Good for you for getting published. I have a friend in Ireland who has children, a job and still somehow finds time to write, and publish three books. How do you ladies do it? I'm constantly in awe.
Not a lady, a parent, or published, but when I've talked to people in those situations (and in different ones) it's all about trimming the fat off your day. The average person is usually surprised to find out how much time is spent doing mindless things (mindless YouTube videos, tacky reality television, political banter, etc.). While there's nothing wrong with those things to unwind, it's amazing what you can do if you just trim that YouTube browsing time in half and spend the other half on a project. I had a really good conversation with some of my students about that, and they've seen some serious results. Also, parents can be incredibly productive if the children are having a good nap.
I wanted to drop in and say that's awesome about the cross-country road trip. I did something like that a few years ago and it was a great time. The national park system is really amazing. Publication is pretty cool, too (really, it's the first of many steps and one that everyone is after).
My year has felt like a lot of the same in some ways. I have a great job (and one that I think I'm good at) in which I feel like I'm contributing to society in a meaningful way, but other things seem to have stagnated. I did participate in some pretty cool volunteer projects this year. My writing, on the other hand, has been all effort and no progress, so that's been the mental equivalent of cutting down a tree with a herring.
