into mischief.  But she's also good at coming to me and hanging off my leg and whining when she needs food or diaper changes or a nap, otherwise I'd probably forget about her (no, I'm definitely not up for mom-of-the-year).  I'd say I'm lucky to have a kid that lets me know when she needs something, though I typically don't feel lucky at the time.

And still, I haven't said when I slot in my writing time.  Truth be told, I usually sneak it a moment when I'm not supposed to, like at work, or when I should be cleaning, or watching my kid.  So I feel guilty a lot, creating my stories when I should be doing other things.  But I just can't stop.  Writing is kind of like breathing to me; do it or die.  And becoming a mom and wife with a full-time job hasn't decreased the ideas that float through my head.  With a daughter that waves at the dead person when you go to a funeral, I actually gets lots of fodder for new story ideas!! 

So that's my life in a juggling-act nutshell.  I may have a bunch of balls, but I usually don't keep them in the air and juggle them all at the same time.  While I tuck house-cleaning under my arm and let the dirt pile up, I get in a little hubby and baby time.  Or while I ditch out on a little work, I get writing done.  Then I'll switch and let family time slip to clean or stop writing to catch up at work. In the end, all the important stuff gets done--mostly. I just don't have much of a social life in the process!!

Wow, that's pretty hectic!  Thanks so much, Linda for dropping in and sharing a little bit of your life with us.