Join me for a weekend retreat for mother-writers. We'll write, share our writing, discuss challenges with craft, and have time to connect with other mother writers in the luxury and quiet of Faith's Lodge. Group meetings and individual conferences will help support you as you delve more deeply into your writing and learn to take risks on the page. Come immerse yourself in the writing life with other mothers who write.
Where: Faith's Lodge, Wisconsin
Faith's Lodge is located on 80 picturesque acres in Northwestern Wisconsin near the town of Webster, less than a two-hour drive from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, less than one hour from Duluth/Superior, and about four hours from Madison. The mission of Faith's Lodge is to provide a place where parents and families facing the serious illness or loss of a child can retreat to reflect on the past, renew strength for the present, and build hope for the future.
You need not have experienced the loss of a child to attend the retreat. The Mother Words Retreat is for all mother writers. (But proceeds from the Mother Words Writing Retreat will benefit the children and families served by Faith's Lodge.)
The Lodge has eight guest suites, and we can accommodate up to 10 people for the Mother Words Retreat. Each guest suite features a private bath, fireplace, balcony/patio, flat screen tv, DVD player, small fridge, and coffee maker. Meals are included.
Cost: $650 for single room, $550 for shared room (separate beds)
To register: Please contact Marquetta Nickols at Faith's Lodge - 612-825-2073 or marquetta@faithslodge.org.
Please e-mail me about the Mother Words Retreat. (katehopper[at]msn[dot]com)
To learn more about Faith's Lodge, visit www.faithslodge.org.
Kate Hopper is Literary Reflections Co-editor at Literary Mama, and she holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. Her writing has appeared in a number of journals and magazines, including Brevity, Literary Mama, Mamazine, and The New York Times online. She is working on two books: Ready for Air, a memoir about learning to live with uncertainty in the wake of her daughter's premature birth; and Mother Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers. She teaches Mother Words online and at The Loft Literary Center, coordinates the annual Mother Words reading, and leads an annual writing retreat for mothers.
So ... How's your journaling? Would you like to share an entry with LM readers?
Until December 7th, we'll accept responses to the For Your Journal writing prompts posted in September, October, and November. We'll offer our feedback on each response privately before the end of the month and post our favorites to the LM Blog. Please email your responses of 400 words or less to lmblog (at) literarymama (dot) com with the words "For Your Journal submission" in the subject line. Submissions--up to two per person--should be in the text of an email; please do not send attachments. If submitting two responses, please submit in separate emails.
Here's a recap of the writing prompts:
September
~~ Using the alphabet, create a list that describes the perfect kindergarten teacher (e.g. Affirming, Bubbly, Compassionate). Read the entire prompt here.
~~ Write about a school lunch. Read the entire prompt here.
~~What does a confident child look like? Read the entire prompt here.
October
~~ What "experts" do you look to for advice about your child's development? Read the entire prompt here.
~~ Write about a childhood pet and the role it had (or has) in your family. Read the entire prompt here.
~~ Do your kids have a surrogate mom? Read the entire prompt here.
November
~~ Compare your childhood neighborhood with that of your child's. Read the entire prompt here.
~~ Describe the day before a family trip. Read the entire prompt here.
~~ Write about the childhood activities and events that influenced your present-day relationship with a sibling. Read the entire prompt here.
We love this new project from StoryCorps; grab a recorder and join in!
On the day after Thanksgiving, StoryCorps asks all Americans to take an hour to record an interview with a loved one using recording equipment readily available in most homes--a cell phone, computer, pen and paper, or video camera--along with StoryCorps' free Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide.We hope that civil conversation within families and communities on the National Day of Listening can help heal some of the political and cultural divides in our country today. The National Day of Listening coincides with Black Friday and provides a great, noncommercial alternative to shopping sprees. Many people like to record National Day of Listening interviews and give them as gifts because it is a meaningful, cost-free way for families to connect during the busy holiday season.
It's our hope that you will join us in spreading the word about this new holiday tradition.
For more information, visit the StoryCorps website.
Do you keep a journal - or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.
Three times a month, I'll post a writing prompt. Open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation - just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.
And who knows? Maybe you'll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you'll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you'll enjoy re-reading it months--and years--down the road.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The secret to playing Ping-Pong with my brother, Kevin, lies in his eyes. If there's a twinkle in the dark blue-green circles, I know there's also a devious smile on his face -- and, he's planning to serve straight down the outside line.
His serve is low and fast. He often adds a spin to the ball, and if I return it too high, he's likely to "slam" it right back at me. But, if I catch the twinkle a split second before he swings his paddle, I move a half-step to the left and slant my paddle just enough to return the ball to his left, and weaker, side.
When we were growing up, our games were all about winning. We attacked each other's weaknesses as much as--if not more than--we concentrated on our individual strengths. Like typical teenagers, we argued about the score, slammed paddles on the table in anger, and stomped out of the room when we lost. There's a half-inch chunk missing from the table in Mom's basement, and we're both positive the other is responsible for it.
But, my memories of our childhood ping-pong games aren't only of conflict. There was a lot of laughter, too - and many, many lessons about how to accept defeat and how to win graciously. In addition to these social skills, the hours my brother and I spent together helped mold our relationship into the one it is today.
Laurie Kramer, professor of applied family studies in the department of human and community development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says a sibling's influence on a child's development has a considerable influence on our social and emotional development as adults. One of the most important things parents can do, she adds, is to help foster a supportive relationship between siblings from the very beginning.
That makes sense. After all, the sibling relationship could easily be the longest relationship that many of us will have.
Journal Entry: Write about the childhood activities and events that influenced your present-day relationship with a sibling. Describe one specific interaction. What words were exchanged? How where they spoken?
Literary Reflections is pleased to present our featured writing prompt response from November. Earlier this month, we asked, "How do you capture the moments of your life? How do you keep memories alive? Write about one specific event from the past year you hope your children will remember.
Linda Maria Steele wrote:
I place a photograph on the mantle in the living room above the fireplace to remind the girls and I of the total blast we had on our summer vacation last year. It's a 4x6 vertical image of Sophia on a teacup ride. Her eyes have a bit of a sparkle and her wide smile says it all-bliss. Next to that is a photograph of both of my girls standing tall in front of the Magic Castle.
I took my daughters Bella, 14 and Sophia, 6 to Disney's Magic Kingdom in Florida while my husband and 15 year old son were away on their own male bonding adventure to a National Basketball Tournament in Indiana. It was the first time we traveled anywhere alone.
The girls and I flew south from Boston's Logan Airport and spent a few days at the Buena Vista Palace Resort and Spa in Orlando. We easily fell into a comfortable groove. We covered lots of sight-seeing territory until late each day and enjoyed relaxing back at the hotel pool at night. We were compatible travelers and it made the trip all the more enjoyable and memorable.
We took the shuttle back and forth each day to the parks while spending our nights around the Hotel Pool eating hot pizza and drinking fresh squeezed lemonade chatting about our favorite sights of that day.
While drifting off into slumber we giggled about how much Bella screamed on the super fast Test Track ride or how her cell phone flew off as we spun around the corners. We joked about using the 'Mickey Phone' in the Epcot Center office. We chatted about what a good sport Sophia was as she walked from one side of the park to the other with her little legs and loving every minute of it.
As the plane reached elevation as we headed north there was a peace between us and a renewed connection. We were sad to leave yet so grateful for the brief joy shared. As we flew home Sophia rested her head on my arm and slept. Bella listened to her IPod daydreaming out the window.
Words weren't needed because our hearts shared what mattered most. I looked out the window passed the wing of the plane out into the clouds and sent a silent prayer. "Dear God, please help the girls remember this trip forever". And it was then that I imagined us on a gathering 30 years or so in the future. I could see myself with wrinkled old lady skin turning frail, my hair grayed but my girls still young-their lives full of possibility. The same two pictures still rested on the mantle.
In the meantime what gives life to this precious memory beyond those photographs are the nights between now and then when I sit with Sophia in her bed. She holds her stuffed Mickey Mouse and asks with such sweetness, "Mom, can we live at Disney?"
###
Linda can be reached at www(dot)westfalmouthbakingcompany(dot)blogspot(dot)com.
A new Literary Reflections writing prompt is published the first weekend of every month. Responses are accepted until the 15th, and I promise to comment shortly after that. Look for it - we'd love to hear from you.
Book Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Contributors needed for articles about: websites for women poets, using life experience, magazine markets, networking, managing family, blogs, unique issues women must overcome, lesbian and bisexual poetry, continuing education, queries and proposals, anthologies, conference participation, contests, promotion, self-publishing, teaching tips, and other areas women poets are interested.
Practical, concise, how-to articles with bullets/headings have proven the most helpful. Please avoid writing too much about "me" and concentrate on what will most help the reader. No previously published, co-written, or simultaneously submitted material.
Foreword: Molly Peacock, the author of six books of poetry, including The Second Blush (W.W. Norton and Company, 2008).
Co-editor Carol Smallwood is a 2009 National Federation of State Poetry Societies award winner included in Who's Who of American Women who has appeared in Michigan Feminist Studies, The Writer's Chronicle. She's included in Best New Writing in Prose 2010. Her 23rd book is Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook (American Library Association, 2010). The first chapter of Lily's Odyssey (2010) was short listed for the Eric Hoffer Prose Award; chapbook by Pudding House Publications; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6m7PXGQIU
Co-editor Colleen S. Harris is a 2010 Pushcart Prize nominee. Her book of poetry, God in My Throat: The Lilith Poems (Bellowing Ark Press, 2009), was a finalist for the Black Lawrence Book Award. Her second and third books, These Terrible Sacraments and Gonesongs, are forthcoming in 2011. Colleen holds an MFA degree in writing and has appeared in The Louisville Review, Wisconsin Review, River Styx, and Adirondack Review, among others. Her work has been included in Library Journal, and Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages.
Please send 2-3 topics you would like to contribute each described in a few sentences and a 65-75 word bio using the format of the bio's above. Please send in a .doc Word (older version) file by December 30, 2010 using POETS/your last name on the subject line to smallwood@tm.net. You will receive a Go-Ahead with guidelines if your topics haven't already been taken. Contributors will be asked to contribute a total of 1900-2100 words. Those included in the anthology will receive a complimentary copy as compensation.
Book Publisher: The Key Publishing House Inc., publisher of academic and non-academic books, Toronto, Ontario
Submissions are being sought for an anthology about writing and publishing by women with experience in writing and publishing about family. Possible subjects: using life experience; networking; unique issues women must overcome; formal education; queries and proposals; conference participation; self-publishing; teaching tips. Tips on writing about family: creative nonfiction, poetry, short stories, nonfiction, novels.
Practical, concise, how-to articles with bullets/headings have proven the most helpful to readers. Please avoid writing too much about "me" and concentrate on what will help the reader. No previously published, co-written, or simultaneously submitted material.
Foreword by Supriya Bhatnagar, Director of Publications, Editor of The Writer's Chronicle, Association of Writers & Writing Programs, George Mason University. Author of the memoir: and then there were three... (Serving House Books, 2010)
Afterword by Dr. Amy Hudock, co-editor of Literary Mama chosen by Writers Digest as one of the 101 Best Web Sites for Writers. She teaches creative writing and co-edited American Prose Writers (Seal Press, 2006)
Co-Editor Carol Smallwood appears in Who's Who of American Women, Michigan Feminist Studies, The Writer's Chronicle. She's included in Best New Writing in Prose 2010. Her 23rd book is Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook (American Library Association, 2010). A chapter of newly published Lily's Odyssey was short listed for the Eric Hoffer Prose Award; a book trailer of Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages is http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6m7PXGQIU&feature=related
Co-Editor Suzann Holland, 2010 Winner of Public Libraries Feature Award, secured the permission of the Laura Ingalls Wilder estate for the forthcoming: The Little House Literary Companion. Her masters degrees include history, library science: she taught English composition, information literacy, at William Penn University, was a librarian at Milwaukee Public Library, a consultant in Davenport, Iowa. Her anthology contributions appear in: Greenwood Press, Neal-Schuman, the American Library Association
Please send 2-3 possible topics you would like to contribute each described in a few sentences and a 65-75 word bio using the format like the bio's above. Please send in a .doc Word file by December 30, 2010 using FAMILY/Your Name on the subject line to smallwood@tm.net. You'll receive a Go-Ahead and guidelines if your topics haven't been taken. Contributors will be asked to contribute a total of 1900-2100 words. Those included in the anthology will receive a complimentary copy as compensation
Congrats to these LM Staffers!
Suzanne Kamata, Fiction Co-Editor: "My story "X-patriate," which was written awhile ago, but never published in the United States, now appears in Monkeybicycle, which I have to say is one of the coolest literary journals online or off. And: Wyatt-Mackenzie will publish my short story collection, The Beautiful One Has Come, in June 2011. Woo hoo! Here's a post from the publisher about the book cover."
Kate Hopper, Literary Reflections Co-Editor: "My interview at Good Enough Moms was a lot of fun! We talked about the term "momoir," my upcoming Mother Words retreat, and how writing about motherhood has affected some of my wonderful students."
Christina Marie Speed, Literary Reflections Co-Editor: "One of my poems appears in issue 29 of the view from here. It's my first PRINT publication!"
Mothering Adult Children
Editor: Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard Publication Date: 2013
Deadline for abstracts: December 1, 2011
This anthology will explore the changing experiences and the challenges of relationships between mothers and their adult children. I invite submissions that address a range of factors that may impact these relations, health, generational differences in values, conflicts with the spouse of a son or daughter and their family, marital status, how a mother addresses significant problems experienced by her son or daughter, how a mother keeps a loving if long-distance relationship. Some mothers may experience major changes in their relationships with their children, while others may find that they have developed a closer bond.
I especially encourage submissions that reveal different responses to extended families in other cultures, such as Hispanic, Asian, black and aboriginal mothers. Creative and narrative writing is encouraged as well as academic essays in the fields of social history, sociology and psychology.
A goal of this volume is to reveal a reality that is ignored in the broader society as well as the sociological and psychological adaptations to ongoing transformations of mothering. Although we think of ourselves as living in an individualistic society, there are a number of social perceptions that influence our responses to life events. Older mothers and lesbian mothers tend to be marginalized in a society that focuses upon young mothers as well as heterosexual parents. Rather than respecting aging, the broader society often fears and ignores it. Since there are no maps or guidelines for an older mother to continue being a giving and effective parent as children and grandchildren age and change their circumstances, many of them need to continually improvise.
Suggested topics include but are not limited to:
Mothering with disabilities, mothering adult offspring with disabilities or addictions, the differences between mothering a son versus mothering a daughter, mothering a son or daughter who is divorced or experiencing difficulties in their marriages, ongoing, severed or distant relationships, marital status and mothering, mothering adopted offspring, mothering a soldier or a returning veteran, mothering a single daughter or son, mothering a close friend of a son or daughter who has lost his or her mother.
Submission guidelines:
Abstracts should be 250 words. Please also include a brief biography (50 words).
Please send to marguerite@bouvard.us
Deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2011
Accepted papers of 4000-5000 words (15-20 pages) will be due September 2012 and
should conform to Microsoft Word.
http://www.demeterpress.org
Do you keep a journal - or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.
Three times a month, I'll post a writing prompt. Open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation - just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.
And who knows? Maybe you'll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you'll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you'll enjoy re-reading it months--and years--down the road
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I consider our annual vacation one of my family's strongest assets. Ever since our kids were preschoolers, we've squeezed a few days--and sometimes up to 10 or 14--out of five busy schedules. I have hundreds of photos of our adventures and imagine our kids thirty years from now, reminiscing about Junior Ranger badges, calamari, the California Screamin' roller coaster, and the long, hot walk from Jefferson Memorial to Lincoln Memorial.
But I dread packing -- the laundry; the piles of clean clothes, snacks and books; the last-minute trip to the pharmacy for toothpaste and deodorant.
It's worse now that my kids are teenagers. I expect them to pack their own bags, but they like to pack just prior to departure. One child usually takes too much; the other two pack so lightly they barely have enough clothes to last the trip. And even though I remind each of them to pack contact lens solution, I know we'll have to stop and buy some on the way.
All three, however, will have a fully-charged iPod. Imagine that.
Journal Entry: Describe the day before a family trip. Are you transferring clothes directly from dryer into duffle bag? Did you remember to stop the mail? Take the dog to the kennel? What one item are you or your husband sure to forget?
My eight-year-old son Sam has hair down to his waist; he is generally mistaken for a girl. Though recently he's most passionate about Star Wars, for years he played princess dress-up games and wore a fairy costume on Halloween. I have no idea what his gender identity and sexuality will be once he reaches high school. But I want to do everything I can so that he won't be attacked for his differences when he gets there.
According to the GLSEN 2009 School Climate Report, 90% of LGBT students experience verbal harassment at school; 40% experience physical harassment, and almost 20% report physical assault. Straight, gender-normative kids can be hurt by bullying, too, as victims and as witnesses. Whoever our children are, we have a stake in changing the cultural norm of disrespecting, harassing, and bullying kids who are different. It's time to decide, as a society, that torment needn't be a normal part of growing up.
Remember the angst and drama of your teenage years? For many, books--especially those labeled Young Adult--offer refuge and escape.
Jessica Stites, associate editor of Ms. magazine, has this to say in the magazine's Fall issue: "What most of these books have in common is a certain kind of hero(ine): young, brave, rebellious and independent ... And although she may face flak for her nonconformity, ultimately it serves her well."
Her feature article, "Kick-Ass Girls and Feminist Boys," references 30 novels that address contemporary teen issues and includes a list of the magazine's 12 favorites.
Available on newstands.
Do you keep a journal - or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.
Three times a month, I'll post a writing prompt. Open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation - just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.
And who knows? Maybe you'll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you'll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you'll enjoy re-reading it months--and years--down the road.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's no secret that today's family is more mobile than the family of previous generations. We raise our children to be explorers and go confidently into the world--and we're happy they have more opportunities than we did--but are there enough children in all sections of the country to be tomorrow's workers and community leaders as the Baby Boomers retire?
A study from the Urban Institute, published in February 2010, reports: "Of the 10 metro areas with the highest percentage of children, nine are in California or Texas. Not one is in the Northeast or Midwest. By contrast, six of the 10 metro areas with the smallest share of children are in the Northeast (in Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, and Massachusetts), and another two are in Florida."
This is noteworthy, the study continues, because "Only about one-third of public spending on children is federal. Unlike the elderly, who get more federal support, children mostly depend on state and local revenues."
Journal Entry: Compare your childhood neighborhood with that of your child's. Do you live in the same community in which you were raised? The same area of the country? How are the activities and opportunities your child has different from those of your childhood? Can you say one is better than another?
Book Publisher: The Key Publishing House Inc., publisher of academic
and non-academic books, Toronto, Ontario.
Submissions are being sought for an anthology about writing and
publishing by women with experience in writing and publishing about
family. Possible subjects: using life experience; networking; unique
issues women must overcome; formal education; queries and proposals;
conference participation; self-publishing; teaching tips. Tips on
writing about family: creative nonfiction, poetry, short stories,
nonfiction, novels.
Practical, concise, how-to articles with bullets/headings have proven
the most helpful to readers. Please avoid writing too much about "me"
and concentrate on what will help the reader. No previously published,
co-written, or simultaneously submitted material.
Foreword by Supriya Bhatnagar, Director of Publications, Editor of The
Writer's Chronicle, Association of Writers & Writing Programs, George
Mason University. Author of the memoir: and then there were
threeŠ(Serving House Books, 2010)
Afterword by Dr. Amy Hudock, co-founder of Literary Mama, on-line
literary magazine chosen by Writers Digest as one of the 101 Best Web
Sites for Writers.
Co-Editor Carol Smallwood appears in Who's Who of American Women,
Michigan Feminist Studies, The Writer's Chronicle. She's included in
Best New Writing in Prose 2010. Her 23rd book is Writing and
Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook (American Library Association,
2010). A chapter of newly published Lily's Odyssey was short listed for
the Eric Hoffer Prose Award; a book trailer of Contemporary American
Women: Our Defining Passages.
Co-Editor Suzann Holland, 2010 Winner of Public Libraries Feature
Award, secured the permission of the Laura Ingalls Wilder estate for
the forthcoming: The Little House Literary Companion. Her masters
degrees include history, library science: she taught English
composition, information literacy, at William Penn University, was a
librarian at Milwaukee Public Library, a consultant in Davenport,
Iowa. Her anthology contributions appear in: Greenwood Press,
Neal-Schuman, the American Library Association.
Please send 2-3 possible topics you would like to contribute each
described in a few sentences and a 65-75 word bio using the format like
the bio's above. Please send in a .doc Word file by December 15, 2010
using FAMILY/Your Name on the subject line to
receive a Go-Ahead and guidelines if your topics haven't been taken.
Contributors will be asked to contribute a total of 1900-2100 words.
Those included in the anthology will receive a complimentary copy as
compensation.