Published? We want to read it.

[Jesse Michener]

So you're a published writer, eh? That's pretty cool. Let us read it and tell you how lovely you are.

[BelovedK]

Does here count?? :LOL :LOL :LOL

[OtherMother'n'Madre]

Ok so these were before I was a mom and I was younger (like 7th-9th grade) so bear with me. (I know I don't post in this forum ever but I figured I would share my briliantness with you all :LOL)
Here goes:
The ego contest
Harder and harder I pump my legs toward the
sky. I can almost reach! I see over the
trees and houses. I see over the town. I
pump even more. I can see over the oceans
and to distant countries. I suck in my
breath and as I sail across the sky I smile
to myself. I just became a god to everyone
around. I jumped three feet off the swing.
I jumped farther than Buddy.

That one was published on a poetry site and in their anthology...there are more but they are so lame. :LOL I was heartborken and in need of their love.... :blah :LOL

[BellinghamCrunchie]

This was published about 3 years ago in a literary magazine, The Pangolin Papers, I think it was called.

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND SYMPTOMOLOGY OF THE BORDERLINE DISORDERED PATIENT

He was hanging over the railing: one leg, the one with his weight on it, firmly planted on the concrete. It was the other leg that had got everyone in an uproar. The other leg he had swung over the railing, bent at the knee, his foot dangling over the traffic. He hung forward at the waist, looked down at the semi's, the pick-up trucks, the commuters, none going less than fifty-five; looked back at us standing frozen by the stoplight, our gestures uncertain, hesitant; and looked back at the expressway.

"Mark," said Dr. Fernquist. "Can I come closer?"

"You just stay the fuck away, Dr. Fernquist. This is all your fault. You and your fucking medicine."

"Paranoia," whispered Dr. Hollingsworth. He was out of breath, having run from Dorm 6, through the hole in the perimeter fence, and up the bank to the overpass. "Classic case. Paranoid schizophrenia."

"Depression," argued Dr. Fernquist.

"Mark, I know you're in a lot of pain right now," yelled Dr. Hollingsworth. "Why don't we talk about it?"

"Fuck you."

They huddled. I couldn't hear much of what they were saying and I didn't understand what I did hear. I wasn't really a part of Mark's professional treatment team, I was just an aide; I made sure he took his bath and ate his meals and wiped his butt after using the toilet.

Some of the cars on the expressway below were changing lanes and slowing, gawking at the man leaning over them and not wanting to be the fender that crushed him when he landed. One car had pulled over to the shoulder and its driver stood, a hand held to his forehead to shade the sun, watching. I could hear a police siren in the distance.

"Mark," called one of the doctors. "Will you let one of us come talk to you?"

"Fuck you," yelled Mark, then, "Hattie. Hattie can come."

They turned to me. I didn't have any answers. I've known Mark for eight years now and I still don't know why he acts the way he does and I sure don't know how to make him not jump if he's got a mind to jump. All I know is he's not happy; he's never been happy; and I haven't ever seen a life so miserable as Mark's. What could I possibly say, except, "Mark, I know you're unhappy. Why don't you climb back over that railing so you can go on being unhappy a little longer? That'd make your doctors happy," except then they were all talking at me, telling me what to say to him, telling me in a rush so I couldn't make any sense out of it.

In the end I didn't say anything at all. I got close and saw in his face that he meant to jump, and his face was all scrunched up and red and wet, and I wasn't hardly there, his world was all inside of him and black was the color and none was the number, and some of that pain and desperation leaked into me and to make it go away I grabbed him from the railing tight into my lap and wrapped my arms around his head and rocked him, breathing into his hair, smothering him in my breasts, until he sobbed out loud.

We had to put him on Suicide Alert. When you're on Suicide Alert you get one-on-one staff that goes with you wherever you go and stays within arm's reach at all times. It usually lasts for seventy-two hours unless you make another suicide threat or attempt during that time in which case another seventy-two hours are added on, until you go for three days without doing or saying anything suicidal. We hate it when one of our residents gets put on Suicide Alert cause it means that the rest of the staff are short-handed and it's harder to get everyone fed and bathed. Also, you hate to be the one who gets assigned to the suicidal resident because sometimes these boys are tricky and they can do something to themselves if you just take your eyes away for one second, then you find yourself in very big trouble. That's what happened to Ashad three years ago. He got assigned to one-on-one with Johnny, who was on Suicide Alert because he'd broken into the nurse's station and swallowed a whole bottle of Tylenol. Ashad left Johnny in the restroom for two minutes while he went to the storage room to get some more toilet paper and when he got back Johnny had cut his wrists, his ankles, his fingers, and his neck with shards from the mirror that had hung above the sink. Ashad screamed for help and tried to stop the bleeding by putting direct pressure on the cuts, but there were too many and they were too deep. Then the police were called out and Ashad was arrested. They called it death due to negligence or something and Ashad was responsible. Ashad had to get a lawyer and go to court, and in the end they said he was innocent, but it cost Ashad his job and no one would hire him at any hospitals after that.

When the time came for my shift to end, I poked my head into Mark's room to see if he'd calmed down any. George had him for the evening shift and was sitting in the chair beside Mark's bed, reading a comic book.

"How you doing, honey?" I asked Mark.

Mark stared at the ceiling and didn't answer. They'd given him a shot that was supposed to make him sleepy but he didn't look none too sleepy to me.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow, I guess," I said.

"Hattie?" he called, after I'd already gone into the hallway. That was his way, to ignore you when you were there and then want you when you weren't.

"Yea?"

"What you gonna get me for my birthday?"

I didn't say anything.

"You're not gonna tell me, are you? You want it to be a surprise. I won't worry, then. I'll just be surprised."

George chuckled.

"Hattie? If you get me that clock radio for my birthday I promise I'll never call you a ****** again."

I smiled. "Never? Not ever?"

"Cross my heart, Hattie." He did. And he looked totally earnest. He believed himself, and at that moment, I almost did, too.

"We just have to wait and see, Mr. Mark," I said.

I got my purse from the locker, put on my coat, and started walking. I thought about Mark and his birthday present. I don't make hardly enough money to pay the rent and buy food; I couldn't be buying birthday presents, especially not for someone who loved me five minutes out of every hour and hated me the other fifty-five. Besides, it was against the rules to give presents to the residents.

In the morning I saw I had been assigned to Mark for the day. I stowed my purse in my locker and went to his room to wake him up.

"Fucking ******," he said when I turned on the light.

"Time to get up, Mark." I pulled the sheet from over his head.

His eyes were black and his mouth was a tight line. "Stupid black bitch," he said, quietly.

"Don't want to drag you out of bed, Mark. Come on, let's get some breakfast." I heard the food carts coming down the main hall through the door to our unit. Could smell the usual eggs and oatmeal. I stepped just outside the door to Mark's room so he couldn't see me to cuss at me some more, but so I could still hear every move he made. After a while I heard him rustling around, getting dressed.

"Hattie?" he said, his voice anxious. "Hattie, can you help me?"

I came back in. "What?"

"My walkman," he said, and pointed. His radio was on the top of his dresser, and I could see that the headphones had been broken into two pieces. "I can't work without my walkman," he pleaded.

"How'd this happen?" I picked up the pieces, trying to see if they could be put back together somehow. I knew he couldn't work without his walkman. He couldn't get through five minutes of the day without his walkman.

"Somebody snuck into my room and broke it," he said.

"What really happened?"

"I swear. Somebody broke it. Probably Tommy; he's always after my stuff."

I turned on the radio and held the two pieces of the headphones to my ear. They still worked; I could hear the static from the radio, tuned between stations, in both my ears.

"What station do you listen to?"

He shrugged. "Don't listen to a station. Just that noise."

"You don't listen to music?"

He shook his head. "Hate music."

"Well, they work, but they won't stay on your head. They're broken."

"I know that!" he screamed. "Stupid fucking black bitch!"

I just looked at him.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Can you take me to the token store? They got some headphones there."

"You gonna eat breakfast?"

He nodded frantically. "I'll eat it all, I promise."

"After breakfast, then."

He clenched his sheets but didn't cuss.

"Seven hundred tokens," said the psychologist.

"How many tokens you got?" I asked Mark.

He muttered something to the floor.

"I don't think he has that many tokens," I said to the psychologist.

"I'm sure he doesn't. He hasn't exactly been on his best behavior lately."

"It'll take a month to earn that many tokens," said Mark.

"Can't he get the headphones today and pay the tokens back later?" I said.

"No, he cannot." The psychologist glared at me. "This is why these behavior programs don't work. You people don't want to follow the rules. Remember: no positive behavior-- no tokens. No tokens-- no candy, no snacks, no sodas, no headphones."

"He needs his radio to get through the day," I argued. "He needs it to block out the noise of other people. And it helps him relax."

"He should have thought of that before," said the psychologist, and the door to the token store closed.

"Shit," said Mark.

"You aren't gonna earn any tokens talking like that, Mark."

"Shit fuck piss."

I taped the headphones together, using a toothpick for support. He looked a little silly-- a wad of tape sticking out above one ear, the headphones crooked on his head-- but he smiled for one second and almost said thanks.

I broke down that night and got him a new walkman. It was only $12.95 at KMart and it came with one AA battery and headphones. I didn't figure that anyone who listened to static needed a real fancy radio, so I didn't even look at the ones with tape players and auto reverse and dolby noise reduction and all that. I wrapped the walkman with a colored sheet from a newspaper and tied a piece of yarn around it like a bow.

His momma brought the cake. She consistently did this, every year-- it was the only time she saw him. She always looked the same to me, every time I saw her, with her hair tied behind with the same bandanna and Reeboks on her feet. I wondered if Mark had a father or brothers and sisters. He never said anything about his family and his momma always came alone.

I can remember my son John's eleventh birthday party, clearly like it was happening now. I don't know why I remember just that one. It was after his father had left us, run off with some white girl with flowers in her hair, almost as young as John. Didn't matter that much cause he wasn't much good for working or fathering anyway, but John missed him. He could of a least sent a card but he didn't. I was working the cafeteria line during the day and cleaning houses in the evenings and on weekends, and John never complained about the clothes I brought home from them houses for him to wear to school, or that sometimes he didn't have the nickel to buy from the milk program. He was a good boy and never asked for much. But that birthday he asked could he have a G.I. Joe.

I was dead-set against that G.I. Joe. I was dead-set against anything that tried to make the war look pretty. I knew lots of folks that had to send their sons off to Viet Nam; their black sons, the ones who always got the combat positions and didn't come back whole. I didn't want my boy playing with no war toys.

But it was the only thing I heard him say he wanted. It cost way too much money, money we could have used for shoes or meat, but it was worth it, afterwards, to see his face smiling and all the hugs, and the way he slept with it under his pillow, and the draft had ended by the time he was old enough and he never showed no interest in the army so all my worries came to nothing.


It was the third day of Suicide Alert and I was still stuck to him during my shift, so I went with him to the party. Wasn't much of a party-- just his momma, the social worker, Dr. Hollingsworth, Dr. Fernquist, Mark, one shabby-looking present, and the cake-- but it was more than most of the residents got here. Dr. Hollingsworth and Dr. Fernquist smiled hugely and his mother kissed him on the cheek and commented on how skinny he was.

I don't know what set him off. That was the trouble with Mark's kind of problem, Dr. Hollingsworth told me later, you couldn't predict when or why he would explode. All I know is he seemed to be okay after he got his new walkman and while they were singing happy birthday, but sometime between the blowing out of the candles and the cutting of the cake the explosion happened. Maybe it was the knife, or maybe it was Dr. Hollingsworth telling his mother about the new medications they were trying: Moban for the schizophrenia (alleged schizophrenia, said Dr. Fernquist), Zoloft for the depression (alleged depression, said Dr. Hollingsworth), or maybe it was his momma, who thought she could hug him as though she saw him everyday and it hadn't been a year since her last visit.

His momma was cutting the cake. She had a real knife, the long kind that could almost reach the width of the cake, the kind they keep locked up in the kitchen around here. She drew the knife through the middle, cutting the cake in half. Then she cut the first piece, the largest piece, slid it onto a paper plate, and handed it to her "birthday boy." Mark took the plate, stared at it for a moment with nothing on his face, then pivoted, holding the plate high, into Dr. Fernquist's hair.

For one minute there was no sound. Dr. Fernquist lowered her head and the cake fell over her forehead onto her chest. Mark's momma just stared, her mouth open, the knife in her right hand pointing wherever she looked.

"Mark," said Dr. Hollingsworth, finally, "why don't you sit down? Get calm. Remember your relaxation techniques."

Mark snatched the knife from his momma's hand.

We all dove into him except for his mother, who dove into the corner. Dr. Hollingsworth hit the edge of the table and the table tipped, throwing the cake towards the wall. I saw his walkman fall to the floor and Dr. Hollingsworth's heel land on the walkman. Dr. Fernquist reached him first, wrapping her arm around his, trying to pull his hand and the knife from his throat. I got there second and pried his fingers from the knife.

They wouldn't let me go home and change my clothes, so while George watched him for me I wiped the cake bits from my shirt with a wet towel then blew my shirt dry with a hair dryer.

They gave him a shot of Ativan so he had to lay in bed and couldn't go to work, couldn't roll plastic silverware into napkins and earn .3 cents a piece. He was looking out the window when I came in to switch with George. I sat in the chair, warm from George's butt, and waited. When there's nothing to do, time goes so slow; I heard them bring the dinner carts in and I heard the staff getting the tables ready. I heard Joe Bob banging his head against the wall and I heard George yell at him to stop. I heard a clank as someone dropped his spoon on the floor.

"You gonna eat?" I asked Mark.

He closed his eyes.

I picked up the comic book George had left and looked at the pictures. Wonder Woman. They drew her breasts so large, sticking way out there, and her waist so small; her deformed body fighting evil right and left.

The alarm clock on Mark's dresser ticked quietly. It was the kind you had to wind up each day and Mark often forgot. I wound it a couple of times then set it back down. Nobody had gotten him a clock radio for his birthday.

"I wish the Lord would take me, Hattie," he whispered.

He was trying to manipulate me into feeling sorry for him and I knew it. I wasn't gonna fall for it, no way: his momma, spending money she probably didn't have on a cake nobody got to eat, only to wear; his new walkman, crushed on the floor; people trying to be nice to him and all he could do was hate.

"In heaven you don't have any problems. People who are sick aren't sick anymore. People who died from cancer don't have it anymore," he said. "God loves you there, and other people love you, too."

I stretched my arms and yawned. Outside the sun was beginning to set. I could hear the cars on the expressway, people heading home from work; the swooshing noise sounding kind of like breathing. Mark sat up in bed, unlatched the window, and slid it open. I could hear the cars very clearly, now.

"Close the window, Mark," I said. He didn't.

"In heaven I wouldn't be who I am."

I picked up the comic book again and flipped through it. A car horn's blast, far off, came through the window. Get out of my lane, somebody saying.

He was fiddling with the screen, now. Tugging on the two pieces of cloth at the top.

"Mark," I said.

"Thank you for the walkman, Hattie."

"It's broke."

"I know." He was crying, silently. "Could you get me some Kleenex?"

"Ain't no Kleenex in this building; you know that." We sat for a couple of minutes, almost frozen. Snot was running out of his nose. I took a breath. "But I can get you some toilet paper from the storage closet. That'll work just as well."

[lavender]

In a fit of rage after spending an hour and a half trying to put my 1 year old down for a nap, I sat in front of the computer and connected my fingers to the keyboard like an IV into a vein. I was pushed to my very limit and after almost two full pages of the F word and incomprehensible gunk, this came out. Without hesitating, I sent it to a columnist from the paper in a nearby town who often wrote about his son, who happened to be in Jeremy's preschool class, because I knew he of all people would understand. Several days later he showed up on my doorstep and asked me if he could publish it. I said okay, laughing, and to my embarrassment, it showed up in the paper the next week, slightly edited. Here it is:


Here are my chores
Wake up with the kids
Read to them
Get them dressed change diapers
Make breakfast tell them to stop fighting tell them no we can't go outside yet we haven't eaten please stop pushing your brother
Put breakfast on the table
Get cold coffee and warm it up
Eat fast get dishes rinsed while they are finishing and put stuff away and make that important phone call
Oh yeah the clothes are still in the washer I'd better get them in the dryer. No the dryer's full of other clothes
Oh whoops we're out of clean diapers, except the ones in the diaper bag...and the dirty ones in the diaper bag oh the milk spilled in there and rotten banana peels
Wash rinse fold VIDEO TIME
Change poops I'm hungry just a minute
Please stopp hitting your brother
Lie down for the diaper change hold still or I'll make you hold still
Ok we'll do it the hard way
CRY FIT
Wash diaper put in washer with rest
Cats are fighting stop that
Come into house ready to watch video with kids but floor is really gross so I'd better take the time to do that while they are occupied
Video is done before I am
Just a minute guys let me clean the floor
Can you put away those other toys before getting out more okay I'll help you
Ok let me finish cleaning the floor no don't mess it up
Jeremy I told you not to push now go to your room
Stop crying
Now just let me finish the floor okay
All right we can go outside
.
.
Stop chasing the kitty, no we can't play with the hose right now
.
.
time for lunch
just give me a minute okay I'm making it
don't yell at me while I make your lunch
go just go
let go
damn, the diaper
okay lie down get a toy then lie down
your wipie is getting cold

I'm hungry too
Okay let's get lunch
It's almost done
No we can't paint right now
Let's eat
.
.
sit down or you'll fall
.
are you all the way done no we don't have any more of that just the other okay how about the one from the other day I need to heat it up just a MINUTE be patient
here you go
go ahead get down
let me wipe your hands
okay we can play for twenty minutes then get ready for resting and night-night
.
.
stop being so rough that HURTS play over there
.
.
read, read, read, that's too long for today pick another one
(change diaper)
(wipe butt)
where are your kitties
I'll find them in a bit
Okay holdstill
Hold still or I'll LEAVE
Be quiet
Be quiet or I'll LEAVE
Hold still and be quiet
I'm leaving
I'm LEAVING
THEN HOLD STILL!!!!!!!
SLAM
Okay are you going to hold still
Okay
.
.
doze off get up
.
.
finish this and that reheat half cup of coffee in the bottom of the pot
.
.
okay use the bathroom out there so you don't wake your brother
(wipe butt)
go back to your room QUIETLY
(WINCE)
listening...all is quiet
.
.
oh your kitties
think what a terrible mother I am for not finding the kitties sooner
back to bed now you have twenty minutes left
that's THIS much
no THIS much
like this
yeah like that
now go
have a good sleep
.
.
CCCRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
Hi John did you have a good sleep
It's okay do you want to go to the living room
Okay I'll wait
Okay I'll hold you
No okay I'll put you down
Oops I gotta get the phone
NO WE DON'T WANT A F**KING SUBSCRIPTION why do you always call in the afternoon right at naptime???
Cuddle cuddle
Jeremy come on out
Okay we can read that now
Okay but Jeremy's first
Then yours
Okay go ahead
No pushing
If I had the energy I would write all the way through the agony of making dinner, the horrors of getting them to eat it, the terrible monsters they turn into at bedtime (at least they don't entertain the thoughts that something might actually lurk in their bedrooms ready to eat them, nothing would ever be so insanely stupid as to take either of them on in a monster contest)
Then after they go to bed I black out for several hours before turning in myself

***Disclaimer: I must add that I love my boys dearly and this represents not a typical day but the very low end of a typical day. I am really not as mean as what this makes me sound!

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Lavender, I loved reading your piece. It drew me in quickly and I felt, without the narrator ever telling me what I should feel, the frustration, almost panicky parenting pace trying to keep up with the kids, the feeling of always being just a second behind their needs so that when you get there, they now have new needs which you race to meet... it also made me smile :) Very strong writing, in my opinion. Thanks for posting this. Got any more stuff? I'd love to read it if you have time to post.

[lavender]

OtherMother:
That was so...real! I liked the description of the “flying” but I loved the ending the most. Yeah, beating Buddy. That's what really matters!

BellinghamCrunchie:
Wow. I am curious, did/do you work as a nurse or in that setting? It was so detailed. What really stood out to me was the lack of emotion, a necessary detachment that healthcare workers must maintain in order not to be drawn in to a world of despair. You could tell she really cared for him, while still keeping that distance. What a dance. A few minutes after reading it I just wanted to imagine Hattie at home in the evening putting her feet up and allowing herself to feel...something, anything! It worked well, because I still felt close to her; I didn't feel distanced from her at all. It was just a line she had to walk.

I'm enjoying how much our pieces contrast each other. Mine is all emotion, isn't it? Totally overwhelming.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and for giving attention to mine. I'd love to read more of yours, too. I don't think I have anything else published—I pretty much just write for myself!

[BelovedK]

:LOL Lavender,

I SO relate.

Bellingham Crunchie, :clap

[supersarahmommy]

:thumb Bellingham.... I really liked your story. Your dialogue, everything....flowed so well.

[supersarahmommy]

I also loved the swing poem.....a great example of showing without telling. nice perspective/point of view too

[EFmom]

If I posted my writings, readers of the thread would immediately lapse into a coma. I publish in academic library journals--a perfect cure for insomnia. :LOL

[supersarahmommy]

lavender,

your piece really encourages me to journal...

It reminds me that every day life is signifigant because we all experience it (inc. the harried moments, which ironically connects us together--a universal theme, you could say) even when we feel so fragmented at times

[supersarahmommy]

efmom,

i love reading literary essays and other analytical writing.... try me/us!

[BelovedK]

lavender,

your piece really encourages me to journal...

It reminds me that every day life is signifigant because we all experience it (inc. the harried moments, which ironically connects us together--a universal theme, you could say) even when we feel so fragmented at times

:truedat:

[lavender]

supersarahmommy and belovedk--

It's amazing when we forget the everyday things that were once our whole lives. Like diapers, and nursing. We don't have photos of those like we have of special times. I am so glad to have written that and now I read it and it's even better than a photo album. I especially like to have a peek at it when I am wanting to have empathy for my friends whose kids are still that young!

Yeah efmom, give us a try! I'll make a cup of coffee. :LOL :love

[EFmom]

Believe it or not, I can't actually post the full text of my own articles. If you want to get published in most professional journals, you have to sign away your own copyright. The evil publishers demand it. In order for me to get tenure and promotion, I have to publish in what are considered top tier professional journals and they are mostly all owned by the very greediest publisher.

Here are some abstracts, though, which should at least let you have a good long nap!


1.
Research library catalogues serve as authoritative sources of access. The increasing practice of including Web sites in the catalogue, resources not under the library's control, raises new issues of the catalogue's accuracy and reliability. An analysis of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries' catalogues examined the persistence of catalogued URLs. Error rates ranged from a low of 0 per cent to an unacceptable high of 58.33%. (Original abstract)

2.
In 1999, Steve Coffman proposed that libraries form a single interlibrary loan based entity patterned after Amazon.com. This study examined the suitability of Amazon.com's Web interface and record enhancements for academic libraries. It was concluded that Amazon.com could not deliver circulating monographs in the Libraries' collection quickly enough to satisfy undergraduates.

3.
The European Union (EU) maintains a system of depository libraries in the USA. Reports the findings of a study that surveyed 55 of the EU depositories in the USA concerning the scope of their efforts to provide bibliographic instruction for the EU collection and other promotional efforts. Findings revealed enthusiasm among librarians for the use of EU materials but lack of time available for instruction in their use. They also revealed the importance of including information about the structure and function of the EU as well as information about the use of major reference tools. (Original abstract - amended)

4.
Reports results of a study to compare methods of providing access to diverse points of view as represented by periodicals indexed in Alternative Press Index (API) http://www.altpress.org/. Reports results of a study to determine the degree of user access to non-mainstream periodicals, in which local print subscriptions, expedited interlibrary loan through resource-sharing consortia, and electronic full text databases (EBSCO Academic Search FullTEXT Elite, Expanded Academic ASAP, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, ProQuest Direct) were compared using periodicals listed in API. Electronic full text databases provide some added access to non-mainstream periodicals. However, much greater access was found to be provided by participation in resource sharing networks.

5.
Librarians are frequently consulted about proper citation formats and support the use of PC-based personal bibliographic citation management programs, such as EndNote, often used by faculty and graduate students. Recently, free or inexpensive Web-based tools have been developed that create citations and format bibliographies. An analysis of citations generated by these programs shows that they are as accurate as EndNote and offer some advantages to undergraduates, but that some knowledge of proper citation formats is necessary to use these programs effectively.

:blah :2whistle: :yawning: :zzz :coffee

[danaan]

I have published two articles. Here is the one from Sage WOman Magazine, Autumn 2002:


The Sea Within

On a sunny afternoon last fall, the mischievous Chinook wind blew down from the Rocky Mountains. I decided to hike Mount Sanitas, a foothill of the Rockies that reaches skyward only a few blocks from my house. My shoes gripped the hard, dried earth as I breathed heavily up the little trail. A raven flew overhead, her raucous haghhh greeting me. I switched off the main trail to follow the eastern-most ridge, through a stand of short pine trees shifting madly in the wind. Gusts pulled up clouds of fine dirt; I squinted against the flying debris as I climbed higher, towards an outcropping of stone. Here I paused to take in the mountains.

I leaned against the great sun dried stone, and gazed out over the pine trees at the grassy brown foothills. In this spot I could see no sign of civilization; the trail below could not be seen through the trees. The laughing wind overwhelmed any sound of far-off traffic. I placed my feet solidly on the rocky earth and raised my arms in an invitation to Her: enter my being. A great gust of wind swirled around my body, and I tilted back my head, grinning. I am here. Earth below me, fire in the sky above, air lifting my dark hair… and water? Water in this dry rock land? Your body, child, carries the sea within. I shifted my listening to my own body, listening to my own ebb and flow. I felt the saliva in my mouth, felt deeper to the moisture I hold within my very cells. The moisture I miss in this dry land.

I moved to Colorado two years ago from the green, salty Pacific Northwest. I left behind the tide pools, tiny ecosystems nestled in black rock. I left behind the roar of chilly breakers. Left behind, too, the slinking blackness of the octopus, the slipping wetness of orca whales. The sea has been as constant as my own soul, but now I only carry it within to the thirsty Colorado mountains.

We all carry the power of the sea within. Her rhythm can be found in our craniosacral fluid as it ebbs and flows, cradling the brain and spinal column within our bones. There is no blood in or around the brain. Instead the brain and spinal column have their very own nourishing sea, bringing them oxygen and minerals. The craniosacral fluid is always slowly being absorbed, while it is produced in waves. The fluid enters the cranial vault, then pauses as it’s absorbed, then flows in again, and the skull expands and contracts to accommodate this protective, nourishing fluid. I can feel this ebb and flow by laying my hands lightly on my body, or on someone else. We widen and narrow with this internal sea.

My womb also widens and narrows, but more slowly, performing a monthly dance with the moon. Sometimes I follow her, other months I flow in contrast to her waxing and waning. The salty thickness of my blood prepares to nourish another life, each month letting go with a sigh to cleanse away my choice. One day a life will settle in to the thick blood wall, and I will swell like the moon. Another promise will arise from the primal sea.

The sea lives primal inside our genes, as well. Most of our makeup is primate, but those parts of us that we do not share with our chimpanzee cousins we do share with aquatic mammals. Human babies can swim from birth, and instinctively hold their breath when submerged, whereas chimp babies do not. The only other mammals who exchanged thick surface hair for warming subcutaneous fat are aquatic, like elephants and hippos. Our paddle-like hands and feet possess subtle webbing between the fingers and toes. Furthermore, we sweat, urinate, and cry far more than other primates, perhaps because our bodies once spent considerable time in water, where such a profusion of fluids wouldn’t be wasted. Millions of years ago, after splitting with our chimp cousins, we very likely became a semi-aquatic species and evolved these and other anomalous traits. The memory of this evolutionary epoch would still be held in our genes.

This evolutionary memory might explain why my own draw to water seems more than just emotional. Often when standing where salty waves lick the pebbled shore, I have felt a great pull to keep going. I imagine entering the cool, dark waters and finding that my legs have magically transformed into mermaid fins. Gill flaps would come unstuck on my back, between my shoulder blades. My eyesight, less than perfect on land, would grow keen and my night vision would improve. I would return to my ancestral land. A fantasy, yet one that I can feel down to my very genes. Did Irish lasses feel this same pull, inspiring them to wonder about selchies?

The selchie is a seal woman, who came one day to the shore to take off her seal pelt and dance in her human form. A sailor saw this beautiful naked woman dancing at the water’s edge, and he secretly stole her seal pelt, hiding it away so she could not return to the sea. She had no choice but to stay with him as his bride and bear his children. Everyday she would gaze longingly at the sea, hoping to retrieve her lost pelt. Usually the story follows that her son discovers a magical silvery cloak as his father tries desperately to keep it hidden. The boy tells his mother what he saw, and with a great joyful ache she puts it on and returns to the sea. In some versions she drowns her children as she tries desperately to take them with her; in others they are gifted for life with the treasures of the sea.

Unlike the selchie, I cannot really live under water one day. And unlike the selchie, I chose my land-locked home, here in Colorado. For now I will learn from the mountains and their cousins the plains. I will learn of rock, and of endless bright skies. The land here teaches me about cold winters and hot summers, and of dry, thin air. The call to return to the sea is always there, however. My body responds with her own waves and tides, her ancient memories of floating on warm African waters, her mythic call to return to the sea. So for now I carry my salty longings within, and catch memories of sea spray on the roguish Chinook as she blows up over the mountains to this rocky place I call home.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

EFMom - I think I'm in love.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Danaan, I too have a pull for the sea. What a neat concept, to recognize that I carry the sea within me. I learned a great deal from your piece. What is your other article about? Would you be willing to share that one, also?

[sovereignqueen]

If I posted my writings, readers of the thread would immediately lapse into a coma. I publish in academic library journals--a perfect cure for insomnia. :LOL

Me too, I write the magazine that the hospital I work for mails to donors. Informative, but not especially exciting! :LOL

[zinemama]

I'm going to have a piece on Mamazine.com later this month about sneaking time to read with kids. I also have a piece upcoming in MotherVerse this fall.

You can read my essay, "My Mother/My Maternity Clothes" about what happened when I was first pregnant and my mother sent out a box of her old maternity clothes for me, over here http://www.imperfectparent.com/articles/article91.php

[Jesse Michener]

My most recent column (http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/columnists/story/5154071p-4688443c.html)


:wink

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Zinemama thanks for the chuckle :) What a great story.

"Still, no matter which look one chose, the garment was designed to resemble a tent covering a pumpkin"

I'm still chortling over that image.

[Fi.]

I was published but as it's a piece on abortion, I really don't want to post it here. Just feels nice to say I'm published :)

[danaan]

Jesse and Lavender, thanks! I loved reading your stuff. I am not in a space to give any feedback right now... another time I will be.

Other Mother - Isn't it fun to go back to our old stuff? Horrifying and touching and confirming all at once.

B'Ham Crunchie - I read the beginning of your piece and look fwd to reading it in its entirety soon. Again, brain a little mushy at the moment. The beginning drew me in...

The other piece I have published was in r.w.t. magazine, about kids writing activist letters as a way to learn writing, geography, and art. I only have a hard copy. Thanks for asking!

zinemama - your essay made me laugh and grin. I am impressed with the character and smoothness of your writing. My mom didn't send me her clothes, but she did make me two totally unwearable pieces. I could relate.


Looking foward to more...

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Jesse, thanks for posting your column. Now I have a better idea who our fearless leader is :)

Our DD is 8 months old and I keep going back and forth about schooling. Your piece reminded me how incredibly insensitive to children as individuals our schools can be. What's even better is that it appears your newpaper has a large distribution so maybe more and more people will wake up to children's educational needs and the harmful way we try to cram them all into the same little box.

[supersarahmommy]

Hey, danaan...

I would love to read your second article. I am a teacher and am always looking for good ideas for my classroom as well as to share with my homeschoolin friends .

[danaan]

supersarahmommy - I looked again, and I just don't have the article on file. The magazine is no longer published, and I couldn't find a way to order that issue (March 2002). I wrote it as part of the outreach for an environmental nonprofit I worked for, Global Response. Their website is www.globalresponse.org. They would be more than happy to send you a kids packet. The Rainforest Network is another great org that has kid's stuff, including a video. I found that public school teachers had some problems with the GR materials because it could be political... and I think younger kids' energy might be better spent being outdoors than writing about it. The whole activism thing can be scary. So I highly recommend both of these orgs if you work with older kids and have the freedom to play with your curriculum.

Thanks for asking, though!

PS - Happy Feast of St Sophia! ;)

[Live~Laugh~Love]

Nice Work

[alissa_redclogs]

i've written a picture book, which was published before i was a mama. http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_0670036099,00.html . i illustrated it, too.

now my son is 5 monthes old and i am suppose to be getting back to work...

[BelovedK]

That's awesome alyssa_redclogs, I'm so impressed that you illustrated it as well, there are so many talented mamas here at MDC

[supersarahmommy]

i've written a picture book, which was published before i was a mama. http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_0670036099,00.html . i illustrated it, too.

now my son is 5 monthes old and i am suppose to be getting back to work...

Also, what a beautiful web site... you are very talented. My husband's a graphic designer, and it too caugt his eye--from across the room! :)

[Girl Named Sandoz]

Here are a few links to some of my published articles:

http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-pregnancy/prenatal-testing-informed-choice.htm

http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/2-ch/47-kids-excema-treatment.htm

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/73/Living_On_Ibiza.html

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/74/Travel_To_Glastonbury.html

I'll stop here, don't want to bore you. ;)

[BelovedK]

Eternal Grace, Those are great. Very informative, it's obvious that you have done your research :)

[Girl Named Sandoz]

Thanks! :)

[supersarahmommy]

Not boring at all.. you don't need to hold back... :)

[USAmma]

:shy Here's one from a few years ago, before I changed my name to Darshani. I'm surprised it's still on the net actually.

http://www.monsoonmag.com/issue2/ASukumaran.htm

I've written two articles for Hinduism Today under that same name. Here's one. The other is about cloth diapering but I can't find the link.
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2000/1/2000-1-11.shtml


This does not of course include my boooorrrning technical writing users and operators manuals for semiconductor equipment.

[Girl Named Sandoz]

I really like that poem!

[white_feather]

This was published in We'Moon 1999:

In my dreams
My body stretches wide
Skin so taught over ribs
That when my heart beats
It beats like the drum
That leads me home.

In my dreams
My blodd becomes one
With the WOMEN who drum
And who sing HOLY HOLY
For Earth and for Spirit,
We are all one.

In my dreams
Our spirit is rock.
We sit on the MOON
And stir stars with our fingers
And together we beat
The drum whose SACRED sound echoes
The Rhythm of SPIRIT
The Dance of Creation
The Foundation of Eternity.

Come, let us beat our drums
And open our hearts wide
For the Woman Who Lives
At The End of Time
And the pouring of blessings
From the Great Spirit.

Amen.

[BelovedK]

Wow, White Feather...That is great, and to be published in WeMoon, so cool.

[boatbaby]

beautiful writings everyone! Thanks for sharing!

I am a professional writer for a living -- but I write TV scripts (used to direct and produce more too pre-DS)

TV scripts in print format don't translate well with edit instructions and all :nut

I am not sure how I fit in to this writer's tribe, but would love to swap ideas on how to create more and procrastinate less (like I am doing right now :bag: ) How to deal with clients and deadlines...? Etc...

Can I post dates & times that some of my shows I write for will be on the air? Does that count?? :shy

[BelovedK]

Absolutely :)

It would be great to see your words in action. Thanks for sharing with us.

[ceilydhmama]

This has been nice to read. I have only a few things on the net and many of my stories are pretty long but here are two:

http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/family_time/reluctant-adventurer.html

http://www.shared-vision.com/2005/sv1809/footnotes1809.html

I'm always interested in finding new markets and finding out how other SAHM fit writing into their day.

[boatbaby]

yay Diane! :clap

Of course I have read both of those before, but they are 2 of my favorites.
Are any of your sailing articles online?
I love to read other people'swork -- especially when it means avoiding doing my own writing -- ok back to the grind :bolt

[BelovedK]

ceilydhmama, Those are beautiful. I like your use of imagery, the second peice brought tears to my eyes.

[ceilydhmama]

Thanks :shy
Nothing else is online. I keeping planning to scan my favs and make a website, but life seems to get in the way. Back to work for me too. I'm procrasinating as well :lol :lol :lol

[USAmma]

I journal. It keeps my writing skills intact, and if nothing else it provides a record of my life and my kids' childhoods.

I just shared this yesterday:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=360200

[supersarahmommy]

Once upon a time, in the ancient kingdom of collegedom, I was published in the literary magazine... and, thus, this is how it went:


No Longer a Distinct Two

There's a certain slant of light,
Between the hours of eight and nine,
That softly sprinkles on our foreheads and noses,
Dripping off eyelashes, racing down our shoulders,
Forming golden pools in our comforter's generous green folds:

Safely cocooned under a layer of down,
Our bodies, a tangle of warm flesh.


Sleep

Heavy curtains hang over my eyes,

Head and feet find level ground,

Slowly, I settle to the bottom.

[BennyPai]

A vivid picture, supersarahmommy! :thumb
Brings memories from the blank corners of my non-functional brain :nut
Jenny

[Suzannah]

Published on a crappy poetry website.

Gone

The past
Has a way of getting lost,
Or stolen.
Each moment,
Frozen,
Thaws in the heat of receding time,
Moving farther away
From memory
And closer to
Gone.


Also published a recipe for Mexican Chocolate Cheesecake in a PBS chocolate cookbook. YUM.

Embarrassingly few things published for someone who calls herself a writer...

[rainbowmoon]

here is a poem I had published in a local mag a few years back. it's my one and only thus far. and I don't even know how great it is :lol btw I wrote it on my honeymoon at the spot where Geronimo was supposedly born...it has even more meaning to me since DH died as it's symbolic to me..


Gila Sojourn

i am a wandering spirit
walking in the path
of healers and teachers
gone before me
i hear their voices on the wind
as i tread lightly
alongside the river
mint beneath my feet
within canyons
enveloping me
in a womb of time
i hear their songs
in the rainfall
as i dream of
forgotten yesterdays
with fire in my heart
rainbows at my fingertips

[BelovedK]

I'm so sorry about your DH :(

[zinemama]

I'll have an essay in next issue's Brain, Child.

[BelovedK]

Wow, congrats Zinemama :thumb

[zinemama]

Thanks! I'm pretty excited myself.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

My stuff would be very boring to most of you. But the very first piece I had published outside this country was in Mothering magazine, but maybe before your time:

Delayed Cord Clamping.

Mothering, No 41, Fall 1986, pages 73 – 76

I have it on word, so could put it up, but I sense this isn't a writer's forum wanting brain cramp from medical stuff.

[UUMom]

My stuff would be very boring to most of you. But the very first piece I had published outside this country was in Mothering magazine, but maybe before your time:

Delayed Cord Clamping.

Mothering, No 41, Fall 1986, pages 73 – 76

I have it on word, so could put it up, but I sense this isn't a writer's forum wanting brain cramp from medical stuff.


I'm old-- i remember that article! I still have it.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

:D :D

Do you have grey hair like I do?

[TigerTail]

omg, i had that issue! :lol i was pg with kay. however, i'm sure i passed it on long ago...

susan

[UUMom]

:D :D

Do you have grey hair like I do?

:lol Not yet.

Well, for one, I'm nearly naturally blond. :wink

For another, I started reading Mothering as a tot. :p

I don't think the newbies to Mothering have *any* idea how far ahead of it's time Mothering is/was.

I mean, just on the page your article begins has full frontal nudity *plus* pubic hair. :love

The rest of that issue is about tooth decay and floruide crap and how bfing does not cause cavities, , the crapola of jaundice, post partum sexuality, what 'high risk' birthing actually means, plus how TV can contribute to desensitizing children to violence.

As i was looking through my 20+ years of stash for your article, I also noticed years & years of children & people of color on the covers, black hair care, First People info, cloth diapering eco info, why vax are dangerous, and why circ is bad for babies. All before 1980.

I am always amazed that what we have known for years to be factual is new to others.

I try to be patient, I really do.

ETA-- I forgot to mention the **amazing** article on squatting in childbirth in the same issue as your article.

1986, no less. :lol My first child was born in '89 at home. No vax, no circ, no nothin' but breastmilk, and a bunch of signed releases why the child wasnt gonna be shot full o' crap. (I did do the PKU test). Totally cloth diapered and covered with 100% wool Biobottom covers.

Not to mention my child was born nearly a month early, a good amount under 6 lbs, and sucked big time at nursing. It took us 6 weeks to nurse without drawing blood from mama. But i was well-armed with info and a great midwife.

So thanks, HB. :thumb

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Suseyblue are you grey too?

Thanks UUMom. :thumb How amazing. ... also that you could skuttle off, go get it, and fill in the spaces for everyone else. Your story is an inspiration. Yeah, like you,.... I concur with everything you say, but also wonder if mainstream society will ever get real.

It won't come as a surprise then, that my first book is about vaccination?

[UUMom]

Suseyblue are you grey too?

Thanks UUMom. :thumb How amazing. ... also that you could skuttle off, go get it, and fill in the spaces for everyone else. Your story is an inspiration. Yeah, like you,.... I concur with everything you say, but also wonder if mainstream society will ever get real.

It won't come as a surprise then, that my first book is about vaccination?


I'll have to read it!

Thanks for saying that...sometimes I think about what I've been through bfing to CLW (the first i told you about, the second child was adopted, so we used the SNS and Lact-aid, the third was born with a birth defect and low tone, infant surgery etc etc) andrealize that I prob have a lot of info to offer other mamas. I never needed a bottle or gave the bio kids formula. The 4th was a breeze- an absolute gift.

Mainstream society (I am talking about my world in the US now) might get a clue...I keep hoping. In my last bfing group, many were cloth diapering, and in my first group in 1990, there were only 2 of us. My oldest dc was only one a handful of kids who were not being vax or were being selectively vax'd. By the time my 4th rolled around in '99 almost everyone had heard something terrible about newborn Hep B vax and mercury. Not circing was totally nove when my first was a babe. Now, I can't think of any non-religious circers in my group. Look at all the babies in organic cloth diapers. I hear even Rush Limbaugh is hawking homeopathcs now. :p Plus, organic food is easy to find nearly everywhere...it could happen.

[BelovedK]

:twothumbs :clap

[TigerTail]

omg, the ads in the back for biobottoms, nikkis, etc- NO ONE cloth diapered back then. even i had a service temprarily (mil paid for it, and my little stash of aristos and nikkis got used up so quickly...) the choices the moms have now, it is astounding. (and a little bewildering- i have to admit when i had my 5 yr old i am glad the dipe forum wasn't at hyena peak, and i got my weebees and fuzzibunz and was with it.

edit- hey, i didn't know hitting 'tab' by accident instead of capslock made it post, lol. no, i wasn't ignoring you, mt! you can look at my picture elsewhere(only my hairdresser knows for sure :lol ok, yes, it is quite gray but it looks vile with my complexion. when it is more white than salt and pepper i'll let it go natch. ps my lovely children are in the post; you need to scroll for moi, sm posted it from when i visited her and spent time with *her* lovely children.)

i will be so thrilled to have both your books on my shelves :wink :thumb

[UUMom]

LOL OMG! I loved all those ads! I remember the first Hannas I bought for my sister's baby! Too cute!

I still don't think anyone is as thoughtful as the Biobottoms original owners. Their stuff was lovely. We still have some of it--esp the long johns and tights. Oh-- and the Euro- looking shoes were darling-- nothing like not having to shop at Sears. :wink I loved the Biobottoms wool diaper covers.

My sister got them as gifts from our mother-- her unvax'd, uncirc'd son is now nearly 20. :lol It's so hard for me to think so many had never heard of alternative thinking when my own nephew is nearly 20 and escaped all the mainstream stuff! He never wore disposables, was totally breastfed, and my sister put him in terry dipes from the UK, and wool covers from Biobottoms. Don't email his college to chat, however. lol

I know- how OT am I? The printed word is powerul. (Not talking about here and there rambling, no substance blogs, mind you). At any rate, my sister's son was born in '86. Way ahead of her time. (She's 41 and i am just 18 mos older).

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

suseyblue, you might have to PM me. Maybe I'm older than I thought. But I don't understand the middle para after "Edit"

And living where I do, I'm so totally out of the loop with your reminiscing fuzzies about ads. We had two choices. Cloth as in square you fold yourself, or disposables. End of story. Oh, we did have woolen fluffy over pants, stretchy (one brand), or you knitted them yourlself, and had them felted and teazelled.

As to the second book, well the first has become such a mission I'm just not sure about a second. Right now, the thought is enough to put me into permanent recess. :nuts

And I think my husband would like a break, you know?

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I was at one point considering a blog. Too expensive And it wouldn't have been ramblings ~ it would have been dense.

Problem being, dense information can be so depressing both to write and read IYKWIM...

[amnesiac]

What sort of blog were you looking at using? I have one that's mosty little sound bites but it's free. That's cool that your book is on the way too! I just don't think I'd ever have the patience or focus to write one myself. So when do you expect it to be released?

I like seeing health-related articles & I'd love to see more here, MT. I actually have a hard time finding writers up for taking those assignments a lot of the time & I'm not sure exactly why.

I've had a few little things in some of our little local papers & a lot online. This is mine in the May issue of Mothering: http://www.looksmarthealth.com/p/articles/mi_m0838/is_130/ai_n13729896

This is my most recent online:
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/2-ch/511-christmas-tree-allergy.htm

[UUMom]

I like seeing health-related articles & I'd love to see more here, MT. I actually have a hard time finding writers up for taking those assignments a lot of the time & I'm not sure exactly why.

I've had a few little things in some of our little local papers & a lot online. This is mine in the May issue of Mothering: http://www.looksmarthealth.com/p/articles/mi_m0838/is_130/ai_n13729896

This is my most recent online:
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/2-ch/511-christmas-tree-allergy.htm


Hey, those are great! I have a friend show does health writing. She edits at the NEJofM now.

[boatbaby]

Ok, one of the shows I wrote for HGTV (and directed and produced) about 2 years ago will be on tonight.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/spcl_prsntn/episode/0,,HGTV_3909_28341,00.html

** Keeping in mind that I amnot able to write and direct the show exactly as I want it. It always has to be changed and edited and re-written to what the network says they want. **

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

What sort of blog were you looking at using? I have one that's mosty little sound bites but it's free. That's cool that your book is on the way too! I just don't think I'd ever have the patience or focus to write one myself. So when do you expect it to be released?WEll, I got it back from the publisher, and the edit they did was skank, so I'm frantically re-editting it myself.

Also we are going through cover design, and that's turning into a right PITA. At some point, I'll e-mail you the proofs and see what you think.

I think a blog is too much for my brain right now :D :D

I like seeing health-related articles & I'd love to see more here, MT. I actually have a hard time finding writers up for taking those assignments a lot of the time & I'm not sure exactly why.??? I don't quite understand this? Do you mean you want more writers for you blog?

I've had a few little things in some of our little local papers & a lot online. This is mine in the May issue of Mothering: http://www.looksmarthealth.com/p/articles/mi_m0838/is_130/ai_n13729896I like this one. Though I'd have to say that tempeh is dis gus ting stuff. You missed another japanese probiotic out called nato, but that's good, coz that's even WORSE then tempeh. But I know people that just lerv both ! :nuts

This is my most recent online:
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/2-ch/511-christmas-tree-allergy.htmThat is so true about christmas trees. Pine really gets to some people. The other option is using hot glue and baby food sized bottles, metallic tinsel and fairy lights. You have to make slits in the lids, but you glue the bottles together from the bottom...

7 together in a row sideways.
5 stacked in the Vs of the 7
7 on top,
9,
11,

however many you want actually, then reverse it as you work up to get to the one at the top.

So all the open necks are at the back. You put in tinsel, and fairy lights, making sure the fairy lights are at the bottom, and sliding the gree wire through the lid and screwing it on. You work from top to bottom, and depending on how many bottles will depend on how many sets of fairy lights you need. Keep the wires tidy at the back..., then plug in.

It can be set on a window sill, or backed up against a wall. It's great if you don't have much space.

[Bestbirths]

I was published online in Greentit (http://www.greentit.com/archives.shtm) magazine The Top Ten Remedies for Severe Morning Sickness

The site is down right now... I was pretty proud of myself with all the different words I used for getting sick.:mischief

[**guest**]

Hi, i have been lurking here for a while.

[MonsterBoy]

Ania, congratulations! :clap

I'm so intrigued by the form. It seems in retrospect like an intuitive thing to write very short fiction, but it was so radically different from what I'm accustomed to, I actually had to read the endings of both pieces twice, simply because my brain wasn't used to processing a whole story so quickly.

Let us know when the new ones come out!

[**guest**]

thanks for reading.

i love the form. it is very challenging. it is a good training ground for short stories, as it forces one to be very economical with words. and frankly, this is all i have the attention span to do now :lol if i don't see all of my story on the screen, i get lost.



Ania

[USAmma]

Page 6 of this newsletter. :D
http://www.azbirthnetwork.com/documents/ABC_Summer_Final.pdf

I had submitted my poem but didn't know if it was published until a friend mentioned it.

[momatheart23]

Here is a article that was published in our local Mothers Support Network Newsletter, ok well they shortened it by hald because of budget constraints but here it is in its entirety.

Conscious Parenting
Life lessons taught to me by my Suns
By Brianna Eve



I remember being pregnant. I had visions of how parenting was going to be. This perfect happy life that was to be. Yet along came my son, my amazing teacher, who had some important lessons to teach me. My labor ended up being induced, then an epidural, then after two blissful hours of holding him, his quick check up in the nursery to listen to his funny breathing ended up as an ambulance ride, separation, tubes everywhere in my baby, not being able to hold or feed him for three days and twelve days of driving to the NICU multiple times a day . Then after twelve days of separation and a long awaited homecoming Joseph and I woke up for our first morning at home together to turn on the TV and see the remaining Twin Tower burning and then collapse. I remember that day, watching the attacks, nursing my baby paralyzed, vowing to raise him in the most conscious manner, to always question the status quo, and boy have my children held me to that promise.

In the beginning that started with questioning the very doctors that delivered my baby. They told me his problems were because conditions were off in my body, but couldn’t tell me how to fix it. This led me into natural medicine, natural foods, the risks associated with vaccinations. I soaked up and read all that I could to improve our health as much as possible. Then reading about that led me to reading about attachment parenting, and I was fascinated to learn the how meeting my baby’s attachment needs would make him more independent in the long run, current to a cultural belief that is the opposite. I started sleeping with my baby, wearing him, and not feeling guilty for picking him up when he was crying. All this information gave me the freedom to feel secure in following my instincts, and that was so powerful. When my son became a picky eater as a toddler, I knew enough to honor him going counter to how I was raised where food was a reward. I felt empowered to embrace my children’s emotions, to welcome them. I found the Mother’s Support Network Playgroup when my second son was 5 months old and to have that community of conscious mamas who didn’t think I was a freak, was so refreshing. Yet my sons weren’t done with my life lessons yet, they thought I still had more to learn.

I had married a man that I had chosen when I was young and in a very unhealthy place emotionally. Our marriage was never that stable, but after our second son was born it got worse. I kept trying to convince myself it was going to get better. See, I had grown to love being a stay at home mom, and although my husband was a lousy husband and provider, he loved the boys and they loved him. So I continued to live in denial, for I had this vision in my head of the family I wanted for my kids. I kept thinking that if I forced it, it would happen. Then one day I looked at my oldest son and saw through his eyes exactly what he was seeing, what his idea of an ideal man and woman was by how our relationship was and that moment I knew that the conscious choice was to end it. So that moment I ended my marriage, and the word conscious parenting has a whole new look to it.

I had to give up my cloth diapers, and I had to start working and find childcare. I also had to enter the foreign land of state assistance. Gone were the days of knitting while the kids played in the backyard, having a “break” in the evening to calm my nerves, and the money to do all our shopping at the co-op. My world was turned upside down like Joseph’s twelve days in the NICU, but emerging is a life much more authentic where I know I am doing the best for my family.

I have been able to make it where I work part time, it requires I be on state assistance and deal with many people’s judgements of a “welfare mother”, but I do it anyways. I drive a long way out of my way for childcare, and can’t really afford the gas, but it is a place where I know they feel loved and she is totally supportive of my decision to not vaccinate. I also decided to start a single mothers group, and am completely awed by the amazing mothers who have joined. I have learned how hard so many mothers will work to do best by their children, and am completely amazed at the lengths a mother’s love will take them.

There is a mom who was raised by a mother who never ever told her she loved her, who neglected her leaving her at the age of 5 in charge of her infant brother. Then after being drawn to abusive men had CPS enter her life and take her children. She has a daughter who was born at 24 weeks, and CPS told her she would never have her back. She had therapists try to put her on drugs and legally require her to take them as a condition to get her daughter back. She educated herself and fought for her rights, with no one there to help her, and got a second opinion. She worked two jobs without a car, and basically never slept at all so that this Christmas she can sit home with all four of her children safely home with a mother who makes sure she tells her children everyday that she loves them. She is so happy to have found Mother’s Support Network and the single moms group so that she can have some support and a group of positive women to be with and children to play with. She is excited to learn more about the benefits of attachment parenting, how to transition over to healthier foods, and ways to further her quest to be the best mother she can.

Although my life is definitely not what I envisioned over four years ago when I was pregnant, I know that I have been keeping my promise. My kids may have had chicken nuggets and french fries tonight, but as they cuddle me in our bed together and we read our nightly poem for bedtime I know they are blessed. Conscious parenting looks different for so many people, for each of us can only take the steps we are ready for at that time in our life , and what our life circumstances allow. The greatest lessons in life our most often given by our tiniest citizens.

[leahida]

Hi all, I just got this poem published in the online journal Beltway Poetry Quarterly:

http://washingtonart.com/beltway/lharris.html

Leah Harris


UNCERTAIN PROMISES

One must care about a world one will never see.
- Bertrand Russell

My unborn son, already named Sami, is now 23 weeks old,
adding fat, a creamy coating of vernix, and forming tooth buds in a
tiny mouth that doesn't yet know how to cry. He can now distinguish the
sound of my voice from all others. Blood vessels are forming in his tiny
deflated lungs, preparing him for his first breath. A skinny little leg
kicks out at my uterus, and my skin jumps in response.

An insurgent mother named Cindy Sheehan sits in a ditch in Crawford, TX,
waiting for the president to speak to her about her son Casey's death in
Iraq. Mr. Bush has pissed off one too many mamas, and now she is pushing
back, holding her position. Our president is on vacation, bicycling with
journalists, and can't seem to make the time to meet with her. "The most
heartbreaking aspect of seeing Casey lying in his casket,” Cindy said
at the hearing, “was that his face was flat again because he had no muscle
tone. He looked like he did when he was a baby laying in his bassinette."

Each morning, I page through headlines proclaiming new death and devastation
in Iraq. I thumb through pregnancy books, practice pre-natal yoga
stretches, and deliberate over which childbirth class I will take: Bradley
or Lamaze? I think about war and layettes and diapers; episiotomies and
war and c-sections; breastfeeding and war and co-sleeping; car seats and
strollers and war. I think about all the young people being sacrificed
daily to angry gods of war, and I think about their mamas. I envy Sami
the blameless safety of his solitary confinement in my body. He shifts
and flutters and shudders against my flesh. One hand absently strokes
the rising mound of my belly, and I murmur uncertain promises,
in a whisper only he can hear.





Leah Harris is an M.F.A. in Creative Writing candidate at American University. Her poetry has appeared in publications including Mizna: Prose, Poetry and Art Exploring Arab America, Chiaroscuro: A Journal of Peace and Conflict, and D.C. Poets Against the War: An Anthology.

Published in Volume 7, Number 2, Spring 2006.

[BelovedK]

You mamas (and papas) are all so awesome...:thumb

[Bestbirths]

Leah,

I Loved it!!!

[babibelli]

hi there..

i have been published twice-I finally decided to start sharing my work a couple of months ago. My most recent one is "Why We Write" published on Mamaphonic: http://www.mamaphonic.com. I've also published an article for Fertile Ground zine.

I hope you like it.

[leahida]

Joanna,

that piece was awesome. i laughed out loud, and i never do that, despite habitual typing of LOL in my MDC posts. keep putting your stuff out there, girl!

[babibelli]

thank you so much for your support! It means alot to me. :)

[Bestbirths]

Joanna,

I loved your piece. I had ppd too, so can relate. Didn't let any docs know though. And I have a very similar sister. I could relate to a lot of your peice, especially the part about living in the suburbs with all of the other stepford moms...and wanting to be alone and write but having children to tend to..:lol
I got dh to agree to me getting a new computer because I use it to make money selling stuff on ebay....did you get a better computer yet? I would think after reading that your dh would see the importance of it, yk?

[babibelli]

we finally bought a new one, although I bless the old one for starting paragraphs for me.

[BFingMama]

Yay! I can finally post to this Thread!
Near Mama's Heart
ISBN 1-4120-7919-5

Near Mama's Heart, my children's book about breastfeeding has been published! Finally! The text is below but to really get it you have to see the pictures too. You can see some of the pictures and read more about the book at www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=11255

For even more pics and info. check out the links in my sig.


I have received endorsement from Kelly of kellymom.com, Harvey Karp, Hilary Flower, Amy Spangler, Heather Cushman-Dowdee/Hathor the Cowgoddess just to name a few . . . BUT what I am Freaking out over is that just yesterday Elizabeth Pantley sent me her endorsement!!!!


Even though I totally respect all of these people, I would love feedback from all of you. The true test of quality and content are Mamas thoughts! :)



Near Mama's Heart
Near Mama's Heart, right where I belong.
Her milk makes me happy, healthy, and strong.
Her skin is so soft, her body so warm.
She keeps me protected and away from harm.
Mama's milk is so perfectly sweet.
It's the only food that I want to eat.
Breastfeeding is perfect and goes anywhere.
Sometimes my brother and I like to share.
Near Mama's heart and at Mama's breast,
I feel loved, I feel special, and I feel blessed.
I love when we cuddle with my Daddy, too.
My sister was breastfed, and look how she grew!
My Mama's milk, it's what I'm made of.
It fills me with goodness, it fills me with love.
I like to pretend I'm a skilled acrobat.
We think it's silly when I nurse like that.
Near Mama's heart, I'm safe and secure.
Nursing is peaceful, so loving, and pure.
At Mama's breast so close to her heart,
Breastfeeding is giving my life a great start!
I truly enjoy when I nuse and I nap,
Near Mama's heart and in Mama's lap.
Breastmilk is yummy, and to my delight,
I get to nurse any time, day or night.
Near Mama's heart, right where I want to be.
Breastfeeding is best for every baby!


Thanks for reading! And excuse and typos - NAK as usual!

[boatbaby]

Yay!
:clap :twothumbs :clap :twothumbs
I can not wait to see it!!!!!!!!!!
What a great idea, I know so many parents will not only adore the book but find it useful as well.
The text is beautiful - I love the part about acrobatics - boy can I relate to that!

[BFingMama]

Thanks!

[starwise3]

Hello, It is an honor to speak to the gaurdians of the future.
To say I am a published author is a miracle I have been waiting to say out loud for twelve years. The name of my book is "What's On The Other Side Of The Rainbow?" (The Secret Of The Golden Mirror).
The book I have written has a very positive message for children and helps them to understand their feelings and emotions.
There is a wonderful character I have created by the name of Mr. Positively the rainbow cloud, and colorful doors with faces representing the feelings explained in the book. And wait till your child finds out what the secret of the Golden Mirror is!
And by the way there are six more books on the way. And miracle of miracles, I found an investor and now I am the proud owner of a publishing company.... :-)
web site www.mrpositively.com
Thank you for listening...

Mother of One ... :-)

[starwise3]

Hello, I am very new here.

[starwise3]

This seems funny for me to comunicate this way. I am used to talking with people all day long on the phone having to do with my publishing company and my children's book..
However out of curiosity, I thought I would try and see who's out there..?

[bellyblessings]

This article was published in Island Parent Magazine in October 2004 and is my only published piece. It was the first article I ever wrote and the first I ever submitted. The editor liked it, but asked me to edit it down from 1200 to about 800 words. Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to being here.

Jacquie.

Celebrating Mothers:
Blessing the Way to Birth

Imagine you are pregnant, your baby due very soon and you are surrounded by your closest friends. They gather to honour you and the incredible rite of passage you are going through. They pamper you with a healing footbath, massage your hands and feet, crown you with flowers, and offer you their blessings for your upcoming birth...

This is a birthblessing and more and more, women are asking their friends to plan this empowering ceremony instead of, or in addition to, a baby shower. Also known as a blessingway or a motherblessing, the birthblessing is a nurturing celebration for a mother-to-be whether she is having her first baby or her fifth. Whereas a baby shower focuses on the baby, the birthblessing honours the transition from woman to mother. Drawing from a variety of cultural traditions, it offers the pregnant woman emotional and spiritual preparation for childbirth and motherhood, something which is often lacking in our society.

While each celebration is as unique as the mother being honoured, the blessing typically begins with all of the guests introducing themselves, often by maternal lineage. The mother may then be lovingly pampered with massage, hair brushing, and the laying on of hands. Sometimes she will have her belly painted with henna, or make or decorate a belly cast - a three dimensional keepsake of the transformation her body has undergone.

The highlight of the birthblessing is often the creation of a labour necklace with special beads the guests have chosen specifically for her. Each woman may share a positive birth story or offer a blessing for the mother. This is often a very emotional part of the celebration. Erin, a first time mother recalled, "I was touched the most by my mum's beads and her letter. I wish that she could have been there, but her words were powerful and I carry them with me." When labour begins, the necklace reminds the mother that she is not alone as she journeys towards the birth of her baby.

To end the ceremonial part of the blessing, the women gather to weave a bracelet. Red wool is wrapped around the wrist of each guest, signifying how all women are connected. The yarn is cut and braided into bracelets which are worn until after the baby’s birth. Another similar idea is to send a 'labour candle' home with each guest. These are lit as the mother goes into labour, serving as a focus for positive energies, vigil or prayers during the wait for baby's arrival.

Birthblessings can be extremely powerful for pregnant women. Many women report the ceremony provided a sense of closure to the excitement of pregnancy and helped prepare them for birth. Erin explained, "It helped me to focus on my role in the birth and to feel empowered and a lot more mentally ready than I might have otherwise been. Not to say that I was really ready, but I was a lot closer to ready than before the blessingway!" In fact, many women find the birth process starts soon afterward, so planning for the last few weeks of pregnancy is a good idea.

Whatever way the birthblessing unfolds, this unique way of honouring a mother-to-be creates memories of love and support which can last a lifetime. "The one thing I will remember most," Kimberly, another first time mother added. "... was being deeply honoured and lovingly nurtured by a group of amazing women." Let's celebrate more often!


Tips for Planning a Birthblessing Ceremony

Confer with the mama-to-be prior to the celebration about which activities she would enjoy. Her favorite inspirational poems or sharing from a pregnancy journal can make this rite of passage unique for her.

Send out invitations - anything from handmade cards to email. Include some basic information on the purpose of a birthblessing and how it differs from a baby shower. Expect blank stares and lots of questions. Let each guest participate at their own comfort level, and keep the guest list small (6-10).

Consult Mother Rising: The Blessingway Journey into Birth by Lucke, Cortland & Watelet, which is a complete reference for birthblessings. Or try Celebrating Motherhood by Andrea Alban Gosline for poetry and inspiring ideas.

Decorate using candles, flowers, and images of pregnant or nursing women. Make your own mother goddesses out of clay. Play Enya, classical music or the mother’s favorite CD’s in the background.

Provide each guest with a small fabric flag and fabric paint for birth affirmations or artwork. These can be strung like Tibetan prayer flags during the celebration, and used during labour as well.

Ask each guest to contribute to a 'nurturing basket'. Suggested items could be massage oil for labour, gift certificates for a restaurant that delivers, chocolates, or bath fizzies. Anything which delights and pampers the new mother.

Be informal. You're among friends and don't need to memorize long poems or speeches (3 x5 cards work well). Enjoy the laughter, tears of joy and don't forget to take pictures!

[starwise3]

What a beautiful way of celebrating the birth of Earth's Angels:)
It is wonderful to hear from one of the beautiful and aware
mothers in this world. I am honored.

[Fay]

I just had this essay published in Screamachine: The Mamacoaster Zine. The zine is devoted to the ups and downs of motherhood, both zany and soulful. :love
************************************************** ****

Litany of Lost Toys

Last night I dreamt that I pulled a box out of a closet, and inside I found all of the toys my son has ever lost: the kangaroo and seal from his zoo set, the blue “T” from his alphabet puzzle, his favorite prayer book, the green car from his parking garage, and even the red pentagon piece from his shapes puzzle (which has been lost for almost 4 years). Then I opened a kitchen drawer, and all the same toys were also there. I discovered the toys again when I peeked behind the TV cabinet. They were everywhere in plain view. I couldn’t wait to show my son, but when I woke up, the toys were still missing.
Many tears are shed every time a toy is lost in my house. My son Lou becomes obsessed with finding the item, but is so overwhelmed by anxiety that he doesn’t actually look for it. He cries and cries and begs me for help. After a quick search in the usual places, all I can do for him is hold him close and comfort him. Drinking in dozens of kisses and lullabies in my arms, he can accept the loss and move on…but he never forgets, and those silent toys continue to nag at me.
It’s incredible how quickly a cherished plaything can disappear. One Saturday morning at 6:45, I was sitting groggily on the living room sofa while Lou was using his alphabet puzzles to spell out the names of his favorite roller coasters, then rushing at me at top speed. He had just spelled out “NITRO” when he snatched up the letters and darted out of the room. I slowly hauled myself up to follow him. When I found him in his room less than one minute later, he asked, “Where is the blue ’T’?” We combed his room, the hallway and the living room as his anxiety rapidly escalated. He cried for the rest of the morning, snuggled up with me in bed, as my husband searched every nook and cranny – even inside the heating vents – to no avail.
Yet I always hold onto the sliver of hope that a missing toy will be restored. I keep a list on the refrigerator, my “litany of lost toys.” Every toy that is found becomes a cause for celebration and a moral lesson about putting toys back where they belong. One day my son lost his red screwdriver from his little tool kit, the one he uses to “fix” household appliances. He went to sleep that night disappointed, believing that it had been accidentally swept away into the trash. While he was at preschool the next day, I was cleaning the kitchen counters and moved a bag of potato chips – the red screwdriver had been under the bag all along. On the way home from preschool, I had exciting news: the beloved red screwdriver was waiting for him at home. It was a revelation. Lou’s face was filled with emotion as he went through waves of joy and sadness over remembering yesterday’s tragedy. He ran into the house laughing and calling out, “I found it!”
The very next day on the way home from school, Lou asked me, “Where is the blue ‘T’?”
There’s nothing more frustrating than losing something and knowing exactly where it is, in some unreachable place. Lou loves to play “elevator” with the sliding door between the laundry room and the powder room. He uses the numbers from his number puzzle to indicate which floor he’s visiting. On a late afternoon as I was cooking dinner, he held up the red “4” piece and announced that he was going up to the fourth floor “just like at the big library” downtown. Somehow the number slipped between the sliding door and the inside wall. Panicked, he came to me saying, “Get the red ‘4’! It’s stuck!” I got a coat hanger but only managed to push the piece further down into the crevice. My husband came home in the nick of time, a real live deus ex machina. He spent half an hour working on it, gently talking Lou through the drama. He dislodged the door to make a wider slot for the puzzle piece, then gave up and promised Lou a new number puzzle when he decided to give it one more try. That final effort paid off. Our hero pulled out the ‘4’ and gave it back to our beaming boy.
Today my dream came true. Well, part of it anyway. I was moving around some beanbags in the family room (we don’t have any real furniture in that room, just bean bags, but that’s another story), and I instinctively checked the side pockets of the big orange bean bag. I gasped when my fingers stroked the kangaroo and seal that went missing last week. Lou recognized that gasp of surprise. I showed him the toys in the pocket, and he immediately took them for a ride on his truck back to the zoo.

[starwise3]

It reminds me of socks. They are always runing away from home....:)

[starwise3]

Happy Mother's Day!! :) To all The Wonderful Mothers out There!

[SarahO]

i WISH i was professionally published --- congrats to all of you who are. such amazing pieces!!

does this count? i started "publishing" myself on a blog, but not in a journal style....i'm doing a "top five" blog in which i create a topic each day (well, most days) and write five thoughts to go with it. it keeps me thinking, anyway....and its been fun!

~sarah

[boatbaby]

yay - I got my first real PRINT gig!

I have been a TV script writer for a long while now -- but I just got word that a story I wrote a couple of years ago has been accepted into a new book in the Travelers' Tales series!!! :D
The book is called "The World Is A Kicthen" and I wrote a story about a cooking class my husband and I took in Bali when we got married there.

I am so used to being invisible when I do TV work since credits for shows are either fast, small, or non-existant. I am a little self-conscious about seeing my name in print and having my words be out there. Eeeek! :shy

[dynamicdoula]

I've been published (http://www.kpbj.com/report/articles/2004-10-04-RPT-09.html)! :thumb I've been published a few times but other than this one, the rest I published myself in my own newsletter. :lol

[marsupial*mama]

Published in Natural Parenting Magazine - Winter 2005

Placenta musings....

By Jodie Miller

Pregnant with my first, I read about placenta ceremonies and indigenous traditions with curiosity. I only mentioned it to my midwife once, but she never forgot. Following my son's empowering birth, she offered to put his placenta in a container in the fridge for us to take home. I thought, “Great!” and wondered if she knew how touched I was that she remembered!

So it spent a few months in the freezer until the day came when I dug a hole and pitched it frozen solid into the earth under a potted lime tree. Later I watched the leaves yellow slightly, then spring forth with bright lime green new growth. I knew the placenta had given out all its goodness. At the time, the tree planting had been more important to me than the placenta. However I enjoyed thinking about the tree and to express its significance I attached a small home-fired clay tablet, with my baby son's hand print on it.

When I brought home my daughter’s placenta I'd already picked her mandarin tree and my husband prepared the hole soon after. I took the time to look over the organ's membranes and observe the blood vessels this time; repulsed and fascinated at the same time. I avoided touching it or getting any blood on my fingers. Again the tree's leaves yellowed with the excess nitrogen and then sprouted new growth. I felt good about contributing to the cycle of life. I imagined my children nourished by the fruit grown on the tree that was nourished by the placenta, that nourished them in my womb.

When I brought home my third child’s placenta, we new it would not be planted in the garden beside the others. We were planning for a new location and a move country-ward. I wondered what to do about the other two trees: would they survive being transplanted or should I just be practical and buy replacement trees to represent the original ones we would leave behind?

This time, I didn't rush. Properly thawed after it's time in storage, I made tree-prints of the placenta and explored the side where it had been attached inside my womb. I took a photo, with enough membranes visible to imagine where it had contained our baby. I observed the length of the umbilical cord and the tangle of sinew and blood vessels that had made it my baby's life line in the hypersleep of my womb. I can now understand the desire not to cut the cord; to leave it intact for a lotus baby. The cut end was clean as only a surgically sharp blade could cut. I mourned the severed end and the instant separation it represented.

This time, the tree planting was ceremonial, though I was alone in my ritual. I was emotionally open and moved by the awesome task this strange disembodied organ had achieved. I felt it was due more respect and I gave it. With a growing sense of fertility, I rubbed the black soil on my blood stained fingers; earthworms curled and twisted in the loosely packed earth, working their way down to transform the goodness below and make my son's orange tree strong and productive. I knew that transplanting the other trees would be a risk but sentimentality won in the end. We now have a circle of citrus trees in the middle of our orchard, each with a clay table imprinted by a tiny hand or foot. The trees have thrived despite neglect and I know that our family will thrive in this new place too. Our new home!

Since this time, a friend has contributed an avocado tree with her son's placenta to our orchard. Her most recent birth was celebrated soon after with the addition of a luscious lychee tree. Now our families share a symbolic link as we will gather together to share the fruit every new season. Long after the placenta that inspired the tree planting has become like the soil, the cycle of nourishment continues.

[marsupial*mama]

The trees were planted in Australia. Not really 'published' but relevant to the article above. This from my blog last week:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Planted our baby girl's placenta under a weeping cherry tree in my midwife's garden today. I wrote a little piece and attached a picture of all the children to it to bury with the placenta.

I still need some time to process my emotions but I have to say I'm so proud of my older son, aged six, who chose to be very involved in the whole procedure. When I put the picture of the children in the hole with the placenta he came up to me and said,

"When you put the picture in the hole that made me feel different Mum."

Concerned I asked if he meant "good different" or "bad different" and he reassured me it felt "good different" but he couldn't find the words to describe how he felt. Neither could I. So we just stood there together looking down with understanding at the picture getting covered with soil. Both of us holding back tears. It was a very moving and unifying moment. I treasure that he understood the significance of what I was doing. I'm so proud that he was intrigued rather than revolted and he stayed to help until the very end.

So sad as I am to leave her placenta tree behind, I feel reassured that my baby girl will blossom along with it and that we have created a life-long connection with my midwife via a humble tree in her garden. Every blossom season she promises to send us a picture of the tree as it grows. Every birthday we promise to send a picture of our girl as she grows. And in this way a new family tradition has been created. If there is something good to come out of this overseas experience for our family, surely this is it.

[starwise3]

HELLO,
Marsupialmama
dynamicdoula
boatbaby
Saraho
Fay
Bellyblessings
BFingmama
babibelli
Bestbirths
Congratulaions to all of you :thumb :grouphug :twothumbs :clap From what I have read . You are all amazing writers. I am so glad I found this forum. All your stories are great :)

My news: I just got my children's book into two more public schools. They are planning to use my book as part of their Curriculum..! I am so grateful.


Hope you are all having a great day... :)

[BelovedK]

My news: I just got my children's book into two more public schools. They are planning to use my book as part of their Curriculum..! I am so grateful.



:thumb

[starwise3]

Thank you BelovedK :)

I have some more exciting News: I am doing a Book Fair this week at another public school, and a book signing. I have 8 more to do this month ! So far my book is in 21 public schools. I am also working with the recreational department. They are using my book to help with their adolescent and teen programs this summer.. :)

By the way you and your family are beautiful... Thank you for sharing :)

I hope you have an amazing day :rainbow :grouphug

[BelovedK]

Thank you BelovedK :)

I have some more exciting News: I am doing a Book Fair this week at another public school, and a book signing. I have 8 more to do this month ! So far my book is in 21 public schools. I am also working with the recreational department. They are using my book to help with their adolescent and teen programs this summer.. :)

By the way you and your family are beautiful... Thank you for sharing :)

I hope you have an amazing day :rainbow :grouphug

:love

[ChristaN]

I'm giving some thought to seriously pursuing writing. It is always something that I have enjoyed and the only two pieces that I have ever written were both published, so I seem to have a good batting average so far :lol !

One here in Mothering: http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/group-b.html

and one in Vegfamily: http://www.vegfamily.com/health/vegan-soy-information.htm (don't flame me if you are of the opposite eating camp :wink ).

I'm giving some thought to ideas that I can pitch to other vegetarian magazines and really would love to write a book. I'm torn btwn adult health types of books and writing books for children/adolescents that feature gifted children. My older daughter would really benefit from seeing children like herself in more stories like that. Sorry just thinking out loud...

[One Art]

Hi, I am new to the writing forum, and haven't posted here before, but I have a couple of poems online at www.tpq.org If you go to the archives and click on Emily, under Poetry, that's where they are...

[starwise3]

This is really getting to be fun talking to all of you :)

I had another great day reading my book at another public school.

The children were wonderful. I LOVE WHAT I DO :love


Take Care :grouphug :Thanks for listening

[BFingMama]

Congrats everyone! Such touching and beautiful stories!

[BFingMama]

So frustrated . . . just got word that my book went before the review board
and only one of the six branches of my local library will be purchasing a
copy of my new children's book about breastfeeding, Near Mama's Heart.

They said that it may not be appealing for children and that library patrons may not think it is appropriate for the shelves. The one branch who is buying it is going to put it in their "parenting" section. I bet I could find books in the library that show more skin than mine! Grrrr . . . . :irked:

Then I got an email from a LC at a hospital in NJ who requested a copy for the Perinatal Education Dept. She basically told me the same thing. Too many older children, tandem nursers etc. . . . "Not appealing to the lay parent." :rolleyes

I knew this was a risk when writing the book. I had a feeling the mainstream
audience wouldn't embrace it as well as the breastfeeding/natural parenting
community has. It's just that this is my first encounter with the
"mainstream audience" and the reality is that it will be an issue.

Thanks for letting me vent!

[marsupial*mama]

BFingmama - I have a few acquaintances, one in particular, who self-market their books via their own websites. I don't know what measures you're taking to market your book but have faith that word of mouth on forums like this one, and among the many advocacy organisations will help your book gain momentum over time. I think you've achieved something wonderful with your book!

[ceilydhmama]

http://www.mothering.com/articles/body_soul/inspiration/letters-maia.html

This is mine.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Just to let everyone know, we are now published and the book arrived today.

Yes, its about immunisation and the title is "Just a little Prick".

[lioralourie]

Mt How Can I Order Your Book???

[starwise3]

Hello every one, I have fantastic news. My children's book is now going to be available in the public libraries. WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!..... :-) I am grateful..... :- )
Thank you for listening and letting me share. CM

[phoebemommy]

I've published an essay about quitting the Peace Corps and this little short story: www.pindeldyboz.com/aghort.htm

Plus, I've published several translations, but I can't take full credit for those -- I'm just the messenger.

[umiak]

(moved story to new thread...)

[Jael]

You can read a few of mine here (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/14354/laura_sands.html)and here (http://gospelcity.com/dynamic/articles/her_network/118)and here (http://gospelcity.com/dynamic/articles/her_network/113)and http://gospelcity.com/dynamic/articles/her_network/106...lol.

[majikfaerie]

Hi writing mamas!
It's been nice to browse through what other mamas have been writing.

I'm pretty new to the writing game. Well, that's not entirely true, I've been writing since I was 5 :wink but I'm new to being published and getting paid to write.
It's great, I am even starting to get a good reputation in my local area as a great "natural parenting" consultant and I'm getting a lot of new clients.
So, I write a column on natual parenting (as well as some other stuff) for an alternative magazine, you can read my articles at the site
Essence of Life (http://www.eolife.org) most of my articles are in the Learning Life (http://www.eolife.org/departments.php?did=19) section
Here are direct links:
Baby Wearing (http://www.eolife.org/departments.php?aid=78dc5473f97fdecc190782414d73f0 2b)
Trusting Your Child (http://www.eolife.org/article.php?aid=1238b1c60a6836822532d83c77de6b70)
Co-Sleeping (http://www.eolife.org/article.php?aid=eab9ef6b2eab8c4fb0c077a7e3fe505e)

Also:
A spiritual travel story from The Sudan (http://www.eolife.org/article.php?aid=8a93373af5263b9b7e84cf9de9f4c14b)
and I write all their News (http://www.eolife.org/news.php) articles, though I'm not credited with it (I think because they dont want to advertise that all their news is coming from one source!)

My natural parenting column will get updated every month or so, The next article is on Breastfeeding (already written) and I'm about to start on the one after next, though i didnt decide on a topic next. Maybe unschooling or Lotus birth.

[SarahO]

my first piece has been published! i'm in the new issue of mothering...hooray!

[Gabesgrrrl]

Hi everyone...

I finally have a complete, buyable book. And it's really stirring up some controversy in the mainstream...lol (yea!) Oh-did I say that outloud?
It's called: "She Births: A Modern Woman's Guidebook For an Ancient Rite of Passage".

I did discover two days ago that much of the proofreading edits did not make it to the print copy-I think when I merged documents...something didn't want to co-mingle.....lol So I'm re-editing it now, and the newly fixed version should be available in a couple weeks!

I'm so excited and thrilled!

Marcie

[ChristaN]

A question for those of you who have written books -- I have only dabbled in writing articles for magazines; can one actually make a living off of book royalties or is it just something that you can make a small amount of $ from unless you are J.K. Rowling?

[wanderinggypsy]

I just found out this is going to be published... it's never the work I considered to be really good... it's always an oddball piece. But I can't complain. In fact, I'm tickled pink!



Jogging Ontario Street
in Brighton
at dusk
when a glance westward
nearly knocks me flat.
The sky
Is purple soufflé
with twisting tendrils twirling.
Lavender latticework
atop a honey blonde sky
I jog a few steps further
still staring
then laughing succumb
to Persephone’s
most notorious charm
for now springtime's still
bare branches
are superimposed on that
blossoming sky
and I catch myself dreaming
of dark fingers
reaching up
and amidst the feverish
prayers and promises
of the warmest night of the year
-so far-
stroking
purple sweetness.

[boatbaby]

Hi everyone...

I finally have a complete, buyable book. And it's really stirring up some controversy in the mainstream...lol (yea!) Oh-did I say that outloud?
It's called: "She Births: A Modern Woman's Guidebook For an Ancient Rite of Passage".

I did discover two days ago that much of the proofreading edits did not make it to the print copy-I think when I merged documents...something didn't want to co-mingle.....lol So I'm re-editing it now, and the newly fixed version should be available in a couple weeks!

I'm so excited and thrilled!

Marcie

Oooo, that sounds like such a great read and a perfect shower gift. I will keep a look out for it. YAY FOR YOU mama! :thumb

[ceilydhmama]

I have another essay on mothering.com http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/breastfeeding/difficult-promise.html
Diane