The Motherhood Muse

Blog Tour Winners

2010-05-04T15:32:00.003-04:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in our first blog tour! Blog hostesses and winners of the blog tour have now been sent the first two digital issues of The Motherhood Muse Literary Magazine. If you have not received an email with the links to the first two issues please email me.

Thanks!
Kim

editor{at}themotherhoodmuse{dot}com

A Natural Scavenger Hunt

2010-05-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

Today we have a guest post by Karrie McAllister of dirt don't hurt!

A natural scavenger hunt
by Karrie McAllister

With the weather warming nicely and most of us still enjoying our spring fever, I thought nothing would be more fun than a challenge.

Here are your instructions. Put on shoes, appropriate outerwear, and step out your back door. Your goal is to find as many of the following as possible: a dandelion, a heron, an otter, an acorn, a fern, a buttercup, and a willow tree.

Depending on your proximity to weeds and water, you should be able to find at least a few of these. (I think even the best chemically controlled yard will sprout a dandelion now and then.) When you do find them, look twice at what you’ve actually found. A weed, as it’s been said, is simply a flower out of place. From the smallest acorn grows the strongest oak. The graceful gangliness of a Great Blue Heron is unmatched, but surely the entertainer of the year goes to the otter as they manage whiskered somersaults through the water. And anyone who has ever had the great pleasure of drinking lemonade under the shade of a willow branch is a lucky person in my book.

Tally your score and then drive to your local library. Remove your potentially muddy shoes, and straight away ask the librarian for the latest version of the Oxford Junior Dictionary, the one most commonly used in elementary schools across the country and so vibrantly colored and attractive to our youth.

Once you’ve got it, go on another scavenger hunt for those things again. See if you can find out about the biology of an acorn or find even a picture of the heron’s gangly legs.

I’ll save you time; you won’t find them. Nor will you find beaver, doe, newt, minnow, starling, wren, lavender, fungus, beech, or pasture.

They’ve been taken out of the dictionary. There wasn’t enough room for other new important words for them to include. So instead of vine and canary you’ll find BlackBerry (the phone), blog, mp3, voicemail, chatroom, broadband, and “cut and paste.”

This news hit the nature circuit a while back, but is rather new to me, and as someone who prides herself on muddy shoes and poison ivy, I find it rather appalling. Nature as I know it, as my parents and my grandparents know it, is disappearing not only in real life but also on paper.

Gone are the days when kids fell out of trees and came home with pet frogs. Insect bites and sunshine have become seriously dangerous things that we basically medicate ourselves and our children for before we send anyone out the door. Kids have gotten so far away from just going outside to play that many don’t even know how to do it without toting along a Nintendo DS.

The exception to this, I’m proud to say, is my son who worked for two summers straight using plastic yard tools to dig out a rotten stump. At ages 4 and 5, he worked tirelessly to remove a giant stump until one day last autumn, he finally pulled it out. We all cheered—even the neighbors congratulated him. Then we asked what he’s going to do now, and he simply shrugged, picked up his shovel, and started digging.

“Maybe a pond,” he said. “We could get some frogs.”

He is an oddity, but one that I need to nurture, which is why I bought him a real shovel and a kid’s backyard nature guide.

After hearing about the latest edition of the dictionary, I know now that it’s become not only my right, but my job as a parent to introduce my kids to the wonders of nature. And I suggest that any other parent (or grandparent) who shares similar wonderful memories of building forts in trees, riding bikes until the street lights came on, and scraped their legs to shreds while picking blackberries, do the same.

And by blackberries, I of course mean the juicy kind that stains your face and hands purple, not the kind with buttons and numbers that you’ll find if you look it up.

Read more and contact Karrie at her blog, “dirt don’t hurt.” www.KarrieMcAllister.com.

The Future of The Motherhood Muse

2010-04-30T04:00:00.001-04:00

A big thank you to everyone who has participated in our first ever blog tour! Thank you to the column writers for contributing with their interviews. Thank you to each blog hostess for supporting The Motherhood Muse by hosting us on your blog. And thank you to all the readers of the blog tour. Blog hostesses and winners will receive their free 2010 digital issues at the conclusion of the blog tour.

And now... We are excited for our first writing contest (the deadline is tomorrow at midnight EST)! Our third issue is in the works and will be published digitally in July! And our first children's poetry contest (deadline June 1st) is approaching. So many fun firsts!

On a personal note, I am having a blast publishing and editing The Motherhood Muse Literary Magazine. I have so many submissions to read through, each one touches my heart and makes me eager to share it with the world, well all of the subscribers of the magazine thus far.

But this brings me to another note, subscriptions. Thank you to every one who has subscribed to the magazine! Your efforts to support The Motherhood Muse community means a lot to me. In order to keep the magazine going in 2011, however, I still need to get at least 190 more subscribers! While that number may seem small, in the newness of the digital world of literature, it is a lot. So please tell your friends, families, coworkers, writers groups, strangers :) all about The Motherhood Muse! Gift subscriptions are easy to do as you just enter in the gift recipient's email address during the checkout process.

I am anticipating each future issue theme as each one is unique and will hopefully inspire writers to push their writing outside of the box. Please consider submitting your writing to our magazine for publication!

Thank you again everyone for a fun and successful blog tour!
Kim Zook

Going Green: A Digital World of Literature

2010-04-15T05:00:00.000-04:00

The Motherhood Muse literary magazine is celebrating the publication of its second issue by going on a blog tour during the month of April. Bloggers who host The Motherhood Muse will receive a free subscription to the 2010 issues as well as one free subscription to give away to one random winner who comments on their blog the day of The Motherhood Muse post. We hope everyone will enjoy both the post and magazine! The Motherhood Muse blog tour schedule can be found at www.themotherhoodmuse.com and themotherhoodmuse.blogspot.com .

Going Green: A Digital World of Literature

Our children are growing up reading more online than we ever did at their age. From instant messaging to Facebook updates to blogging to texting, generations younger than us are comfortable with reading digital material in a way that we may never feel. Email didn’t come to my generation until we were of college age. Just as my eyes started to grow accustomed to reading text on my computer it seemed like the world jump started into a digital format. Now as magazines and newspapers are closing their doors, many publications are turning towards becoming digital.

Being digital isn’t just about surviving in today’s market. It is about launching into a future that is making tomorrow a greener world for our children. It is about enhancing the way information is presented and received. It is about connecting a community of people on an international scale.

The digital world of literature includes websites, blogs, Zines sent electronically, Kindle, Nook & Zinio subscriptions and in digital magazines such as The Motherhood Muse. Given these various formats for sharing literature in today’s world, The Motherhood Muse has chosen the digital magazine format with ePaperflip to publish literature on motherhood, nature and child. Due to the newness of digital literature, the following questions often arise:

“Why create a digital magazine instead of simply putting the literature on a website and updating it frequently?”

We believe the integration of literature with artwork helps to create an overall design to tell a story. Nature is best experienced with all of our senses. We are able to engage a reader’s senses in our magazine with the use of artwork complimenting the literature in the design of the magazine. A second advantage to creating a digital magazine is the load time is minimal compared to waiting for a PDF file to upload onto the computer screen!

“Are paper copies still an option?”

The fantastic option with digital magazines is the reader can pick and choose which pages to print. In so doing, the reader may create customized magazine that matches personal interests. By being a digital-only magazine we can create text and images that aren’t hindered by the print production process.

“What exactly can a digital magazine do?”
A digital magazine is interactive. In each issue of The Motherhood Muse we provide numerous links to author’s websites and blogs, writing opportunities, nature activities in your local area, books on motherhood, nature, writing and more. By being online we’re able to reach international audiences and connect everyone on an immediate, global scale.

We are thrilled to be able to publish an eco-friendly magazine that helps link readers to resources as well as join readers on a global scale. Of course it would be great to flip through a glossy paper version of The Motherhood Muse in a wood paneled library or in a chair of a local coffee shop. But being digital means making tomorrow a greener world for our children and that’s the mission of The Motherhood Muse!

Thank you for reading this post today. Please leave a comment here and the blog hostess will choose one person to receive a free subscription to the 2010 issues! We hope you’ll also sign up for our free e-newsletter, so you can receive the first issue of the magazine free! Stop by www.themotherhoodmuse.com for more information!

Nature and Child Reunion

2010-04-11T11:41:00.002-04:00

We are excited to continue on our blog tour tomorrow! We'll be stopping by The Beautification Project to talk about the first part of three in a series on Nature and Child Reunion! Please stop by for a chance to win a free subscription to the 2010 issues of The Motherhood Muse literary magazine!

A Day in the Life of...

2010-04-07T20:18:00.000-04:00

The Motherhood Muse literary magazine was created by Kimberly Zook, a writer-editor-SAHM. Grateful for the opportunity to connect with other parents and writers, Kimberly shares with us today a look into a typical day of hers to show us how much The Motherhood Muse means to her.

Please leave a comment at the end of this post for a chance to win a free subscription to The Motherhood Muse literary magazine! It’s digital, green, and features fantastic writing on motherhood, nature, children and more.

A Day in the Life of a Writer-Editor-Stay-at-Home-Mom

Since adding the title “editor” to my every growing job description of SAHM, military wife, writer, naturalist, artist, teacher, and life-long learner, I often get asked the same question: “How do you do it? How do you manage to publish The Motherhood Muse literary magazine?”

It’s definitely not accomplished by the stroke of midnight. I pluck away at it during nap time (if I am lucky enough for one to occur) and at night (while my husband watches a movie downstairs all by himself). But I don’t do it alone. My column writers and editor assistant/short story writer are the heart of this magazine. The only answer I have for this question is “A little at a time.”

Here’s my “a little at a time” in a day:

At 5:18a.m. my 10-month-old daughter Grace ‘awakes’ after waking up every 1-2 hours during the night, wanting to nurse as she is cutting her 4^th tooth. My husband brings her to our bed before heading off to work and I cuddle with my daughter, reading books and singing songs, until 6:10a.m. when my almost three-year-old daughter Ayla wakes up, shouting “Mama, Wake UP Mama, WAKE UPPPPP!”

We stumble through diaper changes, but Ayla’s shrieks and loud “AHHHHHs” to keep her pajamas on win me over. I look over at Grace to find her chewing on Ayla’s slinky. Ayla insists I carry all three of her blankets, her two pillows, and Shark and Puppy downstairs with us. We pad down the stairs to our kitchen, where I welcome the rising sun through our windows as Ayla starts to spin and twirl. All 22 pounds of my baby swings around in my arms as Grace lunges for every food item I hold as I prepare breakfast.

By 7:00 a.m. Ayla is desperate to watch Veggie Tales or Beauty and the Beast. Grace is content to delve into the toy bin while I pull out my laptop to check my email. First the personal one and then the five accounts I have for The Motherhood Muse. I get excited about the two new submissions in my Inbox, but Grace ambles over to the stairs and begins the ascent so I quickly close my laptop to follow her up the steps.

“Hairplane Mama!” Ayla shouts around 7:30, getting up from the couch to run upstairs to our family room. By the time I turn off the movie, wipe down the drool-soaked toys and help Grace walk up the stairs for the fifth time, Ayla has turned our family room couch inside out with cushions and pillows on the floor. She has piled her bedding into the “airplane” and is navigating it through the sky. Grace growls with a big grin, bouncing up and down to join in on the fun.

I love airplane. Ayla is content to pretend play as a pilot for an hour. By 8:30 Ayla is ready for a snack and Grace is ready for a nap. After a snack of Shrek string cheese and Trader Joe’s freeze dried blueberries, Ayla plays KidZui on my laptop while I put Grace down for her nap. I pop upstairs to my bedroom/office to get dressed and jump on my computer. I open the latest working copy of issue #3, due out in July, and work on the first essay I have put in the layout: adjusting columns to make room for images and creating the artwork in Photoshop. After about 20 minutes, however, my mind begins to feel guilty about leaving Ayla alone, so I go downstairs only to find her immersed in counting with Dora (one of the many games she loves to play on KidZui).

I sneak a chocolate Easter egg from the kitchen before reassembling the couch in the family room. Ayla hears me and bolts up the stairs, skipping into the family room singing “Shake it Baby, Shake it!” It’s 9:30 and Grace wakes up.

“Ayla!” I say, “Let’s go to Barnes and Noble. We’ll get you a steamed soy milk, and I’ll look at books.”

“No! Stay HOME!” she shouts.

I spend the next 40 minutes wrestling the girls into clothes. Before we leave I have to sit down as my vertigo hits me. It’s like a small earthquake inside my head and less than a minute later it stops.

The rest of the morning flies by as I sit on the floor of the bookstore, reading Star Wars books to Ayla (her choosing) while Grace giggles and claps from the stroller. We return home before noon for a lunch consisting of Beefaroni and cucumber (for Ayla), baby food beef (for Grace), and leftover rice and beans with guacamole for me. For ten minutes after lunch I throw a small multi-colored parachute over my daughers’ heads, laughing at their complete giddy enrapture of the flying colors, before we head upstairs for nap time! My favorite time. My time to work.

Both girls are in their rooms (Grace sleeping, Ayla reading books) for one hour. It’s a good day. Most days I only get 20-40 minutes of work time. I settle into my chair and type away on the computer.

First, I open Issue #3 and determine what artwork I need to create for the next essay. I scan images on iStockphoto and download one. Using Photoshop I manipulate it slightly and upload it to the issue. I hear a short cry and get up to check on the girls in the video monitor. Grace is stirring. Ayla is singing with her head down on her bed and her bum up in the air.

I return to my computer. I check my main work email and reply to two inquiries regarding the blog tour before searching for advertisers. I find eight possible organizations or companies who might consider advertising in the magazine and send them all an email. It’s 1:30p.m. and Grace wakes up crying.

I sigh, sad to leave my computer just as I’m getting into my work, but anxious to see my two girls. Grace’s room reeks of a messy diaper, which I change as Ayla starts shouting “Open the door Mama!” from under her bedroom door. As I approach Ayla’s door I am hit with yet another cloud of poopy-smell. I open the door cautiously to find Ayla on the floor, smearing a poopy diaper on the hardwood floor.

“Ayla, I just cleaned the floor. That’s a no-no. I’ve told you this before.” The next 30 minutes consists of scrubbing the floor, bathing Ayla, and dressing Ayla. This is followed by vitamins and a snack (for Ayla) and more chocolate (for me).

By 3:00 we are heading out the door for the playground. I write in my head as I dig in the sandbox with my daughters. I rewrite as I push them on the swings. And I plot out a chapter of the story I’m working on as I sit on the grass with Grace while Ayla runs around kicking a ball. Most of these writing ideas that take place in my head are forgotten by the time I pick up a pen and paper, but it’s practice nevertheless.

We’re home by 4:45 after stopping by McDonald’s to get chicken nuggets for Ayla and an iced coffee for me. I start preparing dinner while Ayla jumps on her trampoline in the family room and Grace sits in the highchair eating puffs. My husband calls around 5:30 saying he has to work late, so I turn the oven down and join Ayla in the family room. We dance to Miley Cyrus, play with her dollhouse, show Grace how to brush a doll’s hair, and read more books.

It’s 6:15 when my husband arrives home, taking Grace from my arms and kisses us all. I put dinner on the table and by 6:50 we start the girls’ bath. Ayla and Grace reach out for one another and scrub each other’s tummy. Love washes over me as I watch them. After my husband is done bathing them I nurse Grace and put her to bed as my husband reads books and sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Ayla.

It’s 7:30 p.m. and my time to work has finally begun! I settle into my chair and pull up an essay I’ve been writing. It’s a stream of consciousness draft and I read through it. I continue where I left off and write for 30 minutes. Then I open my email and read the two submissions I received earlier in the day. I like both but need time to think about them before writing back to the authors. From 9 to 10 I work on the layout for Issue #3: inserting more text from essays, poems, and short stories – trying to make them all fit on the page without too much empty space leftover. I pull up the author’s bios and copy them into the layout.

At 10:00 p.m. my husband comes upstairs, asks me how my works is coming along and I close out the computer. My husband is one of the lucky ones who can fall asleep in less than five minutes. I lay in bed, however, thinking about the young adult novel I am writing – imaging the lives of the two main characters – for 40 minutes. Just as I begin to drift off to sleep I hear Grace crying on the baby monitor. I roll out of bed and go to her room to nurse her. The night has just begun.

Blog Tour Schedule

2010-04-03T08:56:00.010-04:00

Several outstanding, original blogs have offered to host us during the month of April, so The Motherhood Muse is going on tour!

Each weekday of April we will be blogging on a different topic on various blogs. Please see our blog tour schedule below to follow us! Simply click on the day and topic to visit the blog who hosts us!

Each blog hostess will choose one person at random who comments on the blog post to receive a free subscription to the 2010 issues of our magazine, so comment away! And we still have days available if you would like to host us on your blog! Please email editor{at}themotherhoodmuse{dot}com if interested!

April 1st - On Starting a Digital Magazine
April 2nd - Writing About Motherhood and Nature at EarthMama
April 5th - 101 Essentials for Mother Nature Muses at Writing the Waves of Motherhood
April 6th - A Natural Woman at The Divine Gift of Motherhood
April 7th - A Day in the Life of a Writer/Editor/SAHM
April 8th - The Ick and Awe of a Nature Journal at Writers Inspired
April 9th - Tapping into Motherhood and Nature via Poetry at The Mother Daughter Book Club

April 12th - Nature & Child Reunion: Part 1 at The Beautification Project

April 13th - Nature & Child Reunion: Part 2 at Dirt Don't Hurt

April 14th - Nature & Child Reunion: Part 3 at The Writing Mother
April 15th - Going Green: A Digital World of Literature at Reality Mom
April 16th - Mother Nature's Library at Remains of the Day
April 19th - An Interview with Andrea Lani at Blogging Mama
April 20th - An Interview with Loren Christie at Chocolate Reality
April 21st - An Interview with Catherine Lang at Zook Book Nook
April 22nd - Earth Day: What's Your Footprint? at The International Mom's Blog
April 23rd - An Interview with Jodi Hiland at Dude, Where Am I?
April 26th - An Interview with Andrea Halpin-White at Write the Journey
April 27th - An Interview with Mary Jo Campbell at Life On Its Own Terms
April 28th - Tweets and Stumbles in Mother Nature at Motherlogue
April 29th - A Challenge to Change the World at Scribbly Katia
April 30th - The Future of The Motherhood Muse

The Motherhood Muse Blog Tour

2010-04-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

The Motherhood Muse literary magazine is celebrating the publication of its second issue by going on a blog tour during the month of April. Bloggers who host The Motherhood Muse will receive a free subscription to the 2010 issues as well as one free subscription to give away to one random winner who comments on their blog the day of The Motherhood Muse post. We hope everyone will enjoy both the post and magazine! The Motherhood Muse blog tour schedule can be found at www.themotherhoodmuse.com and themotherhoodmuse.blogspot.com . Please visit Earth Mama for tomorrow's post on Writing about Motherhood and Nature!

On Starting a Digital Magazine

Blogging is fantastic way to share stories online. After blogging for over a year at Zook Book Nook, I realized my biggest thrill as a blogger was reading blogs written by others who truly moved me with their voice, ideas, interpretations of the world around them and more. When my second daughter was only six weeks old, I found myself wanting to read what other mothers had to say about nature, because I spent most of my days indoors with a 22 month old and a newborn despite it being the month of June. Thus, I decided to create an online compilation of writings by women (and men) in the form of a digital magazine, called The Motherhood Muse!

Starting a magazine has been easier than I thought it would be. So easy, that I write this post for those interested in creating a digital magazine of their own! Here are the steps I have taken to get my magazine off the ground and running:

1. Find a niche. This is the most important step, because your magazine needs to do two things: fit your passion, knowledge, and experience as well as fill a hole in the literary world. I asked myself: What do I have the most expertise in and what is missing in today’s market of magazine? The answer to my question was creative writing on motherhood and nature.

2. Know the competition. Before I created The Motherhood Muse I already read and subscribed to a few magazines that publish creative writing on motherhood or nature. I studied these magazines for their layout designs, content, marketing tactics, readership, and more. So when I began to create the first issue of my magazine I wasn’t reinventing the wheel, yet I also strived to create something original.

3. Decide on a name. Before developing a website, blog, and magazine, it is crucial to choose the right name for it all. A name that summarizes exactly what your “stuff” is all about. For me, motherhood relates to Mother Nature and mothers and muse is all about writing and inspiration. But before you take the name you come up with and run with it, make sure it isn’t already in use!

4. Create a website. Before the magazine and blog, I first created the website using the host Fat Cow and a background design by The Cutest Blog on the Block. The design runs on Joomla, which I had to teach myself how to use. I am a novice in web design, but the Joomla tutorials have made it easy to learn the basics of setting up a website that includes a shop and more.

5. Next came the blog. Even if the blog is basic, it is best to get it established in the beginning, so readers can begin to follow it. I am still in the early stages of developing The Motherhood Muse blog as I don’t put much time into it yet, but it is there to give the community of reader s and writers a source of more information.

6. Scheduling the release of the first issue. I gave myself six months to create the first issue of the magazine. This gave me enough time to find column writers and begin the advertising/marketing side of things.

7. Finding writers. Fortunately I found writers online who I knew from blogging. I was familiar with their style of writing, and asked a variety of writers to write for The Motherhood Muse that matches their blog style. I also began seeking contributors by posting information in various places online: SCBWI, Verla Kay, Editor Unleashed, Writer’s Digest, Poets & Writers, etc.

8. Advertising and Marketing. I designed a logo using Photoshop, created postcards with Overnight Prints and Vista Print, and created an advertising button to post on blogs and websites. The postcards were sent to women, authors, mothers, writing centers, nature centers, etc across the world in the hope that I’d gain subscribers and contributors.

9. Creating the first issue. Finally I was ready to begin designing the first issue of the magazine! The fun began with choosing a theme for the first issue that would resonate with many people (metamorphosis), designing the layout, asking different authors permission to reprint their essays in the first issue, and creating the artwork to accompany the writing. I found many images on iStockphoto and used Adobe Photoshop to alter and/or create images. I created the issue in Word and then converted it into a PDF.

10. Becoming digital. Once I had the final PDF file I submitted it to ePaperflip. This group then converted it into a digital magazine and gave me the URL link to view the digital magazine online. It’s amazing to have a magazine online where the pages actually flip, each page can be magnified to the highest degree, any text or images I choose can be clicked on to link the reader to another website, and it’s all green! No paper is wasted. No ink is utilized. And it never gets lost as it can be bookmarked on your computer.

The Motherhood Muse literary magazine is one of several new digital magazines, but it is the only digital magazine featuring creative essays, short stories, poetry, columns, artwork and more on the theme of motherhood and nature. But there are many more literary niches that need to be filled, especially digitally, so I hope you’ll consider giving it a shot and creating a magazine of your own one day. If you have any personal questions about the details of starting a digital magazine, please feel free to email me at editor(at)themotherhoodmuse(dot)com. Thank you! I look forward to reading your comments!

Thank you for reading this post today. Please leave a comment here and we will choose one person to receive a free subscription to the 2010 issues! Stop by www.themotherhoodmuse.com for more information!

Please visit http://earthmama101.blogspot.com/ tomorrow for the next step in our blog tour!

The Motherhood Muse Blog Tour

2010-03-13T21:42:00.005-05:00

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

The Motherhood Muse literary magazine is going on its first ever blog tour to celebrate the brilliant, original writing of its authors on motherhood and nature! And of course we are also celebrating Earth Day as we embark on this tour during April.

If you are interested in hosting us on your blog or website during April please send an email to me, Kim, at editor {at} themotherhoodmuse {dot} com. Each blog who hosts us will receive a free subscription to the four 2010 issues of the magazine as well as one free subscription to the 2010 issues to give away on your own blog to a person who comments on the post. Each blog host will also receive credit in our Summer 2010 issue with a direct URL link to your blog.

Below is our blog tour schedule with already written posts to make it easier for you! But we are also open to being interviewed with your own questions if you prefer to do it that way.

So please check out the schedule and email us if you are interested in a particular day and topic!

April 1st - On Starting a Digital Magazine
April 2nd - Writing About Motherhood and Nature
April 5th - 101 Essentials for Mother Nature Muses
April 6th - A Natural Woman
April 7th - A Day in the Life of a Writer/Editor/SAHM
April 8th - The Ick and Awe of a Nature Journal
April 9th - Tapping into Motherhood and Nature via Poetry
April 12th - Nature & Child Reunion: Part 1
April 13th - Nature & Child Reunion: Part 2
April 14th - Nature & Child Reunion: Part 3
April 15th - Going Green: A Digital World of Literature
April 16th - Mother Nature's Library
April 19th - An Interview with Andrea Lani
April 20th - An Interview with Loren Christie
April 21st - An Interview with Catherine Lang
April 22nd - Earth Day: What's Your Footprint?
April 23rd - An Interview with Jodi Hiland
April 26th - An Interview with Andrea Halpin-White
April 27th - An Interview with Mary Jo Campbell
April 28th - Tweets and Stumbles in Mother Nature
April 29th - A Challenge to Change the World
April 30th - The Future of The Motherhood Muse

Please check back here by the first of April to see an updated list of where we will be stopping on our blog tour!

Blogsplash: Thaw by Fiona Robyn

2010-03-01T04:00:00.001-05:00

Ruth's diary is the new novel by Fiona Robyn, called Thaw. She has decided to blog the novel in its entirety over the next few months, so you can read it for free.

Ruth's first entry is below, and you can continue reading tomorrow at http://read-thaw.blogspot.com.

These hands are ninety-three years old. They belong to Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. She was so frail that her grand-daughter had to carry her onto the set to take this photo. It's a close-up. Her emaciated arms emerge from the top corners of the photo and the background is black, maybe velvet, as if we're being protected from seeing the strings. One wrist rests on the other, and her fingers hang loose, close together, a pair of folded wings. And you can see her insides.

The bones of her knuckles bulge out of the skin, which sags like plastic that has melted in the sun and is dripping off her, wrinkling and folding. Her veins look as though they're stuck to the outside of her hands. They're a colour that's difficult to describe: blue, but also silver, green; her blood runs through them, close to the surface. The book says she died shortly after they took this picture. Did she even get to see it? Maybe it was the last beautiful thing she left in the world.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to carry on living. I'm giving myself three months of this journal to decide. You might think that sounds melodramatic, but I don't think I'm alone in wondering whether it's all worth it. I've seen the look in people's eyes. Stiff suits travelling to work, morning after morning, on the cramped and humid tube. Tarted-up girls and gangs of boys reeking of aftershave, reeling on the pavements on a Friday night, trying to mop up the dreariness of their week with one desperate, fake-happy night. I've heard the weary grief in my dad's voice.

So where do I start with all this? What do you want to know about me? I'm Ruth White, thirty-two years old, going on a hundred. I live alone with no boyfriend and no cat in a tiny flat in central London. In fact, I had a non-relationship with a man at work, Dan, for seven years. I'm sitting in my bedroom-cum-living room right now, looking up every so often at the thin rain slanting across a flat grey sky. I work in a city hospital lab as a microbiologist. My dad is an accountant and lives with his sensible second wife Julie, in a sensible second home. Mother finished dying when I was fourteen, three years after her first diagnosis. What else? What else is there?

Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. I looked at her hands for twelve minutes. It was odd describing what I was seeing in words. Usually the picture just sits inside my head and I swish it around like tasting wine. I have huge books all over my flat - books you have to take in both hands to lift. I've had the photo habit for years. Mother bought me my first book, black and white landscapes by Ansel Adams. When she got really ill, I used to take it to bed with me and look at it for hours, concentrating on the huge trees, the still water, the never-ending skies. I suppose it helped me think about something other than what was happening. I learned to focus on one photo at a time rather than flicking from scene to scene in search of something to hold me. If I concentrate, then everything stands still. Although I use them to escape the world, I also think they bring me closer to it. I've still got that book. When I take it out, I handle the pages as though they might flake into dust.

Mother used to write a journal. When I was small, I sat by her bed in the early mornings on a hard chair and looked at her face as her pen spat out sentences in short bursts. I imagined what she might have been writing about - princesses dressed in star-patterned silk, talking horses, adventures with pirates. More likely she was writing about what she was going to cook for dinner and how irritating Dad's snoring was.

I've always wanted to write my own journal, and this is my chance. Maybe my last chance. The idea is that every night for three months, I'll take one of these heavy sheets of pure white paper, rough under my fingertips, and fill it up on both sides. If my suicide note is nearly a hundred pages long, then no-one can accuse me of not thinking it through. No-one can say, 'It makes no sense; she was a polite, cheerful girl, had everything to live for,' before adding that I did keep myself to myself. It'll all be here. I'm using a silver fountain pen with purple ink. A bit flamboyant for me, I know. I need these idiosyncratic rituals; they hold things in place. Like the way I make tea, squeezing the tea-bag three times, the exact amount of milk, seven stirs. My writing is small and neat; I'm striping the paper. I'm near the bottom of the page now. Only ninety-one more days to go before I'm allowed to make my decision. That's it for today. It's begun.

Continue reading at http://read-thaw.blogspot.com.

Fiona Robyn

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www.fionarobyn.com

www.plantingwords.com

Get Unreal

2010-02-10T12:31:00.001-05:00

Get Unreal: A Writing Exercise

By Hal Zina Bennett

Legend has it that Picasso once got into a discussion with a neighbor who looked at his paintings and told the artist that while his colors were nice and the picture was very pleasant, he should try making them a bit more realistic. Otherwise, he advised, nobody would know what Picasso’s paintings were supposed to be about. The artist, exercising a rare amount of patience, nodded thoughtfully and asked his neighbor if he had an example of what he meant by realistic.

“Ah, yes, I do!” The neighbor quickly reached into his pocket, brought out his wallet, and handed over a photo of his wife for Picasso to see. “Now that’s what I call realistic,” he proclaimed.

Picasso took the photo in his hand, turned it this way and that, studied it from every angle, then handed it back to its owner. “She’s awfully small and flat,” he said.

In writing as with painting, there’s an ongoing dialogue about what’s real. Is the author’s description of the house realistic? Is the communication between characters true to life? Is the story credible — could it happen in real life? Is the motivation of a character psychologically plausible? Is this or that action physically possible?

Sooner or later writers come to the full realization that the reality depicted on the page or on the canvas of the painter has its own reality and is not a copy of life. The ultimate question we need to ask ourselves is, Does it work as a story and on its own terms?

Consider Franz Kafka’s short story The Metamorphosis, about a man who turns into a bug. It couldn’t happen in real life but within the framework of the story it is convincing. Nor does that author try to convince us that it’s possible for humans to turn into bugs. However, he creates a reality on the page that causes us to identify with the poor victim, so much so that our skin crawls. We suffer with Kafka’s character, with his bewilderment, and then with his abject horror at what’s happening to him.

How does Kafka draw us into this reality? As readers we must, of course, be willing to go along with what the author creates. It’s that willing suspension of disbelief thing all over again. In this particular story, Kafka accomplishes this with the first sentence: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” The author never attempts to explain how this happened or to justify its feasibility. Instead, he focuses our attention on what Gregor is experiencing. He describes, well, nothing more or less than what any normal person would experience if he woke up one morning to find he had become a giant insect!

At first Gregor’s reactions are very human: he notes the size and number of his insect legs, then a framed photo on his wall, then the alarm clock that reminds him, with horror, that he’s late for work. Many of his responses are downright mundane, which oddly enough makes us believe the story even more. For example, he looks out the window and sees that the sky is overcast and it “made him quite melancholy.” He also struggles to make the horrible reality of his metamorphosis go away, “shutting his eyes to keep from seeing his struggling legs.”

As time goes on and Gregor becomes increasingly bug-like, he discovers that his feet have a kind of stickiness that gives him traction with the floor, that his efforts to speak only produce strange, undecipherable sounds, and that his appearance horrifies his parents and his beloved sister. Through trial and error, and her own loving kindness, his sister discovers that in his present manifestation as a bug he likes rotting foods and notes that he seems repelled by fresher foods. In fact, he drags the decomposing food away from the fresh so that he can better savor his consumption of them.

The ludicrousness of this story is made believable through the author’s ability to describe the very human reactions of his protagonist. While we might not believe it possible for Homo sapiens to turn into bugs, we can imagine the experience of being rendered helpless, imprisoned by our own bodies, and alienated from our loved ones. In the end, that’s the message we go away with, made possible by creating a reality that could exist only in fiction but that is nevertheless meaningful and purposeful, reminding us of the limits of our own mortality.

Using literary devices such as Kafka does in Metamorphosis, write a few paragraphs, or even a short story, about what it might be like to wake up one morning to find that you are living in a world and perhaps a body very different from your own. Create a reality that could exist only on paper, yet that is credible in whatever terms you set up. This could be anything from being an animal in the wild to being an inanimate object. Maybe it’s a reality existing on a different planet, or in a parallel universe, or in an imagined world that nobody has ever heard of. The experience of the characters you create could be horrifying or wonderful, pleasing and filled with discovery and insight, or as limiting and dreadful as turning into a bug. But the bottom line is that this is a reality completely of your own making — and certainly not “small and flat” like the photo of Picasso’s neighbor.

Author and editor Hal Zina Bennett has published more than thirty books, including Write from the Heart, Zuni Fetishes, Follow Your Bliss, and Spirit Guides. A workshop leader, writing coach, and book doctor, he has helped over two hundred authors and publishers develop successful books, including several bestsellers. He lives in Northern California and his website is www.halzinabennett.com.

From the book Write Starts. Copyright Ó 2010 by Hal Zina Bennett Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com or 800/972-6657 ext. 52.

A Lesson from Henry

2010-01-28T04:00:00.001-05:00

A lesson from Henry

By Karrie McAllister

“What would Henry do?” is something I often ask my kids, although lately not so often because they’ve finally caught on to the beauty of their own feet.

A children’s book by D.B. Johnson entitled “Henry Hike to Fitchburg” will probably be one of my most favorite books, and children’s books, for a long time. For me, no other book demonstrates the purpose of taking time and slowing down in nature as much as this book, all the while showing us that even at his slow pace, Henry achieves his goal.

His goal? Getting to Fitchburg. Henry, a caricature-ish creature of Henry David Thoreau, is challenged by his friend to see which one can get to Fitchburg the fastest. His friend works to earn money and takes the train. Henry hikes.

The book is littered with beautiful artwork and mentions a slew of transcendentalists. Beyond that you’ll just have to read it for yourself to see the simple pleasures of Henry’s hike.

In real life, I find myself always fighting to be the Henry. We are fortunate enough to live in a part of the world where we’ve got hundreds of acres available, and quite a chunk of them that our family actually owns. Available weekends, which become fewer and fewer as the children get older, are spent at the cabin in the woods where we escape from reality and step full-force into the hills.

There’s a TV there, but we don’t watch it. Instead we sit and watch the herons on the pond and crackle of a camfire.

There’s a phone, but we don’t make any calls. Instead we sit in the woods and call in the turkey or the owls in the next valley.

But there are also four-wheelers, and we do ride them. I won’t lie that at times I crave the wind in my hair and the mud on my jeans. My children, a girl at 8 and a boy at 6, like that feeling too.

“Take us for a ride!” they beg and plead until one of us takes the baby and the other parent hauls the kids up old logging roads and through fields of poison ivy.

At least once on every trip to the cabin, I tell the family that I’m going for a walk. “Why don’t you take the four-wheeler?” my husband asks.

“Nah.”

And sure enough, like lemmings, they all don their boots and grab their collection boxes constructed from old lunchmeat containers and animal stickers, and out the door we go. We walk around the pond and look for tadpoles, then down by the creek to check the beaver activity.

At least once we’ll pass a new wildflower that has us wishing we’d packed the field guide.

There are deer rubs and turkey nests and what seems like three million squirrels in the beech forest. Blackberries when the season is right, and old apple trees later in the year.

Breathing in the quiet, tasting the apples, sharing the magic that is the slow pace and the open eye.

Thanks, Henry.

Karrie McAllister writes from Small Town, Ohio late at night when the kids are asleep. Besides writing and mothering, Karrie teaches a music-and-nature program, combining her two of her greatest passions. Contact Karrie at www.KarrieMcAllister.com.

A New Magazine

2010-01-21T20:10:00.002-05:00

The first issue of The Motherhood Muse literary magazine is here! Published on January 1st and available at www.themotherhoodmuse.com . It's digital and full of creative essays, short stories, poetry and artwork all focused on the theme of Metamorphosis.

The second issue's theme is Secret Gardens and will be published on April 1st, so stay tuned!

Recipe for Outdoor Writing Fun

2009-12-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

Today we have two guests on The Motherhood Muse blog! First we hear from Cara Davies of "Write from the Start" (http://twitter.com/Writestart). Then Paige Hilfer of "Magic Lantern" shares with us a new insight into hope for our children!

Recipe for Outdoor Writing Fun By Cara Davies

This is a wonderful way to get outside and enjoy nature while having some fun writing at the same time. It is recommended for all ages!

Here’s what you need:

Comfy Clothing
Block of uninterrupted time
A good imagination
Paper – any shape, any size
All kinds of writing tools – crayons, pencils, markers

Here’s what you do:

1. Get outside – Whether you live in an urban or rural setting, nature is right outside your door. Pick a place that you would enjoy spending some time. It might be your own backyard or the park down the street.

2. Set up your writing station – Gather your materials in one spot and get comfortable.

3. Use your senses – Stop. Be still. Take in the world around you. There is no doubt that you will find many writing inspirations.

Ask yourself and your child these questions:

What do you see?
What do you hear?
What do you feel?
What do you smell?
What do you taste?

When answering these questions, use as many description words as possible.

4. Be flexible - You may only get to answer one question and then take off writing a story about the ladybug on the leaf. That’s okay. Many times all it takes is one spark to ignite the inspiration for a fabulous story.

5. Commit to doing this activity again- Before you know it you will be writing and journaling on a regular basis!

Paige of "Magic Lantern" shares with us a personal story about children and writing...

Sometimes we tend to give up if our child doesn’t immediately take to writing or if they give the all too familiar deep sigh when we pull out the journal or paper and pencil. Here’s a short story about my own experience…

I've been giving Sam, my 8 year old son, the small black journal in the Journal Writing kit to take with him every time we go camping, on a vacation, hiking, or on other short trips. For a year I've "made him" fill at least one page with writing on each trip. He could write sentences, bullet points from the trip, or just fill it with word after word that just related to the trip. It's been a laborious task for both of us for a year. But, coming home from Gunnison several weeks ago, during our 4 hour drive (yes, I forced him to pack the journal in his backpack with snacks and books for the trip), he actually came to me after the trip and said, "look what I did" - he had written 3 full pages about the trip. I didn't even make him do it this time. He just picked it up and did it! It was a whole year of consistently placing value on this activity (for me), not killing him over it, but giving a slight kick in the pants each time, to finally get him to take on that activity on his own. I think parents need to know that it may not happen the first time - especially for boys. And, that with practice, it just becomes a habit for them, just like anything.

To learn more about lighting the path to literacy, please go to Magic Lantern. (www.mymagiclantern.com) Her site offers many fantastic options for encouraging children to write and to engage in nature!

Prize Bag of Boutique Items

2009-12-02T12:57:00.003-05:00

Thank you to all of you who have signed up for The Motherhood Muse newsletter! You will all receive the first issue of the magazine free when it is published digitally in January.

I used RandomNumber.org to pick a number from the list of newsletter subscribers and J. Wilson-Pines is the winner of a bag of boutique items from The Motherhood Muse. Congratulations J. Wilson-Pines! I sent you an email asking for your mailing address.

Thanks again to everyone who has signed up. If you haven't done so yet, please do! On January 1st I will choose one more winner to receive a free one-year subscription of The Motherhood Muse literary magazine!

January Blog Tour

2009-11-25T08:51:00.002-05:00

The Motherhood Muse will be going on a blog tour in January! Each day we will be a guest on different blogs. The host bloggers and a random individual who comments each day will receive a free one-year subscription to The Motherhood Muse literary magazine.

If you are interested in hosting The Motherhood Muse on your blog during January, please send an email to editor(at)themotherhoodmuse(dot)com. We are happy to write a guest post for your blog or if you wish to interview us that works too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Following Foreign Footsteps

2009-11-23T20:00:00.003-05:00

Living in Costa Rica, Japan, and Canada for two years each gave me many insights into other cultures. One insight, however, only recently came to the surface of my mind since returning to the U.S. and having my second daughter here: motherhood crosses many barriers, obstacles, prejudices and other challenges. It is its own language, completely universal, and even recognizable in other animals, not just humans.

While living in the rainforests of Costa Rica, I learned that the women living in the particular valley where my tiny hut was located had a deep fear of the forest. Their husband, sons, or brothers would accompany them if they had to walk through the forest before dawn and after dusk. Their daughters rarely ventured out of the house, especially once they no longer attended school (many didn't go further than 8th grade).

At one time I became ill with a serious infection. Unable to get up and leave my hut to report to the local research station where I worked, I remained secluded in my home in pain. Despite their reservations of the dark forest in the early a.m. hours, the local women who came to the station to prepare coffee and breakfast noticed my absence and walked through the forest alone to my hut. They came back and forth individually, bringing me tea made from over a dozen rainforest plants and checking on me. It was as if I was a sole chick with many mother hens hovering around me. At the time I was still in the early stages of becoming fluent in Spanish, so the language barrier presented an additional challenge that didn't seem to faze the women in the slightest.

I saw this capability of overcoming fear and hurdling obstacles while living in Japan. My husband and I had only been married a short time when we decided to climb Mt. Fuji. I had climbed mountains in the U.S. and Costa Rica before this, so I was taken by surprise at the tears streaming down my face as I faced a brutal hike full of sharp jagged volcanic rock and foot deep ash along a narrow path with a steep drop off. I cried because it was too hard. I cried because I was afraid I couldn't go up nor go down. Then along came a five foot tall grandmother. Without a walking stick she passed me up the volcano and continued passing others. She appeared to be at least 70 years old. My eyes followed her footsteps for as long as I could see them, giving me the courage to continue going.

While living in Canada I became a mother for the first time. I found myself missing my own mother even more as I was at a loss what to do to calm my very colicky baby. When I dared to venture out of our house to go on the two mile nature path by our house I often felt panicky if my newborn started to cry, because I couldn't get her to stop crying. It was on this trail among the late-summer blackberry pickers that I found smiles and words of help from mothers and grandmothers. I wasn't alone, and they didn't mind the sound of a baby crying interrupting their quiet solitude. I learned from them that all sounds are welcomed and loved.

We're now residing temporarily on the east coast in the U.S., and I find myself more often at playgrounds than in forests or on mountains. But the mothers surrounding me are no different than the mothers I encountered on foreign soils. We learn from each other just as much as we learn from our children.

FreeDay - For the Bookworms

2009-11-20T04:00:00.001-05:00

The Friday idea today is for all those bookworms out there in need of a new book for the weekend! I could not put the following two books down, and I love books that are so captivating I think about them all day long when I am not reading them. So in case you are looking for a new book, perhaps you might try these:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

These two books are very different from one another, but both grabbed me from the first page. Each incorporates elements of motherhood, nature, and children in unique ways!

I am now searching for a new book to read! Any recommendations?

Our Boutique Giveaway

2009-11-18T04:00:00.001-05:00

The Motherhood Muse has a second prize giveaway coming up!! On December 1st a random person who has signed up for our e-newsletter will be chosen to win a prize bag of several items from The Motherhood Muse boutique!!

So if you haven't already done so, please sign up for our free e-newsletter. It comes out only 8 times a year, and we don't give your email address away to anyone because that is not cool.

To increase your chances of winning, you can do any of the following to have your name entered into the contest more than once:

1. Blog about the newsletter and The Motherhood Muse.
2. Provide the URL for subscribing to the newsletter on your blog.
3. Announce the newsletter and The Motherhood Muse on Facebook.
4. Tweet about it.
5. Email everyone you know about it!
6. Join our Facebook group.
7. Join our LinkedIn group.

Make a comment on this post for each item you've done and we'll enter your name into the contest that many times!

Here's the URL for subscribing to the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c24S .

Thanks! The winner will be announced on December 2nd!

Down and Dirty

2009-11-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

Our guest post today is by Stephanie who blogs at The Beautification Project and writes a feature for The Motherhood Muse literary magazine!

Small Boy squats down on the path, intrigued by something at his feet. He points to it first, like he always does; his inquisitive mind limited by his one-word vocabulary as he looks at me and asks, “DAT?” I bend down to get a look at what he sees, keeping one eye on his Big Sister, prancing several feet ahead under the dripping trees. We’ve happily taken advantage of the break in the steady rain we’ve had for days to venture out and get some fresh air.

(Let me rephrase that. With some gentle prodding on my part: “Quick! Get your shoes on! Let’s go! Now!” and some slight resistance on Big Sister’s part: “NOOOOO! I don’t WAAAAANNNT to go outside!!” and an emergency diaper change requiring the removal of all the layers I’d swaddled Small Boy in, we’d made it outside despite the sky’s threats to open once again.)

Back to Small Boy’s discovery, a small stick shivering in the ripples of a mud puddle. His little fingers reach out with a cautious aim.

“No touch,” I say out of habit. “Yucky.”

You see, I don’t particularly enjoy dirt. I’m a city girl by nurture, and though I now live in a community surrounded by mountains on one side and sea on the other, and though I love – LOVE – the smell of fresh air and the beauty of a natural setting, I don’t want any of the nature on me. And so, while I claim to know that kids are kids and they will – and should – get dirty, I don’t really want them to.

Fortunately, Small Boy chooses not to hear me and plunges his small hand into the depths of the puddle. He raises his hand in victory, the stick wrapped in his fist. He looks at me with a pure joy as the grimy water drips from his hand and he presents his treasure to me. “DAT?” he asks again.

He is so happy. As is Big Sister, skipping toward us on the path to see what he has unearthed. It is such a simple moment. One free of the burdens of plastic toys and commercialized cartoon characters, of planned activities and shuttling between errands. Free of expectations and of high standards. My baby found a stick in a puddle, and he’s happy.

It’s a moment for which it’s worth getting a little dirty.

About the Author:

Stephanie Dethlefs is a freelance writer and mom of two in the Pacific Northwest. Despite her aversion to dirt she loves the outdoors, and she and her husband plan to share with Big Sister and Small Boy the joys of camping, hiking, and a global appreciation of the natural world. A former teacher, Stephanie is the founder of the Young Writers Studio and blogs about creating a beautiful life at The Beautification Project

FreeDay - Waterlogged

2009-11-13T04:00:00.000-05:00

All this rain from hurricane season is amazing! Whether we venture out in it or stay warm and dry inside, rain can either dampen or uplift our spirits depending on how we view it.

Today's FreeDay idea is simple: Create two columns on a piece of paper. Label one column "Dampen" and the other column "Uplift." List all the ways water (rain, rivers, ponds, oceans, pools, puddles, etc) dampen and uplift your spirit. How does water affect your body and mind? What about your five senses? In what ways does rain influence your emotions?

Perhaps we'll get a bit of sunshine this weekend, but just in case it rains, hope you enjoy this FreeDay idea!

Cabin Camping

2009-11-11T04:00:00.001-05:00

Today we have a guest post by Ginny Marie of Lemon Drop Pie!

It had been a long morning of driving. Our toddler was on the brink of an “I-won’t-stay-in-my-car-seat-one-more-minute” meltdown when my husband had to hit the brakes and slow down. In the mass of towns and tourism clustered together at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we were completely stopped. There was a line of cars as far as we could see.

The cranky toddler was not our only problem. We had packed a picnic lunch, but there was nowhere to eat it, and we were starving. We drove on, slowly, hoping to find a park or even a bench somewhere to sit and eat. I finally spotted a building that said “Tourist Information” and I thought we should at least pull in and investigate.

There was a picnic bench in the parking lot, obviously meant for employees, so we decided to just go inside for a potty break and continue our search for a picnic area. Once inside, a man stopped us. “Where are you staying?” he asked. When he found out we were staying in North Carolina, he exclaimed, “You’re staying on the wrong side of the Park! There’s nothing over there!” Seeing that we had a little girl, he told us “You just have to go to the Bear Jamboree!” Apparently the buffet was fantastic, and you could eat while being entertained by big, mechanical bears up on stage, banging away on instruments and singing.

We hustled Lily, our daughter, out of the building as fast as we politely could. The bear jamboree, the traffic, and the crowds were not what we had envisioned while planning our trip. So many of the rental cabins we had seen during the planning of our vacation touted satellite TV, hot tubs, and video game rooms. A video game room? In a cabin? Definitely not what we were looking for.

When we finally made it to the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we breathed a huge sigh of relief. We had our picnic sitting at a bench in front of the visitor’s center, not even bothered by the sprinkle of rain. We drove slowly through the park to our cabin, on the quiet side of the park, in the middle of the mountains. I’ll admit right now that our cabin was not rustic. We did have a hot tub that I couldn’t enjoy because I was six months pregnant; however, my husband soaked in it every night. We did have all the conveniences of home, like a washer, dryer, and refrigerator. But we also spent the whole week enjoying the park and didn’t step foot in the commercialism of the “other side.”

We spent hours eating lunch beside rushing, rock-filled mountain streams, hiking up to tumbling waterfalls, and crossing brooks on narrow, mossy log bridges. Lily crouched down to gaze at butterflies fanning their wings at the muddy edge of a creek. She hugged tree trunks and refused to come out from behind them; she ran across grassy meadows. With her pudgy little legs pumping away she hiked trails next to us and joyfully exclaimed, “We’re climbing a mountain!”

This was the Smoky Mountains we wanted our daughter to see. This was the Smoky Mountains WE wanted to see.

In an interview for the documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Gerard Baker, a Park Superintendent, states, “We need National Parks to have people, especially our kids, understand what America is. America is not sidewalks. America is not stores. American is not video games. America is not restaurants. We need National Parks so people can go there and say, ‘Ahh, this is America.’” Our family couldn’t agree more.

Ginny Marie's bio: I live in Illinois with my husband and two daughters. Even though we live in the suburbs of Chicago, we try to take advantage of the nature available around us, such as going to Maple Syrup Days at the local forest preserve and hiking trails along the Des Plaines River. This summer, we even enjoyed the company of a red fox in our back yard. (The fox seemed just as surprised to see us as we were to see it!) I blog at Lemon Drop Pie.

Author Interview: Fiona Ingram

2009-11-09T04:00:00.002-05:00

Today we have our first guest author on The Motherhood Muse!

Welcome Fiona Ingram, who recently published the first volume of a new children's adventures series. She is on a blog tour with WOW! Women on Writing, so you can follow her on her tour to learn more about Fiona and her new book, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab.

Fiona is also giving away one free copy of her new book on our blog here today. All you need to do is post a comment on this post and a winner will be chosen at random. Please check back on our blog on Wednesday to see if you won, so we can receive your snail mail address.

Thank you Fiona for being our guest author on The Motherhood Muse today! What an exciting first volume of your new children's adventures series, Chronicles of the Stone. The Secret of the Sacred Scarab is packed with intrigue, suspense, mystery and excitement. I think your book will inspire every reader to seek adventure and develop a sense of adventure. Thank you for answering my questions today and for donating a free copy of your book to a reader of today's post!

Q: When children hear the words "travel" and "adventure" their first thoughts might be of amusement parks, landmarks, monuments or city sites. How does your book inspire its readers to see nature and foreign countries in the same light as travel and adventure?

A: Egypt is such an exotic location and the adventure in The Secret of the Sacred Scarab is so different from anything the average child experiences that it is definitely a way to transform their perceptions. They’ll be reading about two boys their own age standing in front of the Great Pyramid, riding an uncomfortable steed (a camel) across a scorching desert, coming face to face with an angry giant cobra, and experiencing such unusual cultural traditions that it will spark their imaginations. The cities they’ll visit with Justin and Adam (the heroes) will be long-dead cities and temples of incredible magnitude, still impressive even in a ruined state. The monuments won’t be modern statues—they’ll be gigantic statues of long-dead pharaohs, queens and tributes to the many Egyptian gods of days gone by.

Q: The element of an ancient scarab is just one of many images of nature that convey mystery and thrill in your book (camels, desert sands, and serpents were some of my favorites!). When writing this book, how did you approach using aspects of nature to help readers understand and relate to the story being set in Egypt?

A: I think I would never have been able to convey this element without actually being there with my two nephews and seeing and experiencing how, although Egypt is a modern country, at the same time Egypt is incredibly ancient, and its cities have roots that reach far back into the mists of time. You can step from the 21^st Century into another age, 3500 years ago, by going round a corner and into a temple still standing centuries later. Step off the tarmac and you’re … in the desert with traditional Bedouins galloping past on their camels! Have you got water and provisions? Will you survive the scorching heat? Can you see in that blinding sunlight? Watch out—is that a scorpion that just scuttled by your feet? Or maybe it was a cobra slithering away… Once Adam and Justin are kidnapped, the last links with civilization are severed and they are in the harsh desert, struggling to survive.
Talking of nature, one need only look at the pantheon of Egyptian gods, most depicted with animal heads. This also intrigues the boys.

Q: Readers of this blog are mothers and writers interested in the concept of motherhood and nature. What advice can you give us on writing about foreign cultures, countries, and landscapes to encourage children to seek adventures in nature?

A: I wanted to inspire readers who enjoy my book with the idea that “You can do it. You can go to an amazing place and have an incredible adventure.” When the boys’ aunt admonishes them and says there’ll be no adventures, just a nice safe tour, Adam says to himself in Chapter One, “Anything can happen in Egypt.” Well, more than anything did happen! Life is an adventure so live it, is my motto. The smallest of incidents in a new and unusual place can prove to be an exciting and elevating experience for a child. We have become cushioned and comfortable in a world with techno-amenities. We have forgotten how to really see/feel/touch/taste/hear the experience of life. Any new and unusual location will spark a child’s imagination. It doesn’t have to be Egypt—it can be a wilderness trail, a national park, a countryside visit, a marine excursion, an encounter with animals, a totally different environment that stimulates the senses. My two nephews were 10 and 12 when we went to Egypt and it was amazing to see them react to the things they had only read about—such as monuments, mummies (yes!), camels, vast expanses of arid desert … When they returned they were certainly different. Their experiences changed them.

Q: How has your love of travel influenced your connection with other cultures and countries from a writer's perspective?

A: I am such a globetrotter that I think my adventure series has just given me lots of excuses to pack and explore! I began travelling from an early age and I found the contact with other cultures shaped my vision of life and matured me. I began to see life differently, and to appreciate how other people live, think, and feel about life. When the idea for the series grew, I just knew setting the various adventures in unusual countries would appeal to young readers. (Hint: the jungles of the Amazon are one such destination!)

Q: In your book Justin and Adam are presented with an opportunity through the line of journalism as their aunt is a writer and traveler. What kind of doors might this open for children who read The Secret of the Sacred Scarab ?

A: Adam and Justin (like many young boys, including my nephews) are keen on adventure, and the prospects of history and archaeology. To them, digging up old things present myriad possibilities, not just dry, dusty old bits and pieces from long ago. Archaeology smacks of ancient kings, warriors, battles, heroic achievements. One can also delve back into an amazing past and re-interpret old documents and inscriptions. Egypt is an archaeologist’s dream and the amazing projects the Egyptian government is doing, including The Giza Project, (that is the whole area of the Sphinx/Plateau of Giza) will open up many possibilities for academic or archaeological research. One young lad I know is so keen on my book he is using the book’s website to do his school Egyptian project.

Q: Archeology and ancient history help tie readers to the land. How does your adventure series, Chronicles of the Stone, help inspire children to pursue archeology and ancient history in their home tome and to explore the land?

A: I stress the importance of one’s cultural heritage in the book. The boys meet an Egyptologist called Ebrahim Faza, who proves to be a good friend to them in their hour of need. He meets them at the Great Pyramid and explains to them how ancient people viewed life, their future, and their heritage. That was very important for me because we are shaped by where we have come from. Every country has a rich and exciting past, sometimes joyful, sometimes tragic, but by understanding it, we understand who we are as individuals and as a nation. Preserving treasures and artifacts from our history is of paramount importance. Think of what the Declaration of Independence means to every American. It is has shaped the identity of the USA.

Thank you Fiona for stopping by here today on your blog tour! I'm very excited for the second volume of this series to come out. Congratulations on such a successful first book of the series!

In addition to this fantastic insight from Fiona's answers to our questions, Fiona has also provided us with a wealth of information. Below you will find her bio, a synopsis of her book, sites and books to inspire both children and writers!

Author Bio: Fiona Ingram

I can't remember NOT having a book in my hand. My schoolmates called me a bookworm, and nothing's changed since then. I was brought up on the children's classics because my parents are also avid readers. My earliest story-telling talents came to the fore when, from the age of ten, I entertained my three younger brothers and their friends with serialised tales of children undertaking dangerous and exciting exploits, which they survived through courage and ingenuity. Haunted houses, vampires, and skeletons leaping out of coffins were hot favorites in the cast of characters. We also acted out the stories for my long-suffering parents! I graduated from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, with a double first in my B.A. (French & Drama). After completing my Honors in Drama at Natal, I then went to the University of the Witwatersrand to do my Masters degree in French-African literature. I also studied drama at The Drama Studio in London and mime at L’Ecole Jacques le Coq in Paris. Upon my return to South Africa, I immersed myself in teaching drama at community centres, and became involved in producing community and grassroots theatre with local playwrights and performers in Natal for several years. A move to Johannesburg took me in a new direction—that of journalism. I have written freelance for the last fifteen years on everything from serial killers to relationship advice. Writing a children’s book—The Secret of the Sacred Scarab—was an unexpected step, inspired by a recent trip to Egypt. The tale of the sacred scarab began life as a little anecdotal tale for my 2 nephews (then 10 and 12), who had accompanied me on the Egyptian trip. This short story grew into a children’s book, the first in the adventure series, Chronicles of the Stone. I'm already immersed in the next book in the series—The Search for the Stone of Excalibur—a huge treat for young King Arthur fans. Although I do not have children of my own, I have an adopted teenage foster child, from an underprivileged background who is just discovering the joys of reading for pleasure. My interests include literature, art, theatre, collecting antiques, animals, music, and films.

Book Synopsis: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab

A thrilling adventure for two young boys, whose fun trip to Egypt turns into a dangerously exciting quest to uncover an ancient and mysterious secret. A 5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. Justin and Adam embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an ancient Egyptian ruler. With just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another!

Curious to know more! Fiona has provided a list of resources for us below!

Here are a number of fascinating sites that will provide information as well as many fun activities to do with your child or pupils (teachers).

General:

www.ancientegypt.co.uk/time/explore/main.html

www.ancientegypt.co.uk/

www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt

http://history.howstuffworks.com/ancient-egypt/ancient-egypt-history.htm/printable

www.ancient-egypt.org/

Specific:

· Learn more about the pyramids www.eyelid.co.uk/pyr-temp.htm (recommended)

· Do hieroglyphics look like Greek to you? http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/projects/egypt/alphabet.html

· Ancient tombs of Egypt www.nms.ac.uk/education/egyptian/index.php (tomb adventure)

· Read an Ancient Egyptian story http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/History/Tattooed-mummy

Fiona has been kind to also include a list of books for us today!

Some interesting books on Egypt to inspire thoughts of adventure and amazing events! All available on Amazon.

Egyptology by Emily Sands

Join Emily Sands' expedition to find the lost tomb of Osiris. A jeweled amulet glows on the cover, inside the book, there are fold-out maps, postcards, drawings and photographs, ticket stubs, mummy cloth, a scrap of papyrus. (Activity book) And, don't miss the hieroglyphs writing kit from the desk of Emily Sands: Egyptology Code-Writing Kit.

Tutankhamun: The Mystery of the Boy King by Zahi Hawass

Journey back to the time of Tutankhamun with famed Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass—experience the thrilling discovery of Tut's tomb by Howard Carter, the boy king's life reconstructed (how old he was, how tall, what clothes he wore, what games he played) and most recent studies of Tut's mummy. Gorgeous photographs. (Picture book)

Secrets of the Sphinx by James Cross Giblin, Bagram Ibatoulline

Get the scoop on the Great Sphinx through the centuries, the sculpture of a lion topped with a man's head. Find out about builders of the Sphinx, rediscovery by Thutmose a thousand years later, protecting the sculpture today. Fabulous illustrations, including reconstruction of the Sphinx with a red face and blue beard. (Illustrated chapter book)

The Ancient Egypt Pop-Up Book by The British Museum and James Putnam

Ancient Egypt leaps off the page in this irresistible pop-up book—a 3-D boat on the Nile, Ramses II in his war chariot, whole pyramid complex at Giza, an Egyptian villa, Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el Bahari, Tutankhamun's funerary mask and mummified head, and Tut's tomb. (Pop-up book)

If I Were a Kid in Ancient Egypt by Cricket Books
Take a step back in time and find out how kids lived in ancient Egypt—eating with your fingers, shaved heads, family fishing trips, popular pets, board games, going to school to become a scribe, and more. (Picture book)

Fun with Hieroglyphs by Metropolitan Museum of Art, Catharine Roehrig

Find out what hieroglyphs mean and how to say them, then write like an Egyptian with 24 different rubber stamps, plus counting, hieroglyphic word puzzles, and secret messages. (Activity pack and book)

The Egyptology Handbook by Emily Sands, Ian Andrew, Nick Harris, and Helen Ward

The companion book to Egyptology, this is a good introduction to the wonders of ancient Egypt—history and dynasties, the great pyramids and tombs, food, dress, work and play, palace life and warfare, hieroglyphs, gods and religion, tales and myths, plus activities to do in each section and stickers. Beautifully illustrated with drawings and historical photographs. (Activity book)

The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin

Find out why this modest-looking black stone is the key to ancient Egypt—where the stone was found, what's inscribed, and how Champollion, having decided at age 11 that he'd read the hieroglyphics, solved the puzzle. (Chapter book, illustrations)

An ABC Escapade through Egypt by Bernadette Simpson

Discover Egypt from A to Z, especially food, animals and culture—dates (Egypt produces the most dates in the world), konafa (traditional dessert for Ramadan), watermelons (cultivated 5,000 years ago), goats, camels and jerboas, village life, city markets and more. Unique and fascinating insights. (Picture book)

FreeDay - Writing Prompts for Literary Magazine

2009-11-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

Our first volume of The Motherhood Muse literary magazine is based loosely around four themes: metamorphosis, secret gardens, vessels into nature, and maternal instincts. Below are four writing prompts, one per theme, that may help you create some new ideas for writing about motherhood and nature.

Metamorphosis: Our lives are marked by big and small changes. Changes may help us to grow or regress in many aspects of our lives. Describe an experience you've had that helped you to reach a new level (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual). How did you change?

Secret Gardens: Nature offers us a place where we can find the freedom and peace in being ourselves. Children in particular express this by letting their guard down and playing with nature in a way that they share secrets and stories with nature. What secrets are shared when a child carves his/her name into a tree trunk, skips a stone across a pond, climbs up a tree, whistles with a bird, or makes a dam in a stream with rocks?

Vessels into Nature: There are numerous ways we are carried into nature (car, bike, skis, skates, boats, flippers, shoes, etc). Books also serve as vessels that transport our minds into nature. As a woman seeking to develop a deeper relationship with nature, which vessel challenges you the most? How might you gain more by utilizing this vessel over others?

Maternal Instincts: Since becoming a mother, I've learned that we all grow into motherhood. It is a continual learning process, and often our children are our teachers. How have your children enhanced your senses? What does the term 'human nature' mean to you as a mother?

A Natural Decor

2009-11-04T04:00:00.001-05:00

As my toddler created a space rocket with her Tinkertoys and my baby squealed as she bounced in her Jumperoo, I rummaged through a box of fall decorations. I pulled out turkeys, pumpkins, gourds, cinnamon apple candles, and a few crumbled decayed leaves from last fall.

My box of decorations got me thinking about why I dress up our home for holidays. Decorations generate an excited energy in our homes. They add to the anticipation of an event, a day, a moment. And they especially help create cheer inside the home when we can't spend more time outdoors during the cold fall and winter months.

When I add nature to my decorations (like fall leaves, twigs, acorns, and more) it helps me make the connection between holidays and seasons. So often we find holidays lost in the commercial mainstream of materialism: shopping, buying, wanting, and forgetting. The act of adding bits and pieces of nature inside my home helps me to simplify my life. Seeing new buds on a branch place on my windowsill stirs my mind to look outside and recall childhood moments spent outdoors before we had computers, iPods, cell phones, and more. Those are the memories I want my children to have as well. So today we're going outside for a walk to collect Nature in our pockets and bring home for our windows.

What do you gather from nature to put inside your home? What does it mean to you?

Newsletter Winner

2009-11-02T06:05:00.002-05:00

Thank you to everyone who has signed up for our free e-newsletter! You will all receive a complimentary copy of the first issue of The Motherhood Muse digital literary magazine.

Using the random number generator, Ginny Marie was chosen as the winner of the $15 Starbucks gift card! Ginny Marie could you please email me your snail mail address?

You are all still in the pool for another chance to win, this time a prize bag of items from The Motherhood Muse boutique! If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time. Sign up by December 1st for a chance to win the boutique prize bag and the first issue of the literary magazine free!!

Click here to sign up for our free e-newsletter. It comes out eight times a year!

Colors of the Seasons

2009-11-02T04:00:00.000-05:00

Andrea White of Blogging Mama writes for us today!

“That’s a goldfinch mommy!” Those were the words my son said to me as the bright yellow bird landed on the birdfeeder in the woods beyond the deck outside the sunroom window. I could have looked it up in our Guide to North American Birds but odds were my seven year old was right.

Lately he’s taken an interest in birds thanks to the recent month we spent living with his grandmother. In her small tree laden yard there are two birdfeeders. The large birdfeeder attracts a variety of birds from Robins to the occasional Blue Jay and the small feeder is specifically for Finches. My son has studied the guide book, watched with unmitigated interest and absorbed every fact his grandmother could give him about the birds.

My son loves to learn and as I thought about what I could write for The Motherhood Muse Blog I knew I had a limited knowledge of nature and the great outdoors. Sure I’ve been camping and grew up near a beautiful lake in Idaho but what did I really know about the inner workings of the ecological system around me?

It turns out I know more than I thought and what I didn’t know my son has been teaching me. He has a great respect for nature and a curiosity unlike any other for learning. When he opens his eyes and looks out into our backyard that is surrounded by a forested area he sees squirrels, birds, trees and bugs of all varieties. The enjoyment he gains in finding out about the life in our backyard makes me want to learn more too.

As a mother I often wonder if what I know is enough to pass onto my children. There are so many things I have already taught them and so much they have yet to learn. Each day I strive to expand their wonder of the world around us and show them the richness of the colors of the trees in fall. The vivid orange, the vibrant yellow and the deep luxurious reds are like paint on the trees. Every year I say that I have never seen anything more beautiful than that fall and those trees. In winter so much color disappears under a blanket of snow but when the sun shines down from the clear river of blue sky making diamonds on the ground again there is a color palette that can only be found in nature.

I hope that these observations of the colors of the seasons will turn into wondrous memories for them. During each season there are so many activities and projects we can do together to learn and have fun.

Learning about the world and nature doesn’t have to cost money. You can visit your local library and check out books on almost any topic and there are plenty of resources for researching what your kids are interested in. The internet is also a great source of inspiration for projects. Other parents, parenting blogs and parent and kid friendly sites encourage not only our children to learn but us as well.

I have really enjoyed this summer even though we’ve spent a good deal of it moving and have been surrounded by boxes and change. The one thing that has remained constant is the magic of nature around us and life in our backyard.

For more information about sites for learning about nature and sites for fun activities with your

children please visit these links:

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/weather/ A good site to learn about weather specifically geared for children
http://unplugyourkids.com/ Fun and activities every week that discover the joy of turning off the tv and turning in to learning
http://home.howstuffworks.com/nature-projects-for-kids.htm Nature projects for kids from the people at How Stuff Works

FreeDay - Vessels into Nature

2009-10-30T04:00:00.000-04:00

I am writing this a few days in advance as we are traveling to see family via airplanes this week. Oh how I love airports as it is full of exciting characters. Although traveling with children makes it more adventurous, I still enjoy going to airports.

No matter if it is an airplane, train, car, boat, bike, or a pair of old sneakers, we get carried into nature via vessels. This FreeDay's activity is simple. Take a new approach to going into nature. Try out a different vessel.

If you take walks, try out a new path. Drive to a new park instead of the same one you always go to. Bike through your neighborhood streets instead of walking. Pick out library books for your children that have planes, boats, or trains and see what these vessels bring to mind.

A new vessel will help give you a unique experience with nature!