Embracing the Ridiculous

or lessons I learned on being an author from my teen

Having a working teenager shifts a home’s dynamic. And by “shifts” I mean changes and by “home” I mean me and by “dynamic” I mean sleep.

My working teenager has changed my sleep routine. The night she’s home, I go to bed and fall asleep at my usual time, between 9:30 and 10pm. The nights she works I go to bed and stay awake until she gets home, somewhere around 10:30 to midnight. Then I’m up to check in and tell her goodnight.

It’s an unexpected outcome to her working a part-time job with evening shifts. When she first started, I was delighted. When she worked her first week and raved about it, I was thrilled.

Six months of missing my old timer’s bedtime and I’m a little less enthused.

But here’s the ridiculous part and where I hope I’m not alone in this. Does she need me to stay awake? NO. She’s perfectly capable of coming home, locking up, and getting herself to bed. In fact, she does that without any interference from me even as I’m up with her.

I could pretend I want to double check her door-locking skills or make sure she’s brushing her teeth. But that’s not it.

The truth is, I like checking in. I like giving her a hug, asking how her night was, and putting eyes on her, as we say here in the South.

This is strictly a me-thing. If she had a problem, she would wake me up. She doesn’t need me to do this. I don’t need to do it.

But I like it. It’s a little moment of connection between us and I’ll take that whenever I can get it.

It’s the same reason I enjoy seeing happy reader reviews. It’s the one of the few ways I can check in on readers after they finish one of my books. I want to know what my book did in someone’s experience, whether it stuck with them or gave them a few hours of delight.

So, when Amanda Waters (also, follow Amanda! She’s a delight and her book reviews will make your TBR better) replied to yesterday’s email and shared happy words about my book, it made my day.

Amanda wrote, “I always have a soft spot for the Andies of the world and I loved that book!”

Connection made!

The book Amanda loved is First Comes Love, the first in my Kissing Series, and the book readers have most connected with me over.

If you’re curious as to why First Comes Love is the book readers message about the most and why Amanda loved it, pick it up on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited or paperback.

Then let me know what you think. Reply here or tag me on the socials, so I can reply back and we can connect!

I promise I won’t remind you to brush your teeth or lock the doors.

Take care,

Emily