Interview with Amy Roberts - at Work.

by Doula Brandi

Welcome back! Amy from RaisingArrows.net joins us for round two, focused on the subject of work. Amy has authored an eBook: Psalms for the Grieving Heart, which she is sharing with MHW readers!! Download it for free here!

Making Home Work is all about helping other mothers successfully work at home with children around. I’m a mother of three and sometimes I feel so totally overwhelmed. I look to mothers of many children for inspiration and sometimes a sympathetic ear! What is the best time management principle (or principles) you use that helps you work while your kids are around?

My philosophy is that the blog comes second, so my work around the house and with the children has to come first. Once that is on track, I can take the time to work online. That means no internet first thing in the morning!

My blog depends on social media to get the word out. I use Hoot Suite to schedule my social media promotions so that I don’t have to wake up in the morning and go directly to my laptop to promote, and inevitably get lost in cyberspace in the process.

Let’s talk about space: How do you arrange your surroundings so that you have a place to work?

Every house has been different as to where I could put my workspace. I’ve had everything from the living room, to my bedroom, to the basement, to the kitchen bar (where I am now). I have to have a printer nearby as well as a way to store all my paperwork. I also need to be where I am still engaged with all that is going on around me. No matter where I end up “setting up camp”, I am looking for efficiency. For me, that means having everything I need within arm’s reach.

I know that you place high priority on your family, have you experienced times when you put work off in order to place family first? What advice would you have for other women who find themselves feeling like their work is “suffering” due to family issues?

I schedule out my posts on the blog so that weekends are mine. When we go on vacation, the blog goes on autopilot and I leave the laptop at home. Being in the public eye, it is sometimes tempting to believe I can never “let my readers down,” but truth be told, I am just another voice in cyber space and if Raising Arrows were to disappear, someone else would take my place in the hearts of my readers. The same cannot be said for my family. Far better for the blog to suffer than for my family to suffer.

What's your single, most favorite aspect of working from home?

That I never feel like it is work! I am a writer. I write because it is who I am. Having the blog gives me an outlet to write and allows me to reach others with the important Truths the Lord reveals to me every day. If I never made a dime from doing this, I would still do it!.

Amy of RaisingArrows.net is the homeschooling mother of 6 living children and one precious little girl named Emily being held in the Lord’s arms. Her days are filled with giggly girls, rambunctious boys and sticky baby kisses. At night, she writes about it all. Amy is the author of Psalms for the Grieving Heart, a 30 day devotional ebook for those who grieve. It is her deepest desire that out of the overflow of her heart, her mouth should speak…and her fingers type.