Sharing A Secret: What Might It Be?
From the desk
of Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
I
confess. I have a secret life and the
reason is I like to buy groceries and pay the bills each month. Royalties take awhile to hit the bank account so in the meantime, I do a little something on the side. Although I am an author (and just learned I
made the short list of the best Rebel Ink Press authors for 2012!!) and writing
is my main occupation, I moonlight. It’s
a career I’ve fallen back on in the past and with the economy in my neck of the
woods less than robust, I’ve returned to it to bring home the extra bit of
bacon. No, I’m not a topless dancer and
what I do doesn’t involve a pole in any way.
I’m not waiting tables (although I have in the distant past) – I’m
substitute teaching.
All
work and no play can make Lee Ann a dull girl.
If all I do is stay home and pound the keyboard, I tend to lose some of
my focus. If my world doesn’t stretch
beyond my own backyard then I get a little restless. So the days I’m called into the local high
school to fill in for a teacher offer a little break in the routine. And although there are moments when the days
crawl by slow and tedious, there are moments in which inspiration strikes. Sometimes a plot knot I’ve been struggling
with works itself out while I’m seated at some teacher’s desk. Or a chance bit of conversation might spark a
new idea. The best days are the ones
where I get a chance to share my knowledge in the fields I know and love –
language, literature, and history. Most
of the time, however, I’m filling in for science or math. In school, these were not ranked among my
best subjects so I pass the time and earn the paycheck.
I
did two days back to back this past week.
The first day I did science courses and yesterday maths. I handed out quizzes each hour and waited
while students worked the problems. I
always bring along a notebook and managed over the course of the day to write
my weekly column for the local newspaper (probably another secret outted) and
to plot most of my new WIP. Then I
brainstormed some title possibilities for future works and dreamed up an idea
for a new short somewhere down the line.
My
two daughters happen to attend high school on site so it gets interesting when
I’m subbing their friends. I’ve subbed
there on and off for a number of years but it’s a little bit different when the
students are friends, enemies or at the least peers of my children. My son in middle school feels left out
because I seldom sub at his school but as I’ve told more than one instructor,
the high school kids are a little closer to being human.
So
it’s out – when I’m not writing, I might be playing school. The rest of the time, you’ll also find me
cooking for my family of five and doing other mundane little things like
cleaning up the bathroom, doing laundry, feeding the dog, or other clean-up. I’ll be the first to admit writing and
cooking are the top home priorities and there are times when I let my creative
mind run rampant and let the chores do to the devil.
Even
a diva can be a bit of a Cinderella once in awhile.
Find
me:
Twitter: leeannwriter
From Sweet to Heat: The Romance of Lee Ann
Sontheimer Murphy
Blog: Rebel Writer: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
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