Mothers/Writers: Seeking Role Models
Hi Everyone:
I am looking for some writers that are/were also mothers. So far, I have Alice Munro and Amy Bloom. I read a lot by women writers but none of them seem to have children or if they do they abandon them (i.e., Sylvia Plath). I am seeking inspiration and guidance with my own writing practice while continuing to be a completely involved mother. I suppose I could open my search up to fathers as well but... I suppose it is not the same. When I learned that Michael Chabon writes at night to spend the day hours sleeping and being a father and husband, it doesn't do as much as when I learned that Amy Bloom starting writing at night while she was a therapist during the day and a mother to elementary school-aged children. So if anyone can give me some new names, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
I hope everyone is having a good holiday. Take care.
xo
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annie dillard (1), barbara kingsolver (2 or 3), leif enger (man, has at least 2), jodi picoult (3), anne lamott (1)
it seems like most of the writers, especially women, who I read the author blurb about, have kids. Or kid.
Good luck!
I tend to blog when my kid is sleeping at night and write the more "real" stuff when he is at preschool. I don't use his preschool time for anything but writing or photography.
and don't forget the woman who started hipmama, Ariel Gore!
also check out Mamaphonic, a site for creative mamas. It's for everything, writing, photography, film making, etc, but most of the regular posters are writers, quite a few of us published. One of the regular topics is finding the space/time to create.
http://mamaphonic.com
I wrote at night for years, just years and years, when my kids were small. Now they are way big, ages 19, 14, and 11, and I actually sleep at night. I do the bulk of my writing now in the early morning during the week and on weekends mid-afternoon to early evening. Flexibility is key, I carry a notebook with me at all times and have written a great deal that way in snatches of time.
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Louise Erdrich, Native American novelist, published since college, kids still at home, widowed in the 90s and opened bookstore with her sister as well as writing.
The legendary Nobel prize winning Toni Morrison wrote The Bluest Eye while teaching and being a single mother.
Plath's comtemporary, Adrienne Rich wrote poetry throughout raising children and then wrote a controversial book on mothering.
Fantasy writer and Tao Te Ching translator, Ursula K Le Guin had children and published endlessly and I think she didn't even get divorced.
Alice Walker has a daughter who also writes.
white southern women writers with children (not my favorite genre but I live here):
Lee Smith (raised two sons while publishing novel after novel, oldest son just died of heart attack due to schizophrenia meds, has become mental health advocate)
Jill McCorkle (first two novels pre-pregnancy, third written while pregnant, fourth with two kids in the house, still going)
Kaye Gibbons (has raised three daughters while suffering bipolar disorder and publishing the entire time)
Ellen Gilchrist (children at home when she began publishing as recently single recently sober mother living with her parents)
"Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood" Edited by Shannon Cowan, Fiona Tinwei Lam, and Cathy Stonehouse. Very real stories from women in all stages of motherhood that serve to encourage the writing mother.
An excellent read and a source of many role models.
Love the question, love the replies.
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i just get discouraged sometimes. i knew there were more out there. i forgot isabel allende as well. they do seem to be a minority, the parent-writers.
since i work, the only time i have is the night time. i need to set up a strict practice but i am a rather flexible person so i bend too easily for distractions.