March 15: The Six-year Anniversary Of Officially Championing Mom Writers

Today marks six years since my first traditionally published book, Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, was published by Writer’s Digest Books.

For me, the anniversary of Writer Mama commemorates not just six years of creating teaching-learning contexts for mom writers; it also commemorates twelve years of caring deeply about and working with intelligent, thoughtful mom writers locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

There is nothing like updating your website to refresh your memory of all the hard work you have done, and since I have recently done this, so let me share a summary of some of the positive impact I have made in the literary lives of moms over the past, not just six, but twelve years since I first started teaching.

Here is a partial list of some of the work I’ve done with moms in addition to writing and promoting the book, Writer Mama:

The Writer Mama Scholarship, a full-boat, merit-based scholarship to every single one of my Writing & Publishing The Short Stuff classes since January 2008. I have given away thousands of dollars worth of classes and devoted countless hours to working with mom writers who could not afford my class.  LINK

Author Mama, How I Became A Published Author & How You Can Too (e-book 2010). I wrote this e-book in an attempt to help mom writers understand what is really required in writing a traditionally published book and working with a publisher. I get the feeling that most still don’t believe me until they actually do it. Author Mama outlines a way to embrace and own the process. LINK

Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit (e-book 2013) This beta version e-book is the most recent addition to my body of work, however it has a long history that goes all the way back twelve years. I still remember some of the first Regional Parenting Article I published and some of the first my students published after working with me. I dedicated this e-book to my scholarship students because I have always wanted to help them find an inexpensive way to get started working their writing-for-publication muscles. This e-book is like one-on-one coaching with me on this topic for only $9.99.   LINK

The Writer Mama, Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway Since 2007 (except for 2010), I have hosted a daily book giveaway featuring mom authors. This event is always an inspiring blast for those who participate, and a great way for me to keep in touch with the huge number of the productive, professional author moms I have encountered in my networking and travels over the years. LINK

Must-read Books by Women Writers Inspired by the popularity of my list of movies about writers and my passion for women writers, I decided to start crowd-sourcing a list of Must-read Books For Women Writers. This list now also contains lists of other roundup lists. Browse it when you have time and add some suggestions of your own in the comments. LINK

Writing & Publishing The Short Stuff (Especially For Moms) This is my six-week writing class. Take it when you are ready to focus a few hours each week on creating publishable writing. I critique all the writing you do in this class. Most students who complete the work from this class and submit it have had their writing from this class published. Learn More

WPSS Dream Team This is my five-month Dream Team—a group of motivated mom writers who are ready to get their work from my WPSS class published and are willing to write and submit steadily for five months. This is where they get to apply everything they learned in WPSS and put it into continuous practice while getting all of their questions answered as we go along. I am going into my third year of coaching mom writers in this manner this fall and I am very pleased with the measurable results my hardworking students have achieved. Learn More

Advanced Classes Once you have the basics of writing and submitting down, take a look at my advanced classes and see if any of them interest you. After WPSS, I usually suggest either 60 Ways To Flex Your Content & Prosper In Your Niche or the WPSS Dream Team. The writers who produce the most, typically do both. My classes teach important core skills for writers like craft, sales, specializing, platform development, ongoing content generation, micro-publishing, and how to become your own imprint. I offer a discount for returning students, and I offer an even larger discount for students who take classes while also taking a Dream Team with me. Learn More

Advanced Dream Teams Writers who work with me over time advance their way up the Dream Team ranks. I have three levels of Dream Teams. Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced. The amount of money writers earn typically increases as they advance up the ranks. There is nothing I enjoy more than working with like-minded, hard-working mom writers, like myself who are building professional ownership of our careers. Learn More

The latest of over a dozen e-books launched by my students. View them all by clicking on this image.

Authorhood Many writers who have worked with me have either been traditionally published or are on their way to having the option of being traditionally published by building their body of work, platform, and professional publishing skills over time. You can view a list of some of my students’ published work here. Most writers have absolutely no idea how much skill and work it takes to achieve sustainable success in writing and publishing—and this naivete can really cost them because there are plenty of people who would like to take advantage of their dream of becoming an author. I am not one of those people. By the time my students are ready for authorhood, they are already authors in their own right and they already earn money on their own terms. And this ownership of their writing careers cannot be leveraged away from them in another’s favor. Of all of things I have ever accomplished working with mom writers, this is my proudest accomplishment.

21 Moments Monthly Writing Challenge If you want to get writing but you are not necessarily interested in publication or in a hurry to get there, this monthly writing challenge is an inexpensive way for moms to get started. There are three monthly rounds of the challenge so far and the process is open for those who write nonfiction, fiction, poetry and scripts. At the end of each round, I hold a competition and choose the five best moments to share with future participants. The process is inspiring, empowering and fun. Learn More

I understand that women are often dismissed because we are women. I understand that moms can be marginalized, have our hard work appropriated, and can seem powerless and easy to exploit because we are busy with the important business of raising future citizens.

I have a long, deep, proud history of devoting myself to, challenging in an even-handed way, and working with mom writers. Not only do I champion mom writers, I understand our crucial role in the future of publishing. And it sure as heck isn’t to be treated the way corporations have tried to treat mom bloggers.

My readers are going to hear a lot more about the depth and scope of my ideas in the months and years to come. Many of my contributions are significant, important, and valuable in terms of where authors stand in our current evolution as micro-publishers, global enterprises, and a healthy, thriving, creative collective force in the world.

So thank you so much for supporting my work thus far. I hope you will stick around because I am just getting warmed up.