Cori Howard, author of Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood wants to encourage us all to write down our “momoirs”.
To get started:
- Get a notebook and to keep it with them at all times. You never know when you might find a spare few minutes, or when and where your little angel might fall asleep. Having a notebook means you’re a mobile writer and all moms are mobile!
- Have faith in your own story. There’s a lot of writing on motherhood out there, but each of us has a unique perspective and a one-of-a-kind experience and almost all the moms I know, never tire of hearing new stories.
- If you get stuck and don’t know where to start, to just pick a topic: preschool, the dinner table, saying goodbye, faith. Those usually spark some amazing stories in my classes.
She also tells us:
In the crazy, overwhelming chaos of everyday life as a mother, there is so much to write about, and so little time. From memorializing your daughter’s sentences to your inner struggle with your post-baby identity, there are a millions stories you want to remember. The first thing I did upon becoming a mother (after the identity crisis, the ambition crisis and the marriage crisis sort of subsided) was write a book, an anthology about all this struggle (Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood).
After receiving dozens of emails from women wanting to know if there was a sequel and if I was interested in hearing their stories, I decided to start teaching “momoir” classes, helping women get their personal experience with motherhood into well-crafted words, whether it’s for themselves or to publish in a magazine or as a book.
If you want to learn more, or read some of the new stories written by Cori’s students, check out: TheMomoirProject.com. Canadians can find in-person classes in both Toronto and Vancouver too! Or grab her book, Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood.
Related activity: Track your new mama milestones
