Tag Archives: mother writing

Mother’s Day Book Winners!

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Mother’s Day Book Winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s Mother’s Day daily book giveaway! It was a huge success, and I hope you all have some great new books on your list to read!

A special thanks to the authors who took the time to visit with us here and who are giving away copies of their books:

Jennifer Grant, Shauna Niequist, Kate Hopper, Claire Bidwell Smith, Jena Morrow, and Suzanne Kamata.

Here are the winners to the Mother’s Day Book Giveaway!

Monday: MOMumental – bn100, Love You More -Tim

Tuesday: Bread & Wine – Deborah

Wednesday: Use Your Words – Julie Farrar

Thursday: The Rules of Inheritance – His Fire Fly

Friday: Hollow – Brianne

Saturday: Call Me Okaasan – TUC

Thanks again, everyone, for a great week. Stay tuned for more fun book giveaways coming your way in the next couple months!

 

Call Me Okaasan Book Giveaway and interview with Suzanne Kamata

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Help me welcome my friend Suzanne Kamata, and the excellent book she edited, “Call Me Okaasan, Adventures in Multicultural Mothering.”

I read this book of short stories and essays by 20 women writers from around the world about a year an a half ago, and the stories have stayed with me. You have to check this book out!

I invited Suzanne to talk to us about writing and motherhood. And to round out the week, Suzanne is offering one signed copy of her book to a lucky participant. Welcome Suzanne!

 

 

Call Me Okaasan Book Giveaway and interview with Suzanne Kamata

1. What is the hardest thing about being a writer and a mom?

Finding the time to write. Although I set aside one sacred day per week for writing, that day is often taken over by PTA meetings or school holidays or something else. I have all of these projects that I’m excited about and I become irritated when I can’t write, but sometimes the demands of motherhood subsume my writing time.

2. What leads you to write your books?

The book I’m writing now, which is a mother-daughter travel memoir, was prompted by my daughter’s desire to see the world. I figured I’d get a huge advance, like Elizabeth Gilbert, and we’d eat, pray, love in a variety of places, and then I’d write the book. So far it hasn’t worked out quite like that, though I was very fortunate to be awarded a grant by the Sustainable Arts Foundation for this project.

3. What has changed since you’ve been published?

It has allowed me to take my writing seriously. My family is, by and large, disinterested, and I live among people who can’t read English, so the motivation has to come from within.

4. What do you love right now about motherhood?

I love it that my daughter is now old enough to be a fun travel companion,and that my son is still a little bit willing to talk to me.

5. What do your kids think about your writing?

My daughter is my biggest fan, although she can’t read my writing. My son gives me high fives when I ask for them. I think they both think it’s pretty cool, although my son is a bit more reserved with his enthusiasm.

***

Suzanne Kamata lives in Japan with her husband and teen-aged twins. She’s the author of four books, including Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible (GemmaMedia, May 17, 2013) and the editor of three anthologies. She also serves as Fiction Co-editor for Literary Mama. Connect with Suzanne at www.suzannekamata.com.

For a chance to win the giveaway (a signed copy of Call Me Okaasan):

1. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.

2. Tweet, share on Facebook, Pin, about Suzanne and/or my Mother’s Day daily book giveaway for ONE MORE CHANCE to win and leave another comment letting me know what you did (note, it’s just one more chance regardless of how much you share).

So that’s TWO CHANCES per person if you are so inclined!

Winners will be announced for each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) on Mother’s Day and chosen randomly from randomnumber.org.

The Rules of Inheritance Book Giveaway & an Interview with Claire Bidwell Smith

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The Rules of Inheritance Book Giveaway & an Interview with Claire Bidwell Smith

rules of inheritance

Every day this week, in honor of Mother’s Day coming up on May 12th, I am doing an interview with a writer/mother whom I admire.

Claire Bidwell Smith is the author of The Rules of Inheritance, a moving memoir about grief, family, and “how to overcome some of life’s devastating tragedies.” I devoured this book. The prose is breath-taking, and I identified, and learned from Claire’s grief journey. One lucky reader will win a signed copy of Claire’s book. Thank you, Claire, for taking the time to address motherhood and writing here on the blog!

 

1. What is the hardest thing about being a writer and a mom?

The hardest thing about being a writer and a mom is finding a balance in which I’m devoting enough time to both roles. Obviously being a mom takes priority, but I also feel that to be a good mom I have to be true to who I am, which is a writer, so it can get a bit muddled at times. I’m always wishing that I had more time to write, but I know that my role as a mother feeds me in emotional and creative ways that make me a better writer. I guess in a lot of ways, they go hand in hand, even if sometimes they seems to be working against each other.

2. What led you to write your book?

My book was really born out of a desire to give back in some way. I began writing it after I’d been working as a grief counselor in hospice for a number of years and I wanted to create something that would make people feel a little less alone in their grief process. I saw so many people struggling to make sense of Elisabeth Kubler Ross’s 5 Stages of Grief and so I thought that perhaps if I used my own story as an example of how fluid and interchangeable they are, it would make someone’s life a bit easier.

3. What has changed since you’ve been published?

I think the only thing that’s really changed since I’ve been published is how many people I connect with on a daily basis. I get messages from readers every day. They write to share their own stories and to tell me the ways in which my book shaped their own process. Every time I get one of these letters I feel like my intention for the book came true.

4. What is your favorite thing right now about motherhood?

My favorite thing about motherhood is how much more I laugh now. My daughters are constantly doing something that literally has me doubled over and I realize how serious my life had been before them. It’s such a gift.

5. What do your kids think about you being a writer?

My oldest daughter (age 4) talks all the time about how she wants to be a writer when she grows up, but I don’t think she really has any idea what I do. For all I know she could think that being a writer means traveling a lot, drinking a lot of wine, and having constant dinner parties. Which I guess is kind of true. But really, I hope that one day they’ll both think it’s pretty cool that I worked as hard as I have to create a book that I hope means something to a few people.

Headshot-5Claire Bidwell Smith lives in Los Angeles. She is a psychotherapist specializing in grief, and the author of the  memoir The Rules of Inheritance (Penguin 2012).

Claire received a BA in creative writing from The New School and a MA in clinical psychology from Antioch University. She has written for many publications including The Huffington Post, Salon.com, Slate, BlackBook Magazine and Chicago Public Radio. Her background includes travel and food writing, working for nonprofits like Dave Eggers’ literacy center 826LA, and most recently bereavement counseling for a hospice in Chicago. Find out more about Claire on her website www.ClaireBidwellSmith.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

For a chance to win a signed copy of The Rules of Inheritance:

1. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.

2. Tweet, share on Facebook, Pin, about Claire and/or my Mother’s Day daily book giveaway for ONE MORE CHANCE to win and leave another comment letting me know what you did (note, it’s just one more chance regardless of how much you share).

So that’s TWO CHANCES per person if you are so inclined!

Winners will be announced for each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) on Mother’s Day and chosen randomly from randomnumber.org.

Please come back tomorrow to hear from Jena Morrow, author of Hollow.

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Use Your Words, A Writing Guide for Mothers Book Giveaway & Interview with Kate Hopper

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Use Your Words, A Writing Guide for Mothers Book Giveaway & Interview with Kate Hopper

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Kate Hopper, author of Use Your Words, A Writing Guide for Mothers, and the upcoming memoir Ready For Air, is giving away a signed copy of Use Your Words today on the blog. I own a copy of Use Your Words, and recommend it for any mom thinking of picking up the pen.

Kate has been a huge influence in my writing pursuits. Her desire to help mama writers is amazing, and she does it all while producing astonishing work herself. Talk about a great literary citizen, not to mention a cherished friend! I cannot WAIT for Kate’s memoir to come out!

1. What is the hardest thing about being a writer and a mom?

Both roles are hard in their own ways, but probably the hardest part of being a writer mom is finding the time to write. I try to reserve Monday mornings for writing when both girls are in school, but these mornings have recently been taken over with teaching/editing responsibilities. The rest of the week I’m at my day job or with my youngest, Zoë.  I try to be flexible and remind myself what I’ve learned over the last nine years trying to juggle writing and mothering and life: I need to be patient, and the writing will get done, just much slower than I initially think it will.

2. What leads you to write your books?

I’m drawn to the page again and again, but the reason I’m drawn there shifts with each project, and also as I grow and change. With Ready for Air, I felt a desperate need to both share the story of my daughter Stella’s premature birth, but also to write against the still-perpetuated myths of motherhood. That was what drove me to the computer every morning for several years.

Use Your Words grew out of my Motherhood & Words class, which I teach online and at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.  I wanted to make that class available to a much wider audience of women interested in writing about motherhood, and that was what led me to my computer day after day as I was working on that book.

I’m now very slowly working on a novel (and I use “working on” loosely). I chose to move into fiction because after Ready for Air and Use Your Words I needed a break from myself on the page, and I wanted to explore and imagine lives beyond my own. I love the freedom to invent in fiction, to let my main character develop on the page as I’m writing. It’s such a different process than writing creative nonfiction; it feels like playing. My goal is to carve out more serious time for work on that project this summer.

3. What has changed since you’ve been published?

Well, writing is still hard work, no matter how many books you have out in the world. But having Use Your Words published and Ready for Air being released this fall has definitely helped to get my name out there, which has increased the amount of editing, teaching, and presenting I’m doing. The books give me a sense of legitimacy, which is silly, but true. I do think I’m taken more seriously now.

4. What is your favorite thing right now about motherhood?

I love the ages of my girls right now: 9.5 and 5. I take note daily of the ways they are developing into their own independent people. My goal for myself right now is to really celebrate and admire them every day (even on the hard days).

***

KHopper-UYW-Headshot1-200x300Kate Hopper is a writer, teacher, editor, and mother (and wife and daughter and sister and friend…the list goes on and on). Primarily, Kate writes about motherhood: the dark side, the humorous side, the places where these two intersect. She loves finding good writing that combats the myths of motherhood still perpetuated in our society and speaks honestly about what it’s really like to be a mother.

Kate has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota, where I taught literature and creative writing. She currently teach a variety of classes at The Loft Literary Centerin Minneapolis, including Motherhood & Words®, a class for women interested in writing about motherhood. Kate also teaches an online version of Motherhood & Words®. Visit her teaching page to learn more about her upcoming classes.

Kate’s writing has appeared in Brevity, Literary Mama, mamazine, Minnesota Parent,MotherVerse, Preemie Magazine, nytimes.com, and the Minneapolis StarTribune. Her first book, Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers, has just been published by Viva Editions. Her memoir, Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood, will be published by University of Minnesota Press (Fall 2013).

Connect with Kate at www.katehopper.com, at motherhoodandwords.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

How to enter the giveaway for Kate’s book:

1. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.

2. Tweet, share on Facebook, Pin about Kate and/or my Mother’s Day daily book giveaway for ONE MORE CHANCE to win and leave another comment letting me know what you did (note, it’s just one more chance regardless of how much you share :) .

So that’s TWO CHANCES per person if you are so inclined!

Winners will be announced for each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) on Mother’s Day and chosen randomly from randomnumber.org.

Please come back tomorrow to hear from Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance, a moving memoir about grief, family, and “how to overcome some of life’s devastating tragedies.”

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Bread & Wine Book Giveaway, plus an interview with Shauna Niequist

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Bread and Wine Book Giveaway, plus an interview with Shauna Niequist

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Shauna Niequist is the author of Cold Tangerines, Bittersweet, and the newly released Bread & Wine. She is also such a kind-hearted individual, I know you’ll just love getting to know her if you haven’t already read her books!

I loved Shauna’s other books, and Bread & Wine does not disappoint. I found myself spurred on by the intent of the book, and stopped in places by the prose. Shauna writes about the importance of community around the table, and in life (plus, there are tons of mouth-watering recipes for you to try at home). Thank you, Shauna, for taking a few moments to talk about motherhood and writing.

1. What is the hardest thing about being a writer and a mom?

Time, of course. It takes time to be a good parent, and time to be a good writer, and it’s tricky get the math right. Some weeks I do, and some weeks I don’t. Two ideas have been informing my choices lately: first, that a whole-hearted present mama is more important than a super-efficient-and-productive one, so I’m trying to slow everything down to allow myself to be more connected and rested.

Second, parenting and writing are my non-negotiables…but almost everything else is negotiable. Keeping a perfect house? Negotiable. Very, very negotiable. Going to every possible party and event? Negotiable. Having perfectly wrapped presents for other kids’ birthdays? Super-negotiable. Parenting, writing, being a good partner to Aaron: if those things are happening, almost everything else can slide.

2. What has changed since you’ve been published?

Almost nothing. In the words of my patron saint, Anne Lamott, if you weren’t okay before you got published, you won’t be okay after you are. It doesn’t change as much as you think. And especially in a season where people are doing such great writing on blogs and in self-published books, publishing doesn’t mean what it used to. This is good news for unpublished writers–you don’t need a pub board to give you an opportunity–you can make your own. And you should. :)

 ***

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Shauna Niequist is the author of Cold Tangerines,Bittersweet, and Bread & Wine.

Shauna grew up in Barrington, Illinois, and then studied English and French Literature at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

She is married to Aaron, who is a pianist and songwriter. Aaron is a worship leader at Willow Creek and is recording a project called A New Liturgy. Aaron & Shauna live outside Chicago with their sons, Henry and Mac.

Shauna writes about the beautiful and broken moments of everyday life–friendship, family, faith, food, marriage, love, babies, books, celebration, heartache, and all the other things that shape us, delight us, and reveal to us the heart of God. Connect with Shauna at shaunaniequist.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

For a chance to win a signed copy of Bread & Wine:

1. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.

2. Tweet, share on Facebook, Pin about Shauna and/or my Mother’s Day daily book giveaway for ONE MORE CHANCE to win and leave another comment letting me know what you did (note, it’s just one more chance regardless of how much you share :) .

So that’s TWO CHANCES per person if you are so inclined!

Winners will be announced for each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) on Mother’s Day and chosen randomly from randomnumber.org.

Please come back tomorrow to hear from Kate Hopper, author of Use Your Words, and the upcoming memoir Ready For Air.

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Thoughts on being two people at once, a mom and a writer

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© Aeolos | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

© Aeolos | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

Thoughts on being two people at once, a mom and a writer

(I’m on vacation … So enjoy this recycled post today!)

OK, so I am a mom. Obviously.

I usually have stains on my shirt. I sweat a lot from picking kids up and down all day, and if I am talking to you in a public place with my children in tow, I am typically looking out of the corner of my eye to ensure that they don’t run away.

I’ve been a mom for over twelve years. It’s one part of my personality that is constant. Whether I am grumpy or happy, chubbier or thinner, motivated or lazy, I’m a mom.

It’s what I know.

Enter stage left a quiet desire that has risen up to become a writer. Not just a “please excuse Evangeline from school on Tuesday because she had a doctor visit” writer, but the other kind. The type who actually spends a good amount of BOC (butt on the chair). A person who actually produces readable work.

I remember distinctly when the dream actually took root in my heart. We were on vacation in Florida and Sergei and I were hanging out late at night in a hot tub (this all sounds very sophisticated and a tad bit romantic, doesn’t it? But honest, we were just talking).

“I think I want to write a book.”

“I mean, I think I want to be a writer.” I looked at my husband sitting in the other corner of a 6′ to 8′ bubbling pot of water.

Here is a crucial part to my story. My husband’s answer.

“You should. Let’s make it happen.” (Awesome husband, right?)

Once we returned home from vacation, Sergei and I set up a schedule that allowed me time to write.

And I did.

Some days I ignored laundry. Some days I ignored my kids.

A funny thing started to happen inside me. I began to feel more like myself. Like Gillian. Sure, I was still Lainie and Zoya and Polly and Evie’s mom, but there was also space in my head to think, to process, to create, to write.

Six years later, even with several magazine articles, and essays under my belt and a book deal for my memoir, I am still trying to balance two people at once, a mom and a writer. And it must be said that hands down, if one were to trump the other, it would be mom.

But, I have to say, my writing has made me a better mom.

My girls see me pursuing my goals. They see that I am happy writing things down. They see that they can have more than one dream in life, and with God’s help, can do things relatively okay most days.

I think that is worth being two people.

Don’t you?

World’s Okayest Mom

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World’s Okayest Mom

I saw this coffee cup picture today on Facebook. Boy, do I want one.

It made me laugh out loud. I got so excited, as this notion of being an okay mom has been on my radar recently.

Moms have demands; kids, homes, friends, spouses, work.

I get it, life is demanding. Strap on a toddler or two in the house, and the demands are so tall at times you want to curl up in a ball in the corner of the living room.

But I suspect our greatest demands are from ourselves.

Why do we impose our demands on each other, and why, seriously, why do we put such high demands on ourselves?

Why do moms compare?

Our friend down the street loves spending every waking minute with her children, so we should.

Our other friend only buys organic, so we should.

Our other friend makes sure she gets a work out in every day and can fit in her high school jeans, so we should.

Our other friend is memorizing the book of John from the Bible and whispering it to her children at night as she lays them down to sleep, so we should.

Enough.

Working out, eating well, enjoying our kids, teaching them about our beliefs, and a million other things, are all important.

But comparing ourselves to other moms, and to this ideal in our minds of the perfect mother, won’t actually help us improve.

It will help us fail.

Because our energy gets tied up in comparing.

Seriously? Who has that kind of expendable energy? I sure don’t. We will buckle under the pressure, and our children probably will find us somewhere curled up in a ball in the corner of a room.

I struggle with depression, and there have been times in my parenting journey where I’ve ended up in bed for days at a time. Through my relationship with God, a good therapist, and an antidepressant, I’ve realized that I put a lot of pressure on myself. I have this ideal of what I should be as a mom. And it is an incredibly tall order. I set myself up for failure because there is no possible way I could do everything I think I should, even if my neighbor can do it.

I have to stop comparing myself to others and to my ideal of motherhood and work with who I am today.

That’s not saying I can’t improve in areas of my life, God knows I can, and I can learn from others how to be a better mom.

But my standard is not them. I am not them, and comparison and guilt absolutely suck what little reserves of emotional and physical energy I have to parent my four daughters.

So here’s my challenge: Don’t think you have to do everything every other mother is doing. Figure out what is best/right for your family at this season of your life, pray about it, ask God to bless it, and then do it.

It’s vital for us moms to take a step back and see what we have in life. Your life may not be ideal. In fact, I wonder who has everything they want? I sure don’t.

But if you have your kids, or your marriage, or your faith, your health, your job, and/or a million other things in your life, you have much to be thankful for.

You are okay. 

I need this reminder today.

Maybe you do, too.

We’re okay. My kids are okay. I’m okay. Our family is okay.

Because there are no guarantees, and a lot of people aren’t okay, and we may not be okay tomorrow.

So, who’s with me? Here’s to World’s Okayest Moms!

A Bah Humbug Writer’s Wish List (and a giveaway!)

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A Bah Humbug Writer’s Wish List (and a giveaway!)

(This post is part of a blog parade! Check out other writers marching along at www.wordservewatercooler.com.)

The assignment to write a blog post in the form of a writer’s wish list for the WordServe Water Cooler, a community of agented authors encouraging, engaging, and enriching each other through their writing journey, as a part of the WordServe Literary Agency (the wonderful agency that represents my work) couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Why, you ask?

OK, I’ll tell you.

It’s a bad time for a writer’s wish list because I am feeling a bit bah humbug about the modern-day writing life lately. When it comes to putting pen to paper (or in my case finger to keyboard) I recently have started to morph into a female, 2012 version of the crab master himself,  Ebenezer Scrooge, minus the stellar financial prowess, the extensive facial hairs (although I do have a couple), and the ability to make young children cry (again, my children may object to this last one).

Why so crotchety?

Because I am tired of all the extraneous work required to become a published author.

These days, it seems that men (and women) will not be published by writing alone.

Oh no, we need to Tweet, and have a Facebook Fan page, blog (and of course, this ravenous writer eager to be entitled author has cleverly linked you to all of her social media addresses), and get pictures of ourselves leaning against brick walls, attempting to look intelligent, yet kind, knowing, capable. Something like this …

Thanks to my lovely friend Christine from Christine Kay Photography for achieving a suave writing look for me.

I’m tired. And I am not doing a good job of balancing all this platform hoopla with the thing I actually love to do: write.

You caught me on an off day (shocker, I know. I never have off days!). Therefore, here is my not so encouraging, enriching, engaging writer’s wish list:

Ahem …

My writer’s wish list includes:

1. Introversion. If you want to be a serious writer, then you must abstain from copious amounts of people for the majority of your life. Hide in a cave somewhere and write. Spend so much time by yourself that you actually develop a head twitch if you are with people for too long.

2. Stacks of real life, honest to goodness books. I must admit, I own a Kindle Fire and I actually love it … A lot. But this is my writer’s wish list, and if space, time, and money weren’t an issue, I would own oodles of books, beautifully written, astounding books, and on hard days, create a little book nook to hide out in until the storm passed.

3. The implosion of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and any other social media medium that sucks away my writerly time. (Insert: It is the social media’s problem, not mine. I repeat, not mine.) Don’t get me wrong. I frequent these venues. I appreciate catching up with friends from high school and finding out what some lady I would rather not friend but was too polite to ignore had for supper last night, but just imagine. Back to a world where you had to call someone on the phone, or get in the car and see them, or write a postcard.

Sigh. I know we aren’t going backwards, that social media double and triple lives are probably here to stay, but in my bah humbug writer days, I’d just assume be done with it all and just, well, write.

4. A martini shaker and a corkscrew. Come on! This is a writer’s wish list. Guess I better include a bottle opener.

5. A publisher stumbling upon my rather pithy and witty blog posts, or tweets, or Facebook stati and finding my cell number, calling me right away, and offering me a three book contract with a hefty advance that would pay off my family’s bills (read: twelve-year old’s braces) and leave me enough every month to hire someone else to clean the toilet.

6. And Jesus. I am a Christian, and I really do love God and am flabbergasted that he loves me, so I’ll include Jesus. I’ve learned that in Christian circles, whenever you are asked a question and don’t know the answer, just say Jesus. You can’t go wrong with that name.

OK, so that’s it. I could come up with more on my list, but pro-bloggers claim that a good blog post should be around 500 words, and I am already over 700 which probably messes up some algorithm somewhere on the internet.

Bad blogger.

But hopefully, one day, God willing, good writer.

Here’s my giveaway:

Leave a comment, link up to this fantabulous post, tweet, you know, do all that stuff I just ragged on, and get a chance to win an  Ebenezer Scrooge box of writer stuff (stationary, nice pens, a worthwhile read, perhaps a corkscrew, and whatever else flips my lid at Home Goods.)

The giveaway ends at MIDNIGHT on December 24. The winner will be announced on Christmas Day through randomnumbers.org. Have fun!

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Wanna see other WordServe Literary Agency Author’s lists and their giveaways?

1. Lucille Zimmerman
Blog Link: http://www.lucillezimmerman.com/2012/12/10/ape-author-publisher-entrepreneur-how-to-publish-a-book-by-guy-kawasaki-shawn-welch-a-book-review/
Prize: A chance to win a free copy of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur

2. Janalyn Voigt
Blog Link: http://janalynvoigt.com/one-authors-christmas-wish
Prize: A chance to win scrap booking software and an autographed copy of DawnSinger.

3. Kimberly Vargas
Blog Link: http://www.kimberlyvargasauthor.com/?p=241
Prize: A chance to win one of ten autographed copies of Gumbeaux.

4. Cheryl Ricker
Blog Link: http://www.cherylricker.com/2012/12/smells-and-whistles/
Prize: A chance to win one of three copies of A Friend in the Storm.

5. Jordyn Redwood
Blog Link: http://jordynredwood.blogspot.com/2012/12/wishing.html
Prize: A chance to win one of three personalized copies of Proof.

6. Melissa K. Norris
Blog Link: http://melissaknorris.com/?p=1351
Prize: A chance to win an electronic copy of Pioneering Today.

7. Gillian Marchenko
Blog Link: http://wp.me/p2Ds6m-zA
Prize: An Ebenezer Scrooge box of writerly accoutrements.

8. Dr. Rita Hancock
Blog Link: http://edensfreedomsisters.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-eden-diet-joins-a-blog-parade-find-out-how-to-win-dr-rita-s-b
Prize: A chance to win one autographed copy of Radical Well-being–A Biblical Guide to Overcoming Pain, Illness, and Addictions and a chance to win one of three electronic copies of The Eden Diet.

9. Karen Jordan
Blog Link: http://karenbarnesjordan.com/a-writers-wish-list-grace-gifts
Prize: A chance to win a copy of Heavenly Company: Entertaining Angels Unaware by Cecil Murphey and Twila Belk.

10. Kelli Gotthardt
log Link: http://www.kelligotthardt.com/1/post/2012/12/writers-wish-list.html
Prize: A chance to win one of three Christian yoga DVDs from Yahweh Yoga.

11: Jan Dunlap
Blog Link: http://jandunlap.com/2012/12/the-wishlist-of-a-writer/
Prize: A chance to win “Cozy Moment” gift pack: a Christmas mug, notepad and pen, a signed copy of my newest mystery A Murder of Crows, and two Murder of Crows tea towels.

12: Cindy Dagnan
Blog Link: http://cindydagnan.com/cindy-sigler-dagnan/2012/12/14/one-writer%E2%80%99s-wish-list/
Prize: A chance to win a copy of Hot Chocolate for Couples, and some gourmet hot cocoa.

13: Anita Brooks
Blog Link: http://brooksanita.com/a-writers-fantasy-wish-list
Prize: A chance to win one of three signed copies of Moments of Grace.

And WordServe Literary Agency is giving away three packages at the Water Cooler:

Prize Package #1:
Kathi Lipp
1. The Husband Project
2. The Me Project
3. The Marriage Project

Prize Package #2:
1. Bees in the Butterfly Garden: Maureen Lang
2. Pieces of Silver: Maureen Lang
3. The Falcon and the Sparrow: M.L. Tyndall

Prize Package #3:
Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall: The End Series
1. Edge of Apocalypse
2. Thunder of Heaven
3. Brink of Chaos

Be sure to leave a comment on any blog where you would like a chance to win the prize. If you leave a message here at gillianmarchenko.com, you’ll be entered in the Ebenezer Scrooge Writer box of fun.

Merry Christmas!

When a Mother Leaves, By Kim Van Brunt

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(I welcome my dear friend Kim Van Brunt. Savor her words, learn from them, and share. Thanks for your gorgeous post, Kim. Traveling mercies.)

When a Mother Leaves, By Kim Van Brunt

Today, I am over the Atlantic.

I’ll be here for hours, flying through the silent deafening darkness, and when tomorrow dawns too early I’ll land in another continent, then fly to another. When tomorrow is done, I’ll set foot in Africa again, and it will be so far away from familiar, and it will be like coming home again.

When I look over my shoulder, my three beautiful children will be nowhere I can reach.

I will count the hours at first, wonder after them, it’ll take a while to shake plate-balancing mode but then I will begin to forget them, for a moment, for longer. The work and stories and faces in front of me will blur the ones back home.

How can a mother do this to her children?

* * *

We talk about Africa all the time.

(“Ag-a-kah,” Benjamin calls it.) They know where I’m going and why, and I know this time apart stretches us, all of us, into a wild unknown, but then, we’ve done it before. When I tell the older two that I was gone nearly a month to get Benjamin, they don’t believe me. It’s shrunk down to a moment in their minds, a fun afternoon with grandparents, a flash and it was over.

To me, it’s an eternity, a shift so drastic and complete in my life it’s like the lights were off, and now they’re on.

And that’s why I have to go back.

And this is how I can do this to them: Because I want them to go, too. I want them to try and search and ask.

I want to show them what to do when you’re afraid.

They will watch me through their childhoods, and I have vowed that I will be worth watching. They will see me write books, fly to Africa, take risks big and small, they will witness me daring greatly and saying yes and making no earthly sense.

I promise them this. With trembling hands and an unsure heart, I promise.

While they sleep, when they’re dreaming their big dreams, I whisper, I promise to be brave. I promise to live this wild beautiful life in a way that makes you proud. It’s the life God calls us to live, little loves.

* * *

I’m terrified, of course. But I’ve learned the opposite of bravery isn’t fear. Being brave is diving straight into the fear, going all the way in. I’ve learned it begins with turning to face that Thing You Could Never and taking the first step towards.

I go for them.  I go for more than them, because I am more. Because God is more.

“Our family cares about this. This is our mission field, and you are our missionary,” my husband told me three days ago, strong and sure, in the middle of my afternoon meltdown when the baby was sleeping, when I didn’t know how I could do it either.

And so I go trembling, because that’s the only way to go. I’m afraid to leave my children. I’m afraid to have my heart-broken apart by the women I’ll meet and the lives that will change me. I’m afraid to see my poverty, my brokenness of spirit, all the bullshit in my heart and my head that seems so big now— I’m afraid to see it shrunk down, afraid of what will be left of me after.

But I dive in anyway.

I go for me. I go for them. I promise to be brave.


Kim Van Brunt is a writer, wife, mother and world-changer. Follow her blog to read the inspirational stories of Ugandan women, which she’ll be writing over the next 10 days during the trip. She’s also writing a book on the importance of honesty during adoption, which is currently under consideration at several publishing houses. Follow her on Twitter @kimvanbrunt or like her on Facebook.