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Write On, Mom

Have Something to Say?
Get the Word Out!

By Mark Stackpole

As much as she likes it, there are drawbacks to putting her life out there for others to read. For instance, she has to be careful about how she portrays the people she knows because they might actually read what she has written about them. There are also concerns about protecting her family's privacy, and she worries about people being mean or offering judgments on her choices. "There is no more personal choice in the world than mothering, and people get really worked up about what they think is best," Reed says. "I can't avoid the hot button issues, so I write about them as carefully as I can in the hopes of keeping a dialogue going."

Sara Ellington and Stephanie Triplett are friends who began commiserating via e-mail about their experiences with pregnancy and motherhood. "One of the wonderful things about e-mail is that it's gotten people writing again," says Ellington. "Stephanie and I realized we were chronicling this wonderful moment in our lives and that we needed to save our e-mails for ourselves and for our children someday." Those e-mails – "raw, honest, funny and without a lot of varnish" – became a book called The Mommy Chronicles: Conversations Sharing the Comedy and Drama of Pregnancy and New Motherhood (Hay House, 2005).

"I think writing is therapeutic," says Ellington. "I would encourage any mom to write down her emotions and experiences even if no one else ever reads what she has written. Don't worry about whether or not you're a good writer; just write. What makes any writing good is when it's real. You'll be giving a gift to yourself that you can look back on someday." When Ellington reads hr own book now, it brings back memories that she knows she would have forgotten if she hadn't written them down.

Want to see more?

• The Lost Art of Letter Writing: How to Get Your Child to Pick up a Pen
• Expressions of the Heart: Writing Your Wife a Love Letter After Delivery
• Blogging the Baby: Keeping an Online Journal During Pregnancy and Beyond
• Talk about it!

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