Confessions of a Writing Mommy

Photo source: caroline paulus

I’m the kind of mother who itches to write as she sits on the bed, surrounded by a basketful of toys and a baby. I sit there, with an orange duck in my hand and a story in my head. Hmm, I could write about new motherhood for my blog, I think to myself as I play with my son. Maybe I could make a dash for my laptop when he takes one of his rare naps, maybe I could get a handful of words down on paper when my husband is back home from work.

I think of writing articles, sending queries to magazines, and starting new blogs while changing diapers, cleaning baby poo, and rocking Baby N to sleep. My writing projects, ideas and plans keep me afloat during days filled with routines and more routines that a baby’s life is about. They make me crave for one-on-one time with my laptop. The very idea of putting my thoughts on paper is like salve for my soul as I fumble my way through the trenches of new motherhood.

How do other new mothers do it all, I wonder. How do they go through this endless cycle called a baby’s routine every single day while staying sane and smiley all the time? (Or, are they really sane and smiley all the time?) Do they have projects stashed away in the corners of their mind that’s still not taken over by the ‘mommy brain syndrome’?

Photo source: slycat54

While every mother has her take on it and really, there’s no right or wrong answer, I can say this for myself. The days I get to spend some time at my laptop, writing articles and blog posts, getting my thoughts onto the blank page, those are the days I’m a better mother. Those are the days I look at the orange duck with interest; those are the days I can deal with a leprechaun called Routine. Those are the days when changing endless diapers seem like a breeze and the marathon called motherhood doesn’t leave me in a tired heap.

Time spent writing is the elixir that pumps me with energy, and whips me into shape, figuratively. Writing and motherhood are two sides of the same coin for me. I’m lost in the woods without one or the other. I’m a writing mama, who steals time from her day to vanish into the world of words. I’m a new mother who writes, because she has to, because writing is her addiction, her mantra, her meditation. I write because that’s how I process the world and make sense of the tanglewoods called new mommydom!