name: Ericka Clay

age: 25 

current city: Corpus Christi, TX

living situation: I live with my husband, Matt, my eleven-month-old daughter, Ava, and our two pups Rocco and Roxie. The former eats pacifiers, the latter eats everything else.

occupation: Writer. I’m self-employed, by which I mean that I’m always trying  to get myself into writing gear, but so far, the third novel is only fractionally complete and getting dusty somewhere in my hard drive. 

how do you structure your time and space? Ha ha, structure? Actually, I am fortunate enough to have structured a somewhat reasonable environment for myself and my family. I write from home and watch our daughter during the day, which is extremely helpful. My parents also live close by, so free babysitting is definitely appreciated. And a lot of our recreational events are family-centered. I belong to a moms’ group that hosts get-togethers during the day and family functions on the weekends so we all get to spend a lot of time together as a family unit. For that, we’re grateful.

using the metaphor of seasons to describe the phases of women’s lives, 

-what are the particular challenges and highlights of your current season? Currently, we’re in what I’d consider “spring time.” Everything is new and blooming, and although it’s beautiful, it’s a lot to take in! My husband and I are still learning to be good parents and are continuously realizing that we don’t have the same luxury of time that we used to. Funny how we have the desire and ambition to do everything in the world now that Ava’s here!  

-What season(s) preceded this one? Winter. I know this is never PC to talk about (though fortunately people are more accepting nowadays) but I’ve suffered from depression since I was sixteen. Right before I found out that I was pregnant was one of the hardest times in my life. I was extremely insecure and self-loathing even though my husband was always by my side. I think becoming pregnant and giving birth changed something in me and made me realize that the future holds possibilities. I fully embraced this opportunity to be hopeful. 

-What season(s) might your future hold? I don’t imagine life will always be so sunny, and I’m okay with this notion. I’m more willing and equipped to deal with life’s roller coaster. I know that no matter what confronts me in the future, I’ll survive it as long as I have my family. 

Favorite family activity/activities: We live right down the road from the beach, so we love beach days together. We also go to my parents’ house and have family nights complete with dinner, dessert and turns on the Wii. And taking Ava to the aquarium is so much fun. Now that she’s older, she’s starting to really process what’s going on around her, and it’s an incredible feeling to view the world through her eyes.

favorite solo activities: Writing. It’s not like breathing for me, it IS breathing. To me, everything I believe always looks better on paper. I also enjoy reading and try to squeeze that in when possible. My perfect day (or my perfect non-Ava day) is spending a little time in a coffee shop, working on my novel, and reading a good book.   

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 7:19 am and is filed under mothers of invention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.