Road to Kickstarter Part 11: Pressing Pause

Alright, so I knew this was coming, but I somehow hoped that I would find some wiggle room to keep this thing going. But, at last, I have to pause this project.

“Why?” you ask. Because my summer break has ended and ended with force. You see, I am starting a Masters Program in Cyber Security. I will be going to school full-time. Additionally, I am starting a co-op this month. A co-op is basically a half-time internship that goes along with college. So, if I do everything correctly, I will be doing one and a half jobs for the next nine months (the length of the co-op).

In order to participate in this co-op, I had to agree to a few other things. One is that I will complete an additional certificate in addition to my school and internship within the next nine months. Another is an agreement to participate in a series of other educational workshops and programs. And, finally, I have agreed to be a research subject for a research project that is not part of my research for the master program. In short, I have agreed to focus solely on school and this internship for nine months.

But it is not possible for the mother of a six-year-old to concentrate just on school and work for six months. Any free time I have, I will give to my daughter and husband, who will be taking point with my daughter as much as he can.

Given all of this, my final goal is to not let myself get too run down. And that means trimming anything that does not directly help with one of the tasks listed above. As much as it pains me, this includes teaching code at my daughter’s school and doing the Kickstarter to get our book out. In short, I will be roadblocked on the Kickstarter, at least until I learn to juggle my school, family, and job.

I know I cannot walk away from helping my daughter know code forever, and I know this project is important, so I will find a way around this roadblock at some point. But that point is not now. I had a mentor once tell me “Women want it all. We want the family, the career, and everything that comes with both. And we can have it all, just not all at once.” It is this advice that I am now listening to. When I come back to this Kickstarter, I will start writing these articles again. Until the time comes for that, this will be my last update.

Thank you,
Claire