My name is Sarah. I’m a writer, history-buff, language teacher, singer, horse-back rider, wife of the Uber-Mensch and mother of a teenage girl, the Lucky-one-and-only. My teenager, Loo, doesn't think much of me at the moment: not what I wear or how I spend my time or how I chew or what I do.
What do I wear? I dress comfortably, mostly. You have to when you spend most of your day in a chair. Loose-fitting exercise pants are best. Even pajamas.
How do I chew? About that I cannot comment except to say that I don’t chew enough, apparently. I’m so busy I forget to eat most days and Loo doesn’t like it. Especially when I bang on about how important it is for teenagers to have a regular balanced diet and to stay away from sweets. (It’s true, Loo, I’m a hypocrite. But how 'bout surprising me with a sandwich or an apple from time to time.)
How I spend my time is mostly alone, in my chair, as I said. And, honestly, I really don’t mind.
But what I do is not what most other moms do. I work, but I don’t have a "real job" that I go to in an office with an assistant. I’m self-employed -- self-employed and currently self-funded. That's right, I'm gobbling up Loo's future college fund while I sit at home all day alone in my chair.
I am in the business of publishing educational and tourism Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch targeted to youth -- to Loo and her peers. More specifically, the Time Traveler Tours are historically-based StoryApp itineraries.
The first, Beware Madame la Guillotine, is a tour of Paris during the French Revolution guided and narrated by a 24-year-old murderess, Charlotte Corday. It's coming out soon and is only the first. If successful, many more StoryApp Tours to many more cities will follow.
Put the past in the palm of your hand with Time Traveler Tours.
Discover history with those who made it.
Did I mention that writing an App is hard? Did I make it clear that building a small-business is a tremendous amount of work? Did my list of credentials, above, say anything about me as a Marketer or legal mind or IT guru? No.
Some days the challenge is wholly Sisyphean.
But there’s no convincing Loo. Too her, I’m just a slacker who sits around the house all day in my pajamas eating up her college fund.
If she only knew...
Image by Loo while vacating with me in Carcassonne, France, April 2010.