Being a Mom

       Early this week I'm going to be working on a "mom" story *. It's going to be early this week because I have a writing critique meeting on Wednesday, and I don't have a single word written that I can share. (Only rarely do I come empty-handed because when I have nothing to share, it's a waste of the great critique I get. As I sit there on pins and needles--will they declare my piece a pile of poop?--I have to listen to Linda's pen scratch across an entire page as she deftly rearranges my story. I have to hear Lynn's pen roll across the margin as she writes a whole letter's worth of suggestions and encouragement. I have to see Beth and Tammy's faces scrunch up, and I wonder if it's a good scrunch or a bad scrunch...) I haven't decided if I'm going to write a story about my mom or whether I'm going to write a story about myself as a mom but I...wait, as I was typing this, I made a decision.
     That's the interesting thing about writing. Sometimes just the physical act of typing something helps us sort things out in our head.
      I recently got some great news. (And no, I'm not going to "tease" and make you come back to my next post for the news.) My story "Elmo's Lesson" is going to be published in the upcoming Publishing Syndicate's Not Your Mother's Book...On Cats. And, my story, "A Risky Jump" has made it through to the final phase of Chicken Soup's Reboot Your Life. (Thank you WWWPs.) I know it can be yanked up to a month before publication but even though that's not happened to me yet, I won't say it too loudly. (I used to brag that I had been stopped by police officers many times--for speeding--but had never gotten a ticket, until I got my first and only one, so now I only whisper boasts like that.)
      I am giving away a copy of the recently published Not Your Mother's Book...On Being a Mom. Many of my friends and writing friends have stories in this collection--Terri Elders, Donna Volkenannt, Renee Hughes, Debra Mayhew, Pat Wahler, Mary Horner, Pat Nelson, Linda O'Connell, Marcia Gaye, Alice Muschany, Ellie Grossman, Diana Graveman and Tammy Goodsell. (My husband judges how good my story is by where it is in the book. He is positive that the editors put the good stories in the front, and they get progressively worse. My story, "So Little Wine," is on page 200 which makes it a "dud" in my spouse's eyes. You'll have to read it to see if you concur with him.)


         On July 1st I will post who won the book...
      My story that's being considered by Chicken Soup is about me wanting to do something that some of my family considered stupid/dangerous. Is there something you've done/considered in the past that made your friends or family look at you like you're crazy? 


* Chicken Soup is looking for mom stories--tales of you and your kids as well as stories about your mom. Two different anthologies doubles your chances of getting published...


    

Deaf to All Except Those With a Deft Touch

        
         We were talking about this (how we love a delicate touch) at our writing critique meeting this past Wednesday. (You know, after roll call...after the minutes from the last meeting were read aloud...after issues from the floor were discussed...after they tried to force me into an Ellipsis Intervention group...)

          What's that, you ask? Am I speaking of how much I would appreciate Viggo Mortensen's gentle touch? No. Not at this moment. (But now that you mention it...) Right now, my appreciation is being heaped onto editors who know their boundaries.

art by hardgalvin.deviantart.com

          So far, I've been lucky enough to work with only a handful of editors, and they've been  extremely respectful of territorial lines. Where does my voice end and theirs begin in the editing process? I have a unique style/rhythm/strange set of idiosyncrasies  to my writing. There might be editors who--when they edit my work--might unwittingly infuse my writing with their voice. It might be when a bit of punctuation is changed, a different phrase is added, or the format of the story is altered.

         Lately, I've worked with two great editors---Dahlynn McKowen and Pat Nelson. Their suggestions have improved my pieces and the changes are done seamlessly. In my mind, that's one sign of a great editor.

         What editor have you worked with recently that you'd like to highlight as you pile on the praise? Come on. I know there are lots of stories to tell...

No Way---This is Not Your Mother's Book

         When our son went off to college, I was scared. Scared that no one would be there, standing over his bed and uttering the magic word ("Bacon!") or holding a cup of ice water over him...because if one of those things wouldn't be happening, my son wouldn't be getting up in time for his classes...

This is The Boy. We thought he'd never make it through Drury, but he did...with honors.

         When my daughter's slow-pitch softball team was short a player, I was happy to fill in as catcher. The pitches came over the plate slow as molasses. It would be a cinch. And then, while the players on Virginia's team were infield, I could "play" with my granddaughter. But then I got the awful news: since I was catcher, I had to also bat. And I am famous for being unable to hit anything smaller than the side of a barn. The result was embarrassing for me, and hilarious for everyone at the park that evening...

         Our son got so many tattoos while he was in college, when I counted them, I ran out of fingers on one hand and was working on the fingers on the other one. My husband and I begged him to stop until the frontal lobe of his brain finished forming...then he could make a mature, informed decision. But then he had the idea of getting a tattoo of his parents--a portrait of us--to honor us. Yikes! 

         When I was pregnant at 19 with my daughter--my first--I swore this would be my one and only child, so I was not interested in investing in lots of money for maternity clothes. I wore my husband's jeans--unzipped--leaving my huge Shamu-stomach covered by the long smock-style maternity tops of the era . (Hey, it was the 70's.) And I borrowed a pair of double-knit burgundy-colored maternity pants for "nice occasions. I wore those reddish pants so much, I just knew that right after I gave birth, I would be able to slip into my regular clothes and I could burn that polyester monster in celebration. But would I be able to see them go up in flames immediately after I delivered my after-birth? 

       These are all stories that I have submitted or stories I'm finishing up to submit to the Not Your Mother's Book series. Pat Nelson is looking for a few more stories about parenting and grandparenting. (But hurry. She almost has her anthology filled.) Linda O'Connell is looking for more stories about families. And Dianna Graveman is on the hunt for more tales about being a mom and being a mom-to-be.

         Think edgy. Think snarky. Think twisted with huge dollops of funny. And think about submitting. Quickly.