Once again, here's more rambling about stuff I'm doing that's not here
November 17, 2009I have an essay in the December issue of The Sun! It's called "Eighteen Attempts at Writing About a Miscarriage," and it's about how much I love unicorns. I can hear some of you grumbling, is she still talking about that miscarriage, for Pete's sake? or probably that's my Inner Critic bashing me again, but anyway I actually wrote this quite a while ago. Now shut your mouth, Inner Critic.
Anyway, this essay was originally accepted at another magazine, and they were incredibly gung ho about it and it was amazing to see my work get that kind of reaction, and then the magazine shut down and all our hearts were broken. (Then they gave me a super-secret-special release from my contract, which is why I am not naming it, shhhh.) I couldn't think of a single other place this could go, so when The Sun stepped up I was thrilled. It's an incredible magazine, if you've never seen it, and it's pretty widely distributed. Just go to the sad little dark nook of the literary magazine area in Barnes and Noble. Right there, behind "Car and Driver."
I don't know if it's out yet, officially--but I will let you know when I see it in the bookstores and/or when it's up on their site.
Well! We've got a Momversation backlog, kids, so let's see what we've been up to over at that site, shall we? If you hate these, you may now turn away in disgust. And I know that the word "Momversation" rubs some of you the wrong way, but I swear we don't use the term all that much in the actual videos. It would be great if we did, though. "In today's Momversation, I want to Momverse with you, because I've Momserved that Moms today are BLAM." That ending was me slamming my head in a door.
Here's the video we did on depression. It felt really good to be talking about depression from the other side, and I've received many emails on this one. Depression is, clearly, a complex topic, and we couldn't really explore all the facets of it in one fiveish-minute video, but I think this was a good jumping off point for further discussion:
On a much lighter note, here's a look at our pets. Our doggies and kitties! And more!
First of all, I am wearing my workout clothes in this one, and I have crazy hair. I am getting a little too comfortable taping these things. Secondly, Charlie the Dog is terrified of the teeny video camera, for some reason, and he usually vamooses the minute I set the thing up, so I was holding onto him as firmly as possible during this and he was trembling all over and releasing every bit of fur he could part with onto my lap. It was a little sad. I'm amazed that he wasn't hairless by the time I was through with him.
And finally, my cat, I KNOW. She is enormous. What can I say? I'd tell you she's just a big-boned girl, but she actually seems to be kind of delicate in stature--at least, as far as I can tell from the parts sticking out of her gigantic midsection.
Reader Comments (47)
And fat cats are therapuetic.
And my writing process is to spend so much time with my kids that my fingernails ache but they provide acres of material and then I'm excited to sit down with the old inanimate computer, for a change of pace.
You see my heartache is a completely different one, but I feel everything you say so lucidly- can you feel a dream? It seems like I'm dreaming when I read what you said, because it isn't possible that anyone could have traveled down that road, the second road of self doubts and condemnation and lived to tell about it. I don't know what keeps you alive, but if you do, please tell me. I read you once a week. I will be waiting.
I've got a piece coming out in The Sun in March and am ever so thrilled about it. Reading your essay led me to want to read more by you, so I Googled you and found your blog. I'll be back. Your writing is wonderful.
I too was momentarily stunned and panicked when I couldn't remember the due dates for the two babies that I lost (hate that verb too but what else to use?). I made a small shrine for them and included their due dates so I would never forget again.
Thanks for writing.
I had a cat growing up who had a teeny head, teeny paws, and GINORMOUS middle. She was trying to clean herself once and rolled down the stairs. For some reason, no member of my family was particularly fond of this cat (she was kind of a smelly, useless cat) but everyone who came to our house LOVED her. And no one took us seriously when we tried to give her away. I liked the mean cat you had to bribe for attention. Might say something about my taste in men as well :)
I've read your blog before but as a non-mom haven't commented. After the depression momversation, its time. Thanks to you and Heather and the others for your openness and courage. I think that there is so much to be said for people like both of you, like me being honest about suffering from Depression. I can't count how many times people have told me "no, really, you? but you smile, you can't be depressed."
I wanted to thank you for what you said about Depression being markedly different from sadness. I've known that but wasn't able to put it to words. Such a simple and useful construct. Thank you.
You're a wonderful writer and seem to be a really lovely person. I am grateful for the way you so generously share yourself with strangers -- like me.