Hey ,

It's been a busy month over here. Husband and I celebrated our 41st birthday last week with a trip to a family farm -- corn maze included -- and a nice kid-free romantic dinner (pics below).

Less fun has been managing kiddos who keep passing germs back and forth. I'm talking boogers boogers everywhere over here every few weeks since September. And let me tell you, "Is it just a cold or is it COVID?" is the worst fall game ever.

The littlest one is actually due to join his brother at preschool next week (as long as they're both in good health). This means I'll all of a sudden regularly have mornings to myself for the first time in two years, and I CANNOT WAIT!

To make the most of that newfound time, I'm taking a social media break for November. Care to join me? 

Even if you can't 100% unplug right now, you can try giving yourself specific limits around your online time for the month of November. What do you say? You know you want to...

Here's how I plan to take advantage of that glorious me time:

• Establishing new routines that include intentional sessions of movement and rest.
• Writing a piece about mothering with ADHD for an upcoming special issue of Raising Mothers (call for submissions below). Did I mention I received an official ADHD diagnosis over the summer -- at age 40? Yeah, that happened. I'll have more to share on that front in the months to come. Stay tuned.
• Preparing 1-2 newsletters for you.
• Preparing the 2022 edition of the workbook --> Write Your Year: Reflect, Set Intentions, and Chart a Course for Your Writing Life
• Beginning the process of Reflecting, Setting Intentions, and Charting a Course for my own 2022 writing life.
• Various family and home organization projects. I'm in the process of creating home systems that work with my ADHD brain as opposed to against it. So far I've hacked our daily mail (no more piles!) and laundry day. Let me know if you'd like to hear more about these kinds of things and I'll share more details in a future message.

I've got a joyfully busy month ahead (as long as we manage to keep the sniffles away and the kids IN preschool and not at home with me lol).

As usual, there are goodies for you below:

• Links to Holiday Picture Book Recommendations
  
• Call for submissions for Raising Mothers' special issue "Across the Spectrum." Please share the call widely with your networks.
• Photo Album

For those who celebrate, have a Happy Halloween and enjoy communing with the ancestors on Día de los Muertos (you can see my family's altar below).

P.S. Hit Reply: 

Down to take that November social media break with me? Let me know you're in and tell me how you'll spend that scroll-free time.

Some links below are affiliate links; if you purchase using my links I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

THEME: ACROSS THE SPECTRUM

Deadline: November 15

We’re interested in work that celebrates, examines, critiques and/or questions the realities and assumptions of what it means to parent or nurture a neurodiverse child or be a neurodiverse parent. Work that examines these worlds at the intersections of race, class and/or gender identity is strongly encouraged.

We invite all forms--essays, poems, interviews, comics, fiction, etc.--that addresses the breadth and depth of neurodiversity.

Click here for more details on how to submit.

ABOUT RAISING MOTHERS

Raising Mothers celebrates and centers the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and Brown parents.

Raising Mothers publishes experimental and traditional fiction, flash fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, book reviews, photo essays, and comic/graphic narratives. Raising Mothers publishes work that centers parenthood from either a parent, or child-centered perspective from BIPOC people exclusively; women, femmes, disabled, nonbinary and LGBTQIA+ parents.

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