When you think of Erma Bombeck, the word “feminist” probably doesn’t leap to mind. Instead, you might think of your mother’s well-worn copy of one of Bombeck’s ten bestsellers or a yellowed clipping of one of her syndicated newspaper columns stuck to your childhood fridge with a magnet. And, perhaps, that’s just as Bombeck would [...]
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Today I’m happy to present the second installment in my Mother/Writer series: a profile of Louise Erdrich, award-winning novelist, poet, children’s book author, independent bookstore owner, and mother of seven (!). Once best known as a leading voice in the second wave of the Native American Renaissance, Louise Erdrich is now hailed as one of the [...]
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I reach into the manila envelope, tall and thick and freckled with spots of rain. The paper on the top of the pile, crisp white and razor sharp, catches the pad of my index finger and slices it cleanly. A rush of heat, a trickle of blood. A paper cut. *** I see the stack [...]
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My talented, creative, soon-to-be MFA friend Andrea of the Remains of the Day gave me a kick in the pants last week when she tapped me to participate in a cool meme that is making the rounds in different iterations among several of my favorite blogs: “The Next Big Thing.” It’s no secret that I’ve [...]
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It is with great pleasure that I present the first installment of my new Mother/Writer series: a look at Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors and, it seems, one of yours as well. Born and raised in rural Kentucky and trained as a biologist, Barbara Kingsolver now occupies a coveted place in American letters. Oprah-endorsed and [...]
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In her classic essay, “Why I Write,” Joan Didion talks about “images that shimmer around the edges” and the way that the shimmer indicates to her, as a writer, that she’s stumbled upon something she’s going to write about. She explains, “…certain images do shimmer for me. Look hard enough, and you can’t miss the shimmer. It’s [...]
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Last week I blazed my way through this summer’s “it” book, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild. Even before Oprah made Wild the inaugural pick of her interactive online Book Club 2.0, friends and reviewers were lauding it as a must-read – This year’s Eat, Pray, Love! – so I was excited when my local book club (1.0) chose it as our October [...]
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Waaay back in April, my friend Elizabeth tagged me in a fun blogging meme, Eleven Questions. Here’s how it works: Post the rules (um, check). Answer eleven questions the tagger posted for you. Create eleven new questions. Tag eleven people to answer them. Let them know you’ve tagged them. The questions Elizabeth devised are so [...]
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I know I’m not the first or the only person moved at the beginning of January to reflect on the year that just ended. But, when I saw Tsh’s list of 20 questions for reflecting on 2011 over at Simple Mom, I knew I wanted to stop and write on them. What can I say? Cliche, thy [...]
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On Sunday afternoon, I bought myself 60 minutes of Freedom. I clicked on a small icon on my desktop – a clock with a shield in front of it. A pop-up window appeared and asked, as if it were the simplest matter in the world: How many minutes of freedom would you like? Hmm, I [...]
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I am bad at waiting. And there’s good reason for that, I think. Indeed, there is a way in which my whole pre-parenting life was an exercise in gaining independence and then control over my life. I followed my parents’ rules and my teachers’ directions. I studied hard and got the job I wanted. I [...]
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Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) – Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” I spent this past weekend at a remarkable place, studying with a remarkable teacher, with two remarkable women by my side. I learned so much about myself, about writing, about the ways my body [...]
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I’ve been writing a lot lately. Actually, that’s not true at all. I’ve been thinking a lot about writing and talking a lot about writing and reading a lot about writing. I’ve even been studying writing with a great teacher. But sitting down and actually writing? Not so much. And this not writing all the [...]
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This week’s Correctionists post features a pet peeve rather than an actual error: I’m not sure if the creator of this sign knows the actual spelling of the word “cruise.” I suspect he does. But it almost irks me more if he willingly chose to spell it incorrectly. Why spell something wrong on purpose? Is [...]
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I’m lucky. I know that. I really do. I have three lovely, healthy kids, a wonderful husband, loving and supportive parents, financial stability, great friends. So why do I find myself in a lingering “Mom Funk”? I think it has something to do with time, and my slowly sinking realization that there are, in fact, only [...]
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where I am heading professionally. As you may recall, I was a high school history teacher for nearly a decade before I took some time off to have my kids. I had planned to go back into teaching all along, but I’ve hit a few roadblocks since September [...]
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Regular readers of Motherese know by now that I want to be a writer when I grow up. But what kind of writer do I want to be? As much as I love to read fiction, I can’t imagine myself writing it. As for straight journalism? I usually inject too much of myself into my [...]
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Last week, while flipping through my high school’s alumni magazine, I happened upon an obituary for a man I’d never heard of and never met. Nevertheless, the details of his life story interested and then inspired me. This gentleman – John – died on December 21, 2009 at the age of 101. But it wasn’t [...]
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I just finished reading Julie & Julia, Julie Powell’s blog-turned-book about the year she dedicated to cooking her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I came into the book with high expectations. Eagerly engaged in my own happiness project, I thought I’d be inspired by reading about Julie’s. Moreover, I really [...]
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I know this happens to you too. You’re minding your own business, driving to the library to return a book or sitting on the floor playing Legos with your kids, when suddenly a crystalline memory washes over you. The sights, the smells, the dialogue. It all comes back. Or at least as much as the [...]
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Today it is a real pleasure to welcome to Motherese Bruce Dolin of Privilege of Parenting. A clinical psychologist and parent of two sons, Bruce combines his professional and personal experience with his knowledge of film, philosophy, literature, and art to offer powerful daily posts on how we might become our own best selves through [...]
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Once upon a time there was a girl. A brand new mom of two. Her teaching career on pause, she stayed at home with her newborn and 20-month-old sons. She loved those boys. She loved her Husband. She had a lucky life. She knew she did. But she felt sad a lot of the time. [...]
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During Sunday afternoon’s precious double nap, I sat at my desk, wrangling with WordPress, trying to format Katy’s guest post to have it ready to publish on Monday morning. My Internet connection was creeping its way along at speeds I haven’t seen since the early days of dial-up. I felt frustrated. I felt angry. I [...]
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I’m sharing my thoughts about writers and woodpeckers today at JWorld Café, the Poetica Magazine blog. Please click over and check out my post and the blog’s collection of essays on writing and the creative process. Image: Pileated Woodpecker/Grand Pic by Eric Begin via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
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My buddy Maria at Mom of Three Seeks Sanity tapped me to join her and Liz and some other bloggy friends in playing a game of “What’s in my bag?” This exercise reminded me of Nicki’s and Big Little Wolf’s public explorations of the contents of their wallets back in January. My nosy nature enjoyed [...]
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This weekend Husband and I had some old friends and some new acquaintances over for drinks. As I was making small talk with a gentleman I had just met, he said, “So, Kristen, Husband tells me that you’re a writer.” Now, as Husband had informed me after meeting him a few weeks ago, this guy [...]
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As you probably know by now, I am an avid reader. My adoration for Anne Lamott and Judith Warner notwithstanding, I am pulled quite strongly to fiction. But despite my love of a great piece of literature and my newfound passion for writing, I cannot imagine writing fiction. I am currently rereading Harry Potter and [...]
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As I have mentioned before, Tiny Baby is not a fan of tummy time. Put him on his tummy and he becomes irritated. Ornery. Sometimes he’ll push up and roll over as quickly as he can. Other times, he’ll surrender to gravity, burying his face in the blanket, admitting defeat. Not surprisingly, Tiny Baby’s aversion [...]
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And now another selection from Kristen’s Little Shop of Metaphors… I told Husband recently about Anne Lamott’s metaphor (suggesting that writers carve out space to write just like woodpeckers drill holes in trees to make their nests) and the post I wrote about it. His response? “Don’t woodpeckers peck to pick grubs out of trees?” [...]
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I didn’t post on Saturday. Wait. You mean that fact didn’t rock your world? It sort of rocked mine. Since I started blogging on November 2, I had posted every day – weekends, holidays, while on vacation – until Saturday. At first, I posted daily in order to get myself in the habit of daily [...]
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