Writer Mama Riffs on Raising A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids

After a day chatting with earthlink customer supoort. Strep on my birthday. And two lost writing days. How about you?

And then, miraculously, Lori Russell, sent me this from YouTube. Have you seen it yet? It’s called the Mom’s Overture by Anita Renfoe:

I am listening to voicemails, responding to over a hundred e-mails, and renewing (overdue) library books…all at the same time.

I must be back home after a trip.

Dan Barden has written a hilarious essay that appears in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers. It’s called “Writer As Parent: No More Aching To Be An Artist” and it appears in the “The Literary Life” column.

I laughed, I nodded along, I read quips out loud to my husband. Barden sums up much of the parent-writer perspective with all the appropriate irony and humor. I love it! I’m going to keep it handy for what Elizabeth Lyon calls “blue days.”

It’s so good, I wish I could reprint it here. But instead, I’ll just tease you with my favorite excerpt:

I expect to be paid for my work because, to put it quaintly, baby needs new shoes. I also engage in a lot less of what my wife calls “aching to be an artist.” That kind of self-torture has never been particularly productive for me, and these days it just seems silly.

At last, a cure for creative self-torture. Just add baby and you’re cured!

Here’s a list of what I did yesterday (which I hope will explain why I am so MIA lately):

1. Organize and plan a Samantha’s birthday party for 10 kids

2. Pick up puppy poo 12 times (hubby gets credit too)

3. Sign 10 copies of Writer Mama and prepare for shipping (gift for advance reviewers)

4. Mail 20 flyers to Lauren for upcoming Bellingham/Village Books appearance

5 . Correct 1 awkward phrase in monthly column for the Willamette Writer

6. Correct 6 more awkward sentences while I’m at it

7. Send 33 e-mails, one to 44 friends/colleagues

8. Draft 1 letter from editor for April issue of Writers on the Rise

9. Receive 5 e-mail fan letters for Writer Mama (!!!)

10. Reschedule 1 doctor appointment

11. Reread 1 Amazon review on Writer Mama (wish for 25 more)

12. Hug 1 daughter, pat 2 puppies, feed 3 cats, feed 2 fish, drive 17 miles for puppy food, kiss 1 husband…you get the idea.

What did you do yesterday? Try it by the numbers…

Fancy yourself a pretty good copyeditor? Well, here’s your chance to prove it.

It’s human nature to notice mistakes when you pick up a book for the first time. But have you ever heard an of an author motivating you to find typos in her book?

Yes, I’d like you to take typo-finding in Writer Mama seriously.

One of the first things I noticed about my copy of Writer Mama is that it says “Pinted in Canada” on the copyright page.

I don’t know why it struck me so funny, but I laughed out loud when I saw it the first time and I still chuckle every time I see it.

Readers may not find these little idiosyncracies quite as endearing.

A couple days ago, Writer’s Digest sent me a letter asking me to comb through Writer Mama and provide them with a list of all the typos I find. They’ll need the list prior to the next printing (I’m already anticipating the next printing!).

But the idea of hunting for typos in my own book sounds hard. I’ve been over the text so many times, I know I can’t see the mistakes very easily anymore.

But you can. And I know you will anyway. So why not put all you typo bounty hunters to work?

So here’s the challenge: Mark the pages where you see typos (or any errors) and compile them all into a list. Send me your list in an e-mail by the end of this month (March) and the person who finds the most (bonafide) errors wins.

After I choose a winner, I’ll send her either a signed copy of Writer Mama OR offer her a half-hour of platform phone consult. Winner’s choice.

Fun, right?

So please help and happy typo-hunting!

Don’t ever take me into a pet store, close to my daughter’s birthday, and then look up at me with big brown eyes (in this case, my husband’s) and utter the words, “But I LOVE her.”

Because I will say something like, “Well, then we may as well get two so they can keep each other company.”

What??? THAT was practical?

And here we are. Not just a book coming out in thirty days (mine). Not just Grease, the musical, to mount over at the high school (my husband’s show). Not just a trip to Israel for A WEEK (my husband’s brother’s wedding). But puppies too?

No, seriously, we didn’t have enough going on. Much better now.

Last words to my husband, “Don’t EVER take me into an orphanage.”

Today is one of those days for many moms. I bet, if you’re a mom, you know the kind of days I’m talkin’ about. Yup, the ones where you’re bouncing the baby on your knee with suddenly very unpleasant results. The kind where you preschooler, who is normally happy to go to school, suddenly won’t release your leg. The kind where your three kids gang up on you instead of getting their acts together to catch the bus.

What’s going on? And how are you supposed to get your writing done on days like this?

It might be the flu. It might be that everyone is just out of whack. It might be that everyone is having a growth spurt at the same time. It doesn’t matter as much why these things happen, as it does that they just happen and sometimes there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it.

Puke happens. Tantrums happen. Backtalk happens too. If you have to deal with all of these in one day, you deserve a medal. And none of it necessarily means you’re a bad mom, although it’s easy to start wondering, when everything runs amok.

If no writing gets done on a day when everything else is out of whack, regardless of the reason…that’s just life in the mama lane.

Some days there is only so much you can do. Just for today, or on any day when you’re having “one of those days,” let it be enough.

Repeat after me…
There’s always tomorrow.
Somedays, you just need to regroup.
Tomorrow will be a better day.
And, my favorite:
It’s never too late to make a comeback.

Hang in there, mamas! Flu season will soon be over and Spring will be here before you know it!

Weekends are for fun. Weekends are for rest. Weekends are for…reorganizing my office! That’s okay, this one keeps things light.