A chance of pace

I had to make a tough decision lately.  I've been wanting to take on a second horse, but work has been a little slow (for a multitude of reasons: clients cutting back, I haven't been marketing enough, but also partly my own decision to focus a little more on fiction), and honestly I've been feeling a little burned out on some of what I do.  So instead of looking for more writing work, I mentioned to the family I babysit for that I was looking for more hours, and (with my permission) they recommended me to some friends who were looking for an after-school nanny.

It'll be a big change for me — aside from the babysitting, which is pretty irregular and more my choice as to whether I accept a job or not, I haven't punched a clock (so to speak) in 6 years.  (My anniversary as a full-time freelancer was this month, actually.)  For those of you who don't know, I have a background in teaching preschool and after-school programs, so when I decided I wanted part-time hours doing something other than writing, it was pretty natural to turn to my skills as a childcare provider.

My ultimate goal is to squeeze these 15 hours a week (or so) into my schedule without changing much, except for (of course) my productivity and time management habits.  I'll have the mornings and early afternoons to work on client work, my novel, and my blogs.  Hubby and I also agreed that our evenings could probably give a little too — we'll be giving up the occasional nightly movie so I can go to the barn or work (the latter if I went to the barn in the morning), but we're both okay with that.

The hope is that the money from the part-time nanny job will allow me to continue to work on fiction without feeling like I ought to be doing client work and earning more money instead.  Both families (the one I babysit for and the one I'll be nannying for) pay well, so the extra income should allow me to pursue both my fiction and my plans of taking on a second horse.  I think that's well worth learning to juggle a new schedule, don't you?