My connection with Lindsay is one of the coolest things to come from my Livlyhood journey so far. She stumbled upon my account on Instagram and messaged me about her recent journey as an author. I was so inspired when she told me about her recently published book, Journey to Constellation Station and how she’s working on a book tour in addition to everything she does as a mother that I just had to feature her! I’m definitely going to order a copy for my train and space obsessed nephew.
Tell us a little about yourself and your career
I am technically a stay-at-home-mom, but that is not really what I do! I’m a published children’s book author – my book Journey to Constellation Station has sold close to 400 copies since being published last month. I run our local mom’s group and am on the board of my neighborhood’s civic association. I volunteer in both my kids’ classes, and I work for three separate companies part-time, researching and helping with administrative tasks. My boys are six and four, so they definitely keep me on my toes!
How does your community of women you surround yourself with support you?
I am very lucky to be surrounded by an amazing community of women. I’m the president of our local mom’s group, and I’ve met many of my good friends through that group. There is absolutely no way I could do what I’m doing right now without the support of my friends, who are also busy working and volunteering moms themselves! One woman who I never thought I’d be close to, we now help each other out with our four year-olds and take turns watching them while the other can get errands/work done. She has made my life better and lowered my stress level, and I’m happy that I can reciprocate and help her too!
Why did you decide to write your first children’s book?
My boys were four and two at the time I wrote my book, and they were really obsessed with trains and outer space. The idea just hit me one day – trains going into outer space and combining the two ideas, and I kept thinking about it. I’ve always liked writing and I thought that I would write my idea out and see where it would lead me. I made myself write it out while they were napping throughout a week!
What do you wish you could go back and tell your younger self re: your career aspirations?
I would LOVE to go back and tell my younger self to not be so impatient! I’ve found as I’ve gotten older that the more patient I am, the better I am, in terms of every day life and also in terms of my career and communications. It’s much better to really think an idea through then just send it off and then realize later that you could have added something, or maybe there was a better way to approach it. I’m super busy, so it’s really easy for me to react quickly to things, but I’ve learned that it’s usually better in the long run if I wait a bit.
What is your career-related mantra?
I keep telling myself hustle! My publisher Thumbkin Prints isn’t a huge company, so most of my marketing is self-generated. I’m lucky that my publisher is always (and I mean always!) there to answer my calls, texts, emails and Facebook messages. She is so insightful and has been doing this awhile, so she knows what works and what doesn’t. So I hustle and throw 100 ideas at her and she tells me what she thinks will work. I also tell myself – if I don’t ask, I’ll never know. So why not ask to partner with the kids’ band Rocknoceros (which we’re doing) and why not ask my local Ace Hardware to carry the book (which they are)? I find that most people are excited and happy to help spread the word!
I set up a book tour in my hometown and I read to 16 classes this week (two of them were groups of 100+ students). I really hustled to get them all set up. In the past month since the book has been published, I have read to close to 40 separate classes, and have also attended holiday events and fairs to get the word out about the book. I couldn’t do all of this without thinking – hustle!
