First Dig

I tricked myself into writing today by switching to the third person in my journal. I told myself a little story:

Blocked? No such thing. Kathy made sure she got up each morning and wrote, no matter how crappy the content was. She was a writer, and writers write.

So she started her blog. She lugged her big notebook (stuffed with ideas for her unwritten book) downstairs, and flipped purposefully through the pages. She immediately found the quote she wanted, from the author Julianna Baggott.

Not that [my] children imprison me, but sometimes, I felt like a prisoner with a spoon. I could dig away, doing little bits at a time, hoping I would see the light.

Kathy felt an instant bond with Julianna, who had given her the inspiration for her blog's title.

Thank God for my bag of tricks. Writing about myself in third person lets me step out of my body, and I can write myself back into the scene. Fools me every time. Okay. I am back in the groove now. Here is what I want to start with:

Julianna's list of publications is long and impressive. But I bonded with this author mostly because her quote seemed written for me. She perfectly summarized my daily struggle for balance.

I am a working mother who writes. Sometimes my whole day is one long spoon dig. Just getting Gavin dressed for school yesterday bent a few spoons and left me clawing with my bare hands. But the particular spoon digging I want to cover in this blog is the persistence of mothers who write, who grab every moment they can to honor their creativity, yet remain good, loving mothers. Wait. That "yet" disclaimer did not belong in the last sentence. I am a better mother because I write, and I am a better writer because I mother. That is the whole point of this blog. Writing and mothering does not need to be an either-or equation. Digging with a spoon is worth it, even though you may need to stop and sob (or at least vigorously scrub your fingernails) once in a while.

This balancing of art and motherhood is no small feat. It deserves some serious attention, and some solidarity.

I wrote a piece for the Write from Home Web site recently, about my latest mother-author idol, Harriet Beecher Stowe. She had 7 children before she published Uncle Tom's Cabin. When I heard that, I practically had her picture framed. Here is the link: http://www.writefromhome.com/wwc/489.htm

Next Saturday, my Mona Lisa Moment.

PS the quote from Julianna Baggott is taken from an excellent interview by Cheryl Dellasega, from the Mothers Who Write series.