Welcome to the Wattpad Block Party - Summer Edition IV!
Round EIGHT of this popular event is coming your way the entire month of August 2018 and it's going to be epic! Everyone from your all time favorite Wattpad Super Stars, to USA TODAY Bestsellin...
First, a big shout-out to all of you who are out there enjoying the Wattpad Block Party this month! I'd love it if you'd say hi and let me know where you're joining the party from, and I'd love for you to enter my giveaway! (See the end of my post for giveaway details.)
Let's also take a moment to give a second shout-out, huge thank you, and round of applause to our host KellyAnneBlount, who puts her heart and soul into making the Wattpad Block Party happen. Thank you so much for putting this together and for giving me the opportunity to take part!
A bit about me: I'm JenniferFarwell here on Wattpad. I write teen romance and light celebrity romance, which includes my Wattpad books Seven Weeks to Forever, Hiding Out in Hollywood, Billion Dollar Boyfriend, and Rock Star's Girl.
Like many of you, my weekdays are filled with commitments that have nothing to do with writing or reading books. A lot of people have school, homework, a family, a full-time job (or multiple jobs), or are juggling a number of things that fill up the day. For me, it's a full-time job, Los Angeles commute, a dog, and my home life.
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Through the course of writing my first three books, I was usually good about creating dedicated writing time in my day, focusing when it was time to write, and slipping into the writing groove. Then my fourth book and October 2017 through April 2018 happened.
It felt like every time I wanted to write, a zillion other things were either taking up my time or focus. My day job involves managing a global team and a functional area for a large company. The company I work for was sold to another big company last summer, and was merged with a company that our parent company had previously acquired. Nothing much changed for me until October, when my area of responsibility almost doubled. I found myself swept up in learning about an entire other company's worth of products, processes, teams, tools, and platforms full time while still doing my old full-time job and managing an expanded team. My work inbox exploded, averaging 70-100 emails each day with many needing follow up. This was along with Slack messages and channels needing my attention throughout the day, and I was attending an average of 25 to 30 meetings per week. Because of time zone differences between new teams I was working with, some of these meetings were at hours I used to set aside for writing, like at 5:30 or 6 a.m., and my writing fell to the wayside. I was tired, and my brain often felt scrambled by the time I got home each night.
Just as I was getting a handle on the work thing, my home life got... well, interesting. The property management company that oversees where I live decided to do a mandatory in-home construction and plumbing project that resulted in construction workers and plumbers being all over my home every weekday for over 3 weeks. There was actual demolition and construction going on in my bedroom and bathroom (yes, while I was living there!), I was allergic as could be to the drywall dust, and I was beyond annoyed. I was letting my focus be consumed by all of this instead of trying to shrug it off and write.
