All posts filed under: Columns

Cleyvis Natera | Mama’s Writing

Mama’s Writing is Raising Mothers’ monthly interview series, curated by Starr Davis. What recent writing accomplishment(s) are you most proud of? Was this accomplishment shared and supported by your children? After toiling to publish my first novel for many years (from first sentence to publication, it was a fifteen year journey), I sold my second novel, The Grand Paloma Resort, as a proposal this past summer! It’s truly incredible and wonderful as I didn’t even know it was possible to sell a book before it was finished. When I told my children I sold my second book, their first suggestion was that I get on TIKTOK. I think that means they’re proud! Tell about a time mom-guilt emerged (or emerges) in the midst of your writing process. I don’t have much mom-guilt when it comes to my writing. I worked a full time job the entire time I was writing my first novel and that largely meant waking up at four and five AM just to get some pages down before my family woke up and …

How Celestial Holmes’ Foremothers Helped Her Pen ‘Looking for Hope’

By K E Garland

Tell me about yourself as a writer. Who are you? That’s a rough first question. As a writer, I identify as a Black woman. Everything that happens for me is filtered through that lens. I am so in love with Black people. I think we are so dope, and so, everything I write is to serve our community. I write from a place of love. Even though we have flaws, I want to show those things, but not in a way that dishonors who we are as a people. I want to let that stand for a second. Your debut novel, Looking for Hope, took 14 years to publish. What prompted you to take the leap? Self-doubt and imposter syndrome had me locked up for a very long time. I felt like, who wants to read my work? Who’s gonna care? So, there were two mentors who believed in my work and told me I was a good writer, Tina McElroy Ansa and Suzette D. Harrison. They thought the story was good, my writing was …

Nefertiti Austin | Mama’s Writing

By Sherisa de Groot

Mama’s Writing is Raising Mothers’ monthly interview series, curated by Starr Davis. What recent writing accomplishment(s) are you most proud of? I am proud of the pieces I’ve written about neurodiversity. I debated whether to share this aspect of my parenting journey, as it directly relates to my daughter. I felt it was important to share the joys and challenges of raising a neurologically diverse Black girl. Mental health is an issue that is gaining more attention. We’ve been slow to openly discuss personal issues worried about being labeled or being further discriminated against in education and at work. The more we share about mental health, the more we can support our neurodiverse children. Was this accomplishment shared and supported by your children? My daughter is young and doesn’t know the content of my work. She knows that I like to help others and think she’d be okay with what I write about. Tell about a time mom-guilt emerged (or emerges) in the midst of your writing process. I am hyper aware of putting their business …

Ten Questions for Melissa Coss Aquino

By Sherisa de Groot

What inspired you to tell this story? There is a long story and short version answer. In short, coming up in the Bronx I was taught to feel a lot of ways about myself, my mother and women who did not perform motherhood, female sexuality, and Latina identity in very specific ways deemed respectable. I felt compelled to tell the story of mothers and daughters who appear to fail to be good and right, but who love, protect and fight for each other in every way imaginable. What if we found a Holy Mother like that? A divine image of ourselves as right just how we are. The long version is about a whole vision I had walking down the Grand Concourse when I was 23 years old and had my first son in a baby carrier on my chest. It came after seeing a group of girls who looked to be getting into a fight with a young man. What did you edit out of this book? Dreams and scenes of chaos. The dreams …

Regina Jamison | Mama’s Writing

By Starr Davis

Mama’s Writing is Raising Mothers’ monthly interview series, curated by Starr Davis. What recent writing accomplishment(s) are you most proud of? Was this accomplishment shared and supported by your children? I’m grateful when any of my work gets published whether it’s a novel, short story, essay, or a poem and my children are always my best cheerleaders which is fantastic. My novel, Choosing Grace, was a long process from birth to being out in the world and I’m proud of my determination to stick with it, but I’m also proud when I find homes for my poetry too. Tell about a time mom-guilt emerged (or emerges) in the midst of your writing process. I’m not sure if I have ever experienced “mom guilt”. When my kids were younger I wrote the first draft of my novel at night while they slept, but I got it done because my goal was simple – write one page a day. That mindset helped me a lot. It relieved the pressure in terms of production – one page is definitely …