Blog Tour : Keep You Safe by Melissa Hill - Guest Post

I am so excited to be a part of the blog tour for Melissa Hill's Keep You Safe and today, she shares her experience on juggling between motherhood and being an author.

MOTHERHOOD & BEING AN AUTHOR

I have one child, a daughter, who is now seven years old. My husband is also a writer (we co-write thrillers together) and we both work from home. Until she started school three years ago my daughter was also home with us, which made for a pretty chaotic household!

But one of the great advantages of us all being at home together when she was a baby was that both my husband and I were able to spend lots of time with her day to day, and also for her to know that either one of us was always easily accessible (within reason) when she needed us. Though this could occasionally be a double edged sword, as when she was a toddler she used to sit beneath my desk or potter around the room while I was writing. While it was lovely to have her so close by, her presence could also be somewhat of a distraction – especially once she was old enough to chat/play/get up to divilment.

This all changed when she started school and while in one way, it was good to have longer (and much quieter) opportunities to work uninterrupted, it was actually a little more stressful for us as a family as we had to get used to the morning rush out the door. Whereas before we were spoiled and could start/end each day at our leisure.

My husband and have always shared household/parenting/work tasks, and if one of us is busy the other automatically steps in and picks up any slack, which means that I’m lucky in that I don’t have to think about (or have ever suffered from) the dreaded working mother guilt. This equal division of home/work/parenting in our house means that there’s really nothing to feel guilty about.

I also think much of it stems from not taking any traditional maternity leave when my daughter was born because it meant that there was never a situation where only one of us was solely responsible for her needs, which tends to set the family dynamic in stone. Thankfully everything has always been a shared responsibility.

This particular arrangement is of course rare and such a scenario isn’t possible for everyone, but the equal division of responsibility is a great way to counter the psychological obligations that sometimes make work and parenting fulfilment so difficult for women. We’ve been conditioned to feel that it’s entirely up to us to keep all balls in the air which in reality is just not feasible (not to mention unfair).

Perhaps the only time I’m torn in this regard is when I have to travel for work or need to go abroad to promote when a new book is published. While it’s a wrench being away from family for longer periods, the upside is that I get the opportunity to read uninterrupted on a flight, and have the peace and quiet of a hotel room all to myself, bliss…

So all in all, I’d have to say that writing and motherhood are pretty good bedfellows. I’m lucky in that I happen to enjoy both and so get to experience the absolute best of both worlds.

Melissa Hill, 2017.

ABOUT THE BOOK

What if a choice you made for your child could harm someone else's?

For single mother Kate O'Hara, there was no choice to make. Her daughter, Rosie, is one of a small percentage of children with a disorder that prevents them from being immunized. All Kate can do is hope that herd immunity keeps disease at bay and her little girl safe.

For Madeleine Cooper vaccinations were a leap of faith she wasn't prepared to take. Which was why, following much soul-searching, she and her husband declined controversial measles shots for their daughter, Clara. All she can do is pray that it was the right decision, and if her little girl becomes sick, she gets through it unscathed.

But when both girls wind up in the same elementary school class, telltale red spots appear on Clara Cooper's chest, and on Rosie's a few days after.

And while one child recovers, and the other's health becomes more critical, the two mothers find themselves across a very deep divide...

Thank you for reading and do check out the other blogs participating in this blog tour!