Writer Mama Riffs on Raising A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids

I have been wanting to do a writer mama panel for a long time. So I invited Chelsea Cain, Elizabeth Rusch and Heather Sharfeddin and we did a panel. Diana Page Jordan moderated and she was terrific. The whole experience was altogether enjoyable. I wish I had recorded it!

We’ve all recently published very different kinds of books and yet, despite our individual approaches to process, we seemed to agree on the following:

Childcare is important.

Supportive spouses are key.

Seeking a tribe of believing mirror fellow writers is critical (especially because they may not be the folks closest to you, that last part came from me).

Thanks, to Page Jordan from Barnes & Noble for hosting! And Jerry Isom and Bill Johnson from Willamette Writers!

Here we are. I will definitely be organizing another one near Mother’s Day. Thanks everyone for coming!

Meanwhile, when she wasn’t in the audience, Samantha enjoyed the children’s section.

She was also pleased to receive a copy of Elizabeth Rusch’s A Day with No Crayons (Rising Moon), one of four books she published this year along with the Oregon Book Award Nominated, Will It Blow? Become a Volcano Detective at Mount St. Helen’s (Sasquatch), The Planet Hunter, The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto (Rising Moon), and Girls Tennis, Conquering the Court.

All in all, it was a good day.

Yes, it’s true! Barnes and Noble sold out of copies of Writer Mama at the PNWA Conference this weekend. Only three copies remained for the post-dinner author signing. I would like to always have such problems.

My presentation, Chutes and Ladders, Healthy Habits of Productive Writers went well too. I felt relaxed and focused (despite the full moon messing with my sleep) and participants were attentive and participated. I always enjoy bumping into people in the halls during the rest of the conference.

So, I’m really happy (and tired) this Monday morning.

The irony of traveling to writing conferences is that they typically happen on the weekend. Then you are back in the saddle on Monday morning, usually feeling elated by all you’ve learned, all the folks you’ve met, and all the excitement.

But at the same time like you’ve been run over by a truck from all the same.

Speaking of trucks. I took a rental car up to Seattle because we own one car. The rental company ran out of cars before I got there. So instead of driving a nice little compact car like I got last time, they gave me a giant boat-of-car. I could have fit an entire circus troupe in this thing. It was like steering a boat on the highway!

My biggest challenge was staying between the lines and making sure that no one hit, scratched, or otherwise marred the pristine black paint job over the course of forty-eight hours.

Seriously, it was a bit stressful. But no one did. Thank goodness.

More about what I came home to in the next post. I have mucho action-steps to take this morning. And I’m sure you do too. Especially if you attended the conference. Time to put all that good advice to work!

I’ll also post some photos soon…

Have a great Monday, everyone!

I keep getting e-mails from mamas from all over the globe saying how much they LOVE Writer Mama. And I keep thinking, I am going to write back to each and every one of these people and personally thank them for contacting me and sharing their enthusiasm with me!

And then another day goes by.

And then another media request comes in.

And then another book tour trip rolls around.

And another deadline pops up.

But this is good news, right? It means I’m busy with lots of work and that WM is selling.

Yes, that’s true! We have steady sales for Writer Mama out of the gate. Writer Mama has steadily been the number two or three bestselling WDB author book for the company for the last month, which is amazing! Go Writer Mama!

And Writer Mama has cracked the bestselling books for the year list for WDB and it’s only been out for two months. Hooray!

But the summer months are approaching, Mother’s Day is past, and I don’t anticipate summer to be a big selling season for Writer Mama. I need your help!

Please keep Writer Mama selling steady all summer long by taking one or more of the following steps:

• Tell your friends how much you love Writer Mama—Pick up a gift copy of Writer Mama at your local bookstore and give it to a friend
• Tell booksellers how much you love Writer Mama—And ask them to order more copies for the store shelves
• Tell your local librarian how much you love Writer Mama—Ask them to order a copy of Writer Mama for their collection
• Tell your writer mama friends how much you love writer mama—They can sign up for The Writer Mama zine at www.thewritermama.com
• Tell the world how much you like Writer Mama—Write an Amazon.com review! (sign-up required, but it’s easy)
• And of course, keep telling me how much you love Writer Mama—it reminds me that all my long, hard work was worth it and still is!

Of all the good things that have happened since Writer Mama has come out, my favorite is hearing from readers. And if everyone pitches in to help me keep sales steady this summer, I might actually get some time off!

Thanks for helping to spread the word about Writer Mama!

Samantha and I zipped up to Third Place Books on Friday. And despite hitting some serious traffic, we made it!

Samantha was very excited to go on an “adventure” with mommy and see our friends Kelly, Jeannette, and Rob.

If you haven’t ever been to Third Place Books and you can possibly go, it’s so worth the trip. Imagine a huge, book-filled independent bookstore that opens up to a food court and stage area. There is a dining area in the middle where families and friends hang out and enjoy great food and music or speakers. Several years ago, Jason and I drove down from Bellingham to see SARK there.
This time there was a drumming band! Samantha enjoyed dancing with a bunch of kids after my presentation. I was so grateful for the dancing opportunity because Samantha was restless after the long car ride.

She only made it through part of my talk before Kelly whisked her off to the kid’s area (and to take off her shirt, she’s always warm) but she was sure to come back for her moment at the microphone).

Thank you Cheryl and Third Place Books. And special thanks to Rob, Jeannette, and Kelly! We had a great time.

It hit me in the shower yesterday before my radio interview on KBOO radio’s Pathways show with Paul O’Brien:

Why not take Samantha with me to my bookstore appearance at Third Place Books?

Instead of shuffling her around to various sitters and friends while I’m gone, I could just ask my friend Kelly if she would mind if I brought her.

Her response?

“I would LOVE to have you both! Samantha is a delight, and so are you, and it would be great to have you here together.”

Doink. Not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner.

If my husband wasn’t so occupied with his forthcoming play, Much Ado About Nothing, I wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving  Samantha and the pups with him. But I could tell the pressure was mounting as what we call “hell week” around here has officially begun.

This is also the first production in the school’s ten year history in their newly renovated black box theater. So that’s a lot of extra work too.

Here’s a photo of Samantha’s school art and “Daddy’s Poster,” as Samantha calls it.

I suppose just as moms recently brought their daughters to work, today, I’m bringing my daughter on tour. And why not? We’re going to have an adventure. I’ll tell you all about it when we return.

This is a hodge-podge of announcements and news, since the next e-zine won’t be going out for several days. I’ve got a really, really busy schedule, mamas. I bet you can relate. For example, in the next three days I will:

• arrange my airline ticket and make reservations for my trip to NYC, where I will present at the WDB/BEA Writer’s Conference
• drive like the wind into Portland (about 20-30 minute drive) after I drop Samantha at pre-school so I can be interviewed on KBOO radio (more about this Mother’s Day show soon)
• drive like the wind to the Seattle area for my presentation at Third Place books on Friday (then drive back on Saturday because my husband has another play opening next weekend—Much Ado About Nothing!)

Yesterday, I turned in my monthly platform development column for the June issue of The Willamette Writer newsletter (you can subscribe here). I am really liking working on all things platform-development related lately and I’ll be teaching workshops on the topic at upcoming summer conferences. I also currently have 10 students in the very first Platform Building Basics for Writers class. And I’m loving it!

I have 20 students in my Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff class. I am also loving that. It’s also great to see former students who have taken this class move on to the platform class. I love having repeat students and I am blessed that this happens fairly frequently.

There was a really nice post about Writer Mama in the Book of Kells blog recently that I want to mention.

And Sue Lick, author of the forthcoming, Freelancing for Newspapers (Quill Driver Press, July 2007) did a review of Writer Mama in her newsletter.

Oh, and today, my editor from Country Sampler Magazine was so kind as to send me an e-mail offer for another assignment with them. I love it when that happens! This will be my fourth home profile for Country Sampler. The next one comes out in the July Issue.

And finally, I’ve been invited to be a presenter at the Whidbey Island Writers Association Summer Residency. I feel so lucky that the director sought me out for a three-day presentation. I’ve heard great things about this MFA program and the Whidbey Island Writers Conference.

Yes, that’s right. I said “May.” Can you believe it?

Where did April go? (Oh, right. Taxes!)

But good news, this means Mother’s Day is right around the corner. If you’ll be near Lake Forest Park, Washington, come on by and pick up a signed copy (or two)!

Here’s the details:

Third Place Books
Friday, May 4th at 6:30 p.m. @ Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA 98155, 206-366-3316, www.thirdplacebooks.com, Free

Okay, you guys. We are SOOOOO close to making Writer Mama the WDB bestseller of the week. It’s currently in second place just after Plot and Structure, a book for fiction writers, which is currently holding the number one spot.

You can check out the announcement at the WD Editors blog. (!!!)

What I would really like to see is for Writer Mama to get in the bestseller-of-the-week spot and hold it until after Mother’s Day. I think that’s a reasonable goal, don’t you?

But I can’t accomplish this alone. I need your help. So, please, if you have purchased and read Writer Mama, and you find it helpful and/or inspiring, I’d like to ask you to do any or all of the following:

Tell everyone you know about Writer Mama and how much you appreciate the ideas and insights about how busy moms can launch or relaunch a writing career. You can e-mail moms, call them, make an announcement at storytime, whatever! Just help spread the word!

Post your Writer Mama review at Amazon.com or other online sites that post book reviews (one review, just posted on Amazon, is amazing. Yahoo!). Other moms will read the reviews and decide to buy Writer Mama too.

Start a Writer Mama writing-for-publication or accountability circle. Dare each other to set higher goals and reach them. Keep each other accountable using “Wendy Burt’s Accountability Sheet” (p. 199). Help each other prepare a book concept pitch for an upcoming writer’s conference (chapter 23). Why write a whole book

Do the exercises at the end of each chapter of Writer Mama with the book or writing group you already have. They work for every writer!

If you are a writing instructor, make Writer Mama required reading in your writing-for-publication classes. Your students will thank you (and get published more often)!

If you will soon be speaking at a writers conference, request that they include Writer Mama in the conference “bookstore” (unless, of course, outside authors are not included). If Writer Mama can’t be included unless I present at the conference, e-mail me and tell me about the conference and I will do my best to become a presenter next time around.

Sign up for The Writer Mama newsletter (coming soon in html format to your inbox). You may sign up at www.thewritermama.com.

Thank you! Your support means so much!

For a limited time only, and just in time for Mother’s Day, I will be offering signed copies of Writer Mama by U.S. media mail. So, if you are or know a mama, who would like to launch or relaunch a writing career (if you are a writer mama, request this as your Mother’s Day gift—it’s cheaper than brunch!).

Here’s how to order:

Send a check or money order for $16.99.

Or pay using Paypal (U.S residents, price goes up to $17.99 to account for Paypal’s cut).

Canadians click here. (If you live in Canada, the price goes up a bit more to cover shipping to $18.99.).

(U.S. Currency only, includes media mail shipping and bubble envelope packaging) to:

Christina Katz

PO Box 1354

Wilsonville, Oregon 97070

Because I am a busy writer mama myself, I will be holding a weekly “signing” each Friday afternoon right here in my office and then trekking over to the Post Office to ship those babies out. In other words, please do not contact me and ask if I can drop everything to overnight ship your mom/daughter/grandma a book. How would I get my own writing done, if I did that. Right?

Maybe when we get to May, I’ll offer faster shipping, but why pay extra? Order your copy or copies now! Order early so that your mama / friend / daughter / grandmother / sister / cousin will receive her package by Mother’s Day.

Order even earlier if you would like time to wrap your gift before the big day. ‘Cuz you don’t want me doing any wrappin’, trust me. I prefer a nice gift bag I can stuff with tissue paper. But you can’t ship those media mail.

This offer will also be helpful for anyone who has been looking for Writer Mama on the bookstore shelves, but can’t find it for whatever reason. (This should not be happening any more, btw, so go ahead and ask your local bookstore to order Writer Mama if you don’t see it. And please, let me know if you are having trouble finding Writer Mama in bookstores and I will alert my publisher.

Happy almost Mother’s Day, writer mamas. I hope you will celebrate with me by purchasing a signed copy of Writer Mama.

How lovely to come back to Bellingham and give a presentation at Village Books. And even with the first really bright sunny spring day AND catching the tail end of Spring break, we had a nice turnout of familiar and new faces.

Bellingham just gets better all the time. No wonder it is often rated as one of the best places in the U.S. to live.

I’m looking forward to next time. Thank you Village Books, especially Brooks, for taking such good care of everyone.

I forgot to ask her where she heard the story she used in her intro. I’ll e-mail her and find out, though.