"In what ways do children deal with the divorce of their parents?"
Awfully. I can say from experience. However, this depends on the family, how the divorce goes and the child(ren). Some of my childhood friends had a much better time when their parents divorced, some had it much worse then I did.
"How do you write, or get anything done, with young children in the house?"
Haaaaaa. I'm not sure. I'm struggling to be honest. It's motivating to see your process and how you deal with everything though. I didn't take the plunge into full-time writing (freelance and here on Substack) until after my son was born. I needed to move in that direction because I have a fused spine and all the jobs I worked previously gave me so much trouble due to my disability. I needed something stable. So for the past 9 months my life has been completely upside down. I've been a stay at home father the entire time, while running my freelance business and run the two Substack's that I have. Being a parent with a disability has proven extremely hard and I've missed out on things that normal fathers are able to do. Because of all the things I have to take care of every day, my sleep is awful and my health has been suffering. Every time I attempt to get into a sort of flow, such as you describe, I end up back at square one. There's been more than one time I have considered giving up here on Substack, but I really love it here and I don't think I could ever bring myself to giving it up. Honestly, talking about it (which I don't often do) really makes me wonder how I manage each day, but I know the driving factor is my son. The image of me that he has for father is all that matters.
Yikes, I went on a rant. Apologies. I really love what you talked about here though, it is really important to not only talk about this stuff, but to dissect it as well.
Thank you - that was a serious answer. Have you written about your disability? Not necessarily for other people to read but only for yourself.
I don't make enough money writing to do it full time, so you're ahead of me there. And it sounds like you do more than you give yourself credit for - you surprised yourself positively when you reflected on your schedule. So, pardon me for experimenting on you, but I'd be interested to know what happens if you start playing those calendar games :) More good surprises, I predict.
How old is your son?
And how can I attract more readers? You're the first subscriber to The World's Other Side so congratulations for both of us!
I considered it. It was actually my original idea to start here on Substack. I was going to write a newsletter about being a disabled parent for other parents in the same boat. I opted to go down another route and write fiction, but the idea still lives in my mind.
Ah yes, a downfall of mine; not properly giving myself credit for everything I get done. I'm definitely going to try and apply some of the advice that you spoke about in your post. I think, specifically, the reflecting part will help greatly.
My son is coming up on 10 months, which is scary to say because it feels like we had him a few weeks ago (but at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago).
Wow! I am honored to be your first subscriber. I think that you're already doing something great by joining in on the Sci-Friday stuff, which is how I found your post in the first place. I noticed that once I upped my presence on Notes, subscribers came faster. It was an absolute slog getting to 50 subscribers, but the next 50 came much quicker after I started really engaging with others.
I'd say the quickest way to get readers here on Substack right now (for fiction) is to find a community that fits your newsletter. Sci-Fi/Fantasy for instance has Brian Reindel's community. Horror/dark fiction has the Macabre Monday community that I run with a team. Fiction in general has the Fictionistas community. These are great tools for networking around here. Other than that, I have found outside promotion to be very difficult so I have stayed away from it due to my time restraints. Right now it is hard for readers to find fiction here on Substack due to the lack of categories and awful search functions, but it is rumored that they are working to solve that.
As for giving yourself credit, I've gotten a lot of milage out of Lisa Nichols' "microwins" method. You track what you do on your calendar, then copy those events onto paper or another document, sorted into Spirit, Finances, Health and Relationships. This includes things like "brushed teeth." Hurray! Microwin! It also helps my memory and keeps the weeks from blurring together.
Any teeth in that kid's mouth yet?
I've noticed a big bump from the small bit of community involvement I've already done. So I guess I'll keep doing that. Now to go find Brian Reindel.
Damn, I loved all of this! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer.
"In what ways do children deal with the divorce of their parents?"
Awfully. I can say from experience. However, this depends on the family, how the divorce goes and the child(ren). Some of my childhood friends had a much better time when their parents divorced, some had it much worse then I did.
"How do you write, or get anything done, with young children in the house?"
Haaaaaa. I'm not sure. I'm struggling to be honest. It's motivating to see your process and how you deal with everything though. I didn't take the plunge into full-time writing (freelance and here on Substack) until after my son was born. I needed to move in that direction because I have a fused spine and all the jobs I worked previously gave me so much trouble due to my disability. I needed something stable. So for the past 9 months my life has been completely upside down. I've been a stay at home father the entire time, while running my freelance business and run the two Substack's that I have. Being a parent with a disability has proven extremely hard and I've missed out on things that normal fathers are able to do. Because of all the things I have to take care of every day, my sleep is awful and my health has been suffering. Every time I attempt to get into a sort of flow, such as you describe, I end up back at square one. There's been more than one time I have considered giving up here on Substack, but I really love it here and I don't think I could ever bring myself to giving it up. Honestly, talking about it (which I don't often do) really makes me wonder how I manage each day, but I know the driving factor is my son. The image of me that he has for father is all that matters.
Yikes, I went on a rant. Apologies. I really love what you talked about here though, it is really important to not only talk about this stuff, but to dissect it as well.
Thank you - that was a serious answer. Have you written about your disability? Not necessarily for other people to read but only for yourself.
I don't make enough money writing to do it full time, so you're ahead of me there. And it sounds like you do more than you give yourself credit for - you surprised yourself positively when you reflected on your schedule. So, pardon me for experimenting on you, but I'd be interested to know what happens if you start playing those calendar games :) More good surprises, I predict.
How old is your son?
And how can I attract more readers? You're the first subscriber to The World's Other Side so congratulations for both of us!
I considered it. It was actually my original idea to start here on Substack. I was going to write a newsletter about being a disabled parent for other parents in the same boat. I opted to go down another route and write fiction, but the idea still lives in my mind.
Ah yes, a downfall of mine; not properly giving myself credit for everything I get done. I'm definitely going to try and apply some of the advice that you spoke about in your post. I think, specifically, the reflecting part will help greatly.
My son is coming up on 10 months, which is scary to say because it feels like we had him a few weeks ago (but at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago).
Wow! I am honored to be your first subscriber. I think that you're already doing something great by joining in on the Sci-Friday stuff, which is how I found your post in the first place. I noticed that once I upped my presence on Notes, subscribers came faster. It was an absolute slog getting to 50 subscribers, but the next 50 came much quicker after I started really engaging with others.
I'd say the quickest way to get readers here on Substack right now (for fiction) is to find a community that fits your newsletter. Sci-Fi/Fantasy for instance has Brian Reindel's community. Horror/dark fiction has the Macabre Monday community that I run with a team. Fiction in general has the Fictionistas community. These are great tools for networking around here. Other than that, I have found outside promotion to be very difficult so I have stayed away from it due to my time restraints. Right now it is hard for readers to find fiction here on Substack due to the lack of categories and awful search functions, but it is rumored that they are working to solve that.
Why not start a journal and see where that goes?
As for giving yourself credit, I've gotten a lot of milage out of Lisa Nichols' "microwins" method. You track what you do on your calendar, then copy those events onto paper or another document, sorted into Spirit, Finances, Health and Relationships. This includes things like "brushed teeth." Hurray! Microwin! It also helps my memory and keeps the weeks from blurring together.
Any teeth in that kid's mouth yet?
I've noticed a big bump from the small bit of community involvement I've already done. So I guess I'll keep doing that. Now to go find Brian Reindel.