It seems like there are a million Mamas out there looking for passion projects, working on passion projects, or falling head over heads in LOVE with a passion project. Whether it's working out, selling supplements, pushing MLM products, or all of the side hustles with Etsy, Canva, and Instagram...Mamas are moving and shakin'!
Why? Why are so many women in the 30-50 age bracket making time for passion projects and side hustles? Is it because they have time on their hands after raising the littles? Maybe they are discovering things that they enjoy that took a back burner to child rearing - and if they didn't have kids (which is totally fine), maybe they are approaching this time in their adulthood where they feel like they have figured out who they are and now they are ready for the next step.
Either way, it's inspiring to see so many women finding ways to fulfill their passions and find purpose in things that they find enjoyable. Enter me. :)
A few years back, prior to the pandemic (which would have been a great time to hunker down and bust out a bunch of productive work....) I thought long and hard about how many of my students don't enjoy reading. And I also thought about how much teachers and parents try to force kids to read. I also thought about all of the stories that I could tell about raising our three daughters and how some of the stories might need some embellishment.
Enter "Math Genes" a book I wrote in 2019 and had my eldest daughter illustrate. The idea was something along the lines of Diary of a Wimpy Kid/My Life as a Book type of text. Something with images, but a push into more novel type literature. Kids love graphic novels and the DOAWK books have been wildly successful because of that. I agree that we need to work with kids where they are at, so finding a balance between text and images was key.
It was my passion project! It took forever to write. Forever to research how to self-publish on Amazon using KDP. And it took forever to muster up the courage to post about on social media and show all of my friends and family what I had made. Why? I hate criticism. I am a perfectionist...until I'm not. We all make mistakes, but I want to correct them quickly without many people seeing.
Of course, that's not how we learn right? Self-publishing literally allows ANYONE to write and publish a book. All of those family recipes sitting in a drawer? Type those babies up, slap a hardcover on it, and give that as a gift to the whole family for Christmas. Have a great story that you want to tell? Seriously, any story at all. You can get that published and printed and be able to save it forever and ever. I love the access that self-publishing provides but I also love the idea that it allows everyone to be a writer. Not just the polished ones, not the ones who hustled to get a professional publisher, not the ones who slaved away in their parent's basement and write seven books only to have one of them make them a little money. I love the quote by Savi Sharma, "Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone is a writer, some are written in the books and some are confined to hearts." Amazon direct publishing has made it easier than ever to give our hearts and stories a place to be published. And for that, I am so thankful.
If you want to check out the book I wrote, here's the link!