Motherhood creeps, jumps and leaps on the page

Happy Mother's Day to all creative souls who give birth to a piece of writing, nurture it and, if with luck (and a few other ingredients), watch it spring the wings of independence as a published work, lovingly caressed by devoted readers.
This past busy week, while my mother visited, I turned in a piece of work to an editor for a new-to-me publication. I had researched, drafted, re-drafted, re-researched, and coaxed my husband to read it (twice!). It was a tight piece of writing about a complicated subject. Word-by-word, I was proud of it.
After I turned it in, I had some back and forth with the editor. We tweaked it, outside influences creeping into my original piece of writing. Improving it to become a better piece of writing. When the editor asked me to send my invoice, indicating they had accepted the latest draft, I was thrilled.
As I sent the invoice off, I noticed another e-mail from the editor. My piece had been sent on to another editor and there might be more changes coming.
As I wait for them to maybe send it back, my mind (and heart) are going through a checklist about why they might not like this "child." But my creative work has been released into the world and I need it to stand its own.
Enjoy your day and try to find a creative spark to nurture and release into the world.

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and a certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach. She writes about motherhood at Coastal Carolina Moms and creativity at TheWriteElizabeth. The creative spark she hopes to nurture today will revolve around a Tiki Bar on a sunny beach.

A WOW Salute to MOM

By Valerie Fentress


How could we WOW women pass up the opportunity to give a big THANK YOU to all the Moms our there? (By the way today’s mother’s day if you forgot)

I encourage you to take a moment (after you call the mom in your life) to think about the impact of Moms. None of us can escape having one, and each have a unique impact on our lives. No matter if you have the best mom in the world, or never knew her, she made an impact. She pushed and pulled you. Molded and shaped you. In someway made you into the person you are today and the person you will be tomorrow.

Since Moms have such a great impact on us as individual, have you ever thought about what kind of mom your characters have? Consider who Holden Caulfield’s mom was, and what an impact changing her characteristics would have had on Holden’s outlook in Catcher in the Rye. What about Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice? If she’d been a sensible woman would Lydia have run off with the mischievous Mr. Wickham, or have caused such drama between Darcy and Lizzy.

Almost any novel can completely change if you remove or add in a motherly characteristic, and that says a lot about Moms. So let that be an encouragement to the Mom’s out there. Your job is one of the hardest and we would need to celebrate Mother’s Day year round for centuries to truly reward and thank you for the people you have made us. We know it’s not the easiest title to hold, but the impact can last forever.