Interview with Joanne Kraft

Joanne Kraft believes parenting our young ones is a great gift, but if we're not careful we can miss out on some of the most amazing life experiences ever. In her book, "Just Too Busy—Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical", Joanne shares the story of how she unplugged from the world so she could plug back in with her family.


What was your path towards publication like?
I’ve always loved to write. I wrote my thoughts and dreams in journals for as long as I can remember. Being a published author was never a goal, but clearly it was something I felt was possible once I headed in that direction.

My first published paragraph happened almost by accident. I was surfing the web in my slippers late one night and saw that Today’s Christian Woman was asking for ways their readers had learned to slow down. I submitted something about our radical sabbatical, not even checking for punctuation, just hitting the “send” button on a midnight whim. I heard later from their editor that it would be published in their magazine. It was that tiny paragraph with my name beside it that fueled a desire to share our story.


What is your biggest obstacle when it comes to pitching yourself as an author and what steps have you taken to overcome that obstacle?
No one enjoys pitching themselves, no matter how life-changing they feel their work may be for their potential readers. I enjoy people, so I don’t get as nervous around them. I don’t memorize my pitch, I share my story. It is more relaxed for me to talk with publishers and editors in that way; respectful and relaxed.


How do you balance your life as an entrepreneur with your duties as a parent or spouse?
This is a great question. I’m still learning this one.

Being a new author, I love the writing part, but had no idea how time-consuming the marketing side of publication would be. Wow!

Thankfully, I have a fantastic husband who supports me. When my children were young and I wanted to write and sometimes resented drowning in a life of small things, he would tell me, “This is a season. You’re time is coming.”

My oldest is now off to college, my second child is a senior in high school, my third child is in junior high and our youngest is finishing grammar school this year which means there is finally more time for me to pursue a writing and speaking career. I’m so grateful I didn’t attempt this when my little ones were small. I would have missed out on so much with them.


What is your best advice for getting past writer's block?
I’ve discovered for me, exercise is a great idea-maker. When I’m outside taking a walk my mind is cleared of the jumble and stress of the day. As much as I despise exercising, I’m always amazed at the different ideas that come to me.



What was the best writing-related advice you ever received?
“Live your life and the writing will come.”

I was at a writing conference when author Karen O’Connor shared those words with the audience. I’ve taken this to heart. It’s easy to become self-absorbed and block out the world while I write my next great piece. The truth is, I don’t want to miss out on time with my family and the relationships I’m blessed to have in my life. When I’m living, truly living…the writing comes.


What do you feel is the single most detrimental thing an entrepreneur could do to destroy his/her career?
I’d have to say the biggest writing career-killer is to be selfish. I’ve discovered the most successful writers are those that encourage others, take time to teach what they know and help along other future writers.

My literary agent has other authors she represents. These people have helped put out the word about my book on their blogs/Facebook/Twitter, anything they can to help me succeed. I also belong to Inspire Writers and lead a critique group in my area. It is important to give back. I try very hard to do that.


Can you tell us a little bit about your latest book?
Just Too Busy—Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical is the true story of our family’s overwhelming busyness and the twelve-month experiment that changed our lives. Written with transparency and much humor, it not only tells the story of our time-out from everything, it includes the blessed lessons we discovered along the way.


How did you come up with the idea for your book?
When I began publishing articles, my Inspire writer’s group encouraged me to write this story. They loved the concept and pushed me to help other families by sharing our story.


What was the most difficult aspect of writing this book?
Writing blog posts and articles seemed simple enough, but writing a whole book scared me.

I remember asking author and editor, James Watkins, “How do I do this?”

He answered, “Consider each chapter an article and work through it in bite-sized chunks.”

That helped me a lot.

My biggest hurdle was finding a place to write. I don’t have an office, so my girlfriend let me use her vacation home, located about thirty minutes from ours. It was perfect. I drove up there one day a week and wrote. This precious cabin in the woods became the labor and delivery room for “Just Too Busy”.


If you could choose just one thing for your book to accomplish, what would it be?
My prayer is for my book to inspire intentional parenting, and give families the courage to live a little radically.


What’s ahead for your writing?
Our family is driving cross country from California to Tennessee to attend the MOPS (moms of pre-schoolers) International conference. We will use the time in each stop/city for my book tour and I’ll be sharing my book at the conference.

Over 4,000 moms will be attending, my readership! I can’t wait.

My agent wants my next book proposal yesterday. So, busy working on “The Mean-Mom’s Guide to Raising Great Kids” It will be a nonfiction book with fun chapters like: Mean Moms Know Their Kids Facebook-Password and Use it, that will encourage parents to keep boundaries and instill responsibility in their children.

You can learn more about Joanne Kraft at http://JoanneKraft.com

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This post was sponsored by The Dabbling Mum.

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