Motherhood & Words
- All
- author interviews
- community
- essay/memoir
- life
- motherhood
- poetry
- publication
- reviews
- teaching
- warrior
- writing
mother words online – summer session
I’ll be teaching Mother Words online again this summer. It will be an 8-week class (with no class the week of June 29). Here is a description of the class: Whether you are a new mom or a veteran, whether you gave birth to or adopted your child, in this online class you’ll learn how…
patience
I’m not a patient person. I’m just not. And unfortunately, impatience isn’t a helpful character trait for a writer. So much of a writer’s time—at least this writer’s time—is spent waiting, thinking, revising, waiting. Did I mention waiting? I wait for letters to come back from journals. I wait for responses from editors. I wait…
2009 memoir festival!
I want to tell you about the 2009 Memoir Writing Festival at the Loft Literary Center, May 15 – 17. I attended the first festival two years ago, and it was amazing to be surrounded by so many talented memoirists. This year, the keynote address will be given by the fabulous Bernard Cooper, whom, of…
back
D has been in town for only one day out of the last ten, which I hope explains my silence the last two weeks. When D’s gone I lose my morning writing time and my weekend teaching prep time, but I also lose sleep. Usually, we alternate getting up with Zoë, but when D’s out…
solid
Last night, D was reading Little House in the Big Woods to Stella, and I was sitting at the dining room table, planning my new Loft class, Americans Writing Across Cultures, which begins on Monday. I was alternating between working and watching them read because I need frequent breaks from the computer to let my…
i’m having trouble focusing today
Could this be because my morning work time was swallowed by three children—two mine, one not? Could it be because one of the said children had diarrhea all over my—ahem—clean-this-very-morning bathroom? Could it be that I’m in one of those writerly slumps (and full of despondency)? Could it be that I’m just impatient for spring—real…
the personal, the political
There is something that’s been bubbling under the surface these last few weeks, something born from a combination of anger and fear and hope. I’ve been reading Shari MacDonald Strong’s The Maternal is Political and Caroline Grant’s and Elrena Evan’s Mama, PhD. How amazing to read these books side by side. There is power there,…
the top seven
Thank you to everyone who submitted a toddler haiku for the annual Mother Words Haiku Contest. You can read all the entries here and here. This year, my dear friend Jess agreed to judge the contest, so I’m turning it over to Jess, who says: I’m a little troubled by the prevalence of excretion in…
oh where oh where
are all the haiku? People, don’t make me bust out my own mad haiku skills. Post your toddler haiku here for a chance to win a $10 amazon gift card. Seriously, if you spend ten minutes writing your haiku, that’s a dollar a minute. The deadline has been extended to Saturday, March 28th. Don’t be…
haiku you
I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet this week. I have a number of things of my blogging list, including an interview with the wonderful Julie Schumacher and a review of her new book, Black Box. But with the radio thing on Sunday (which went well, I think), the launch of Mother Words Online yesterday (yay!)…
good enough moms
Hey, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be the guest on the Good Enough Moms show on FM107.1 tomorrow, March 15th, from 1-2 p.m. I’ll be talking about writing and teaching and motherhood. Listen if you can. (It will be streaming online, as well.) And after the show I’m going to…