Once dinner was finished came the clean up. It took about forty-five minutes to get the left over food packed away, the first round of dishes in the dishwasher, and the table wiped down. In addition to that there were three wrestling fights to break up, a nerf gun bullet to the eye to put a kiss and an ice pack on, and a dog to shoo out of the kitchen over and over and over again.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my ridiculously large blended family. It makes things interesting when people ask me if they’re all mine and I say yes. They take time. They are an investment just like anything else. I could have easily made hot dogs and fries for dinner tonight, and I guarantee that would have sufficed, but it wouldn’t have really nourished any of them. I don’t think that the dinner was the absolute healthiest, but it did show them how much I care about them. It’s a way for me to show my family how much they mean to me. I try very hard to make sure that every dinner we sit down to is filling, nutritious, and most of all was made with love.

Tonight’s dinner, including shopping for the food, took about four hours. That’s a significant investment of time for something that’s important to me. I love investing that time in my family, and I enjoy it. It’s the same kind of time I wish I was able to invest in my writing. A lot of times writers look at our writing as our baby. We nourish it, we create it, and we send it out into the world holding our breath waiting for it to soar to the skies or fall to the earth.

I try to prioritize my time, and devote as much of it to my writing as I can. I can’t write everyday and that’s okay. I wish I could but sometimes life just jumps in the way and I’m unable to. I put things into perspective. What’s most important to me and who am I as a person, as a writer?

First, I’m a mother and a soon to be wife. My main priorities have to be, and are, my family. I do what I can to make sure they’re taken care of and their needs are met before I do anything else. Second, I am a web designer and a lot of my attention is devoted to my clients. Third, I’m a volunteer. I work for two different charities and the needs of those come before anything else. Fourth, I am a writer. I create. I put words to the page in some semblance of cohesive order and I make worlds and people from nothing. I am other things, but those are the big four to me.

My time is divided up between these things with some having more time, and some having far less, but I know what’s important, and I prioritize accordingly. You may not have these things in your life. You may have a different set of priorities. You may have a whole list of things that comes after your writing or before it, and that’s okay too. Just recognize them, understand their importance to your life, and divide your time accordingly. If you realize after listing your priorities that something is out of whack then it’s time to make a change.

Happiness isn’t about being the most talented, the most read, the most watched, the most well known. Happiness is about being the most at peace with your daily choices and knowing that every second of your day is spent doing something that matters to you. So stop doing those things that don’t really matter. Do the things that do matter. Make time and I guarantee you'll be so much happier.

Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Longview, Washington by a seriously awesome Grandma, Missy went into the running start program in HS and graduated just shy of an associates. Instead of going to college she enlisted in the US Army to help deliver freedom at a buck 'o five the world over.The Sword and The Prophet is Missy's debut novel. After writing for years and years, mostly poetry and music, she finally decided she wanted to create something to share with her little boys.