I’ve been wearing the Chief Mom Officer hat for five whirlwind months.  It’s been an amazing five months on three continents.  I wake up every morning thinking about my experience so far and I feel lucky.  So very lucky.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not happy all the time. I still lose patience and yell, and sometimes behave in ways that embarrass my kids.  Because after all, I am who I am – and I know I can be annoying as hell.

One of main concerns when I quit my job was that after spending a magical summer traveling the world with my family, I’d feel lost once the girls started school again. That may very well happen – they don’t go back to the classroom until Monday.  But at this moment in time, I feel more excited than I expected.  Partly because Chloe and Sophie will soon have less time to fight with each other, but mostly because the real challenge for me starts next week.

The honeymoon is over, so to speak. I’ve adjusted to my new role and I have no more excuses.  It’s time to make this hiatus count.  I don’t want any regrets.

So, when I’m not folding clothes or ferrying the girls to extracurricular activities or going to the supermarket or doing other ‘mom’ stuff, I will be writing.  Because it would be a dream to find a way to monetize what I love to do.  And like so many other people out there, I love to write.  I’ve blocked out more than 10 hours a week on my calendar to commit to this foolhardy endeavor.  To start, there’s my idea for a children’s novel.  Just thinking about that process overwhelms me, but I have to attempt to put pen to paper.  And if I can muster the courage and overcome my fear of rejection, I might submit some of my recent travel-oriented writing to industry publications to test the waters and see if I can obtain more immediate gratification.  I could really use an Effie Trinket right about now to say, “Happy writing. And may the odds be ever in your favor!”

You see, I always tell Chloe and Sophie that it can’t hurt to try – nothing ventured, nothing gained.  If I have any chance of making a lasting impact as Chief Mom Officer, I need to practice what I preach. But I’ve set myself a daunting task. I’ve been spending a good deal of time (arguably too much) on the Web, seeing what my potential competition is doing.  What I’ve realized is that there is SOOOO much competition.  A lot of shit, mind you.  But a lot of it is quite good. And it may very well be that I’m no better at the writing thing than most of the other poor schmucks out there.  And as much as I appreciate the words of encouragement from my family and friends, they’re not exactly objective parties.

Hell, even tweeting is a struggle.  I’ve reached the conclusion that if you think too much about your tweets, you’ve completely missed the point of tweeting.  Which is amusing to me because this tweeting issue neatly encapsulates one of my primary weaknesses as an adult human being.  I think too f***ing much about the content of every 140-character tweet.  I wordsmith them to death.  And that, my friends, is the story of my life.

So, in addition to making a serious go of writing, I am determined to continue the Twitter experiment, even though I think I’m a few years too late to the Twitter party.  I need more followers (for those of you who have Twitter accounts, please follow me @pinkmenotmom, I’m begging you).  The field is a crowded one, folks, and I need all the help I can get.