In this episode, we cover:
- The reality of pregnancy discrimination and the damaging narrative that "having babies means you aren't serious about your career."
- What it looks like to be a mother + writer, and how having kids can actually enhance our creative process.
- Balancing the good and bad of modern motherhood: more honest, candid conversations paired with unrealistic expectations and overwhelm.
- The tempting trap of parenting trends that ultimately make moms feel worse about themselves + the rabbit hole of social media.
- There is no "right way" to be a mother AND there is no "right way" to be a mother plusser: pursuing the other side of your plus is not a one-size-fits-all!
Nancy Reddy is the author of Pocket Universe (LSU, 2022); Double Jinx (Milkweed Editions, 2015), a 2014 winner of the National Poetry Series; and Acadiana (Black Lawrence Press, 2018). With Emily Pérez, she’s co-editor of The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood (UGA, 2022). Her essays have appeared in Slate, Poets & Writers, Electric Literature, Romper, Brevity, The Millions, and elsewhere. The recipient of a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, she teaches writing at Stockton University. She’s working on a narrative nonfiction book about the animal experience of early motherhood.
You can find Nancy here:
NancyReddy.com
https://www.instagram.com/nancy.o.reddy/
Sign up for her “Good Creatures” Newsletter about mothering history and culture here: https://goodcreatures.substack.com
To download our FREE Mother Plus Permission Slip, click here:
https://www.motherplusser.com/Permission-Slip