Writing Motherhood: Writing Yourself (A Spectrum of Reviews)

I was one of the lucky folks who received a copy of Writing Motherhood in anticipation of a book club discussion of the book on the NJ Moms Blog.

Unlike traditional book clubs, this one came with a writing prompt. Writing Motherhood at its core is a soul-seeking experience, not a "how to write the Great American Novel." The "Mother's Notebook," the handwritten book the consumer creates, is meant to be private, a "safe place" to let the words flow.

My challenge in writing is not necessarily finding time (I make time to write to the exclusion of things I should be doing, like folding the laundry and handling client requests) but as I learned from my struggles with the writing prompt, it is more that I have become used to writing for an audience, and not necessarily for myself. Although I love the idea of a "Mother Notebook," I haven't yet actually purchased mine yet.

I love the concept of putting pen to paper, letting my handwriting show my mood. But yet I haven't done it yet. Instead, the quick get-the-words-out-fast typing of my blog seems "easier," especially when thoughts of other tasks muddle my mind.

Writing Motherhood suggests the "set the timer" or "set the page length" limits so that the writer can reach a goal. Initially, I laughed about the timer method because I always write for more than my internal allotted time, yet restricting myself to the time limit instead of using it as a goal on the other end could be a welcome challenge.

Another aspect of the "Mother Pages" writing method that is it is meant to be more draft-quality than what I am used to. While I could certainly change pieces of an entry in a "Motherhood Notebook" to do it on a blog is untraceable (unless I've already published, in which case I do the traditional let-them-see-your-edits.) And so my "Mother Pages" are going to be more of an initial reaction to a prompt, event, or feeling than a more "perfected" post.

This "review" (and my reaction to the Book Club prompt) are written in the style suggested by Writing Motherhood; I have not gone back to edit or reword my thoughts. This is a vulnerable thing!

I will be honest: I haven't yet finished reading Writing Motherhood because of all those same things on my to-do list that have kept me from purchasing my "Mother Notebook," but believe me, now that the end-of-year chaos has subsided, I fully intend to live up to what Writing Motherhood expects of the consumer: for the mother to be a writer.

I am eager to begin!

Writing Motherhood: Writing Yourself

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