Literary Mama
@literarymama.bsky.social
celebrating, promoting, & nurturing mama writing & writers at https://literarymama.com/ since 2003 Podcast, This Mama Is Lit! at: https://literarymama.substack.com/s/this-mama-is-lit Subscribe for our newsletter at: https://literarymama.substack.com
Thank you, @heidifettigwriter.bsky.social & @literarymama.bsky.social! Y'all get me.
Literary Mama@literarymama.bsky.social · last wk."Christman wants her audience to understand that 'we never know what we’ll choose in a situation until we’re standing with our noses pressed up against it.'” @heidifettigwriter.bsky.social reviews @jillchristman.bsky.social's memoir, The Heart Folds Early: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
Today--August 1st--is the 5-month birthday of THE HEART FOLDS EARLY! Celebrate with me! “Thoughtfully arranged and beautifully written, THE HEART FOLDS EARLY is a page-turning memoir..."—Heidi Fettig Parton, LITERARY MAMA [https://literarymama.com/issues/july-august-2026]
"The need to rebuild her memory and her physical body is an unintentional invitation for a reset, a repair, a rebirth" @elizajaneconway.bsky.social reviews @samina-ali.bsky.social's Pieces You'll Never Get Back in our July/August issue:
God Listens. God Remembers. A Review of Pieces You’ll Never Get Back
Motherhood, for many new parents, is life-changing. Life-sacrificing. Samina Ali’s transformation and surrender are more literal. And violent. “I hadn’t realized that ushering in his life would requir...
literarymama.com
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
"Even if the kids are not talking to me about it after these school talks, a lot of them say, thank you for talking about these things. It's not easy for a kid...what I hope for is that it just opens a dialogue between them and someone." Rebecca Morrison on This Mama Is Lit!
Rebecca Morrison: Disordered Eating and Representing Iranian Culture
Tiffanie and Amanda chat with Rebecca Morrison, author of The Blue Dress, about beauty standards, creating space for teens to talk about disordered eating, and representing Iranian culture.
open.substack.com
"Each of these examples illustrates how inadequate the 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' language is to our realities." Samantha Ho interviews @irincarmon.bsky.social, author of Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America, in our July/August issue:
Navigating the Harsh Realities of Pregnancy in a Post-Dobbs Era: A Conversation with Irin Carmon
By Samantha Ho Irin Carmon was eight months pregnant with her second child when the Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortion in June of 2022, per its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s ...
literarymama.com
in case anybody needed a primer in how to write a press release that clearly states its position
Legendgerry@gerald-t-mc-evoy.bsky.social · 5d agoOh wow. FIFA is done. www.uefa.com/news-media/n...
LM poetry editors Libby Maxey & Amanda Roth talk about poets they love and their best advice for submitting poems to our journal:
An Interview with Literary Mama Poetry Editors
Poetry editors Libby Maxey and Amanda Roth recently created an interview where they answered some questions that poetry readers and writers might find interesting and (hopefully) useful if they are co...
literarymama.com
“You never reach a point of certainty, a point of mastery where you can say, 'Right. Now I understand how this is done.' That's why so many talented people stop writing. It’s hard to tolerate this not-knowing.” —Jenny Offill #writing #quotes #writers #writingcommunity
"Later I will get my daughter from the place where she sings Hebrew songs in the pool for three weeks every summer." - from @sarahorman.bsky.social's poem, "After the Fourth of July Floods, Walking the Dog," in our July/August issue:
After the Fourth of July Floods, Walking the Dog
He drinks as he walks,pink tongue lappingwith each black footstepthrough narrow streams.I think of girls washed away,other mothers beneaththe Texas sky. Later I will getmy daughter from the placewhere...
literarymama.com
Resolved! Our print copy is back up on Amazon for those of you interested: www.amazon.com/dp/B0H71MXJ6C
the engine(idling Issue 9: Collaboration
the engine(idling Issue 9: Collaboration [litmag, the engineidling] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. the engine(idling Issue 9: Collaboration
amazon.com
the engine(idling lit@the-engine-idling.bsky.social · last mo.🗨️ e(i #9: Collaboration is live! 🗨️ Collaboration is a testament to community & creative experimentation! It's free to read, download & share online: buff.ly/ryyERAn Print copy available for purchase: buff.ly/PjaIlBn & vote for your fave piece for our Readers' Choice Award! buff.ly/9DlHF33 ⬇️
"Just that morning, Lo had been told to remain in light by the tarot reader in the Crystals ‘n’ More store next to PetSmart, which was next to Target, which was her ultimate destination." - from Betsy Boyd's story, "Remain in Light," in our July/August issue: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
Sara Nolan shouts out her work with Literary Reflections editor Deborah Richardson. Read Nolan's essay about stepmothering in our latest issue: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
Stepmother Stretch Marks
A different kind of (ego) death + pub'd at Literary Mama!
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"In the public defender’s waiting room, the welcome mat is torn." - from Nichole Gavel's essay, "Here Comes Trouble," in our July/August issue: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
"Christman wants her audience to understand that 'we never know what we’ll choose in a situation until we’re standing with our noses pressed up against it.'” @heidifettigwriter.bsky.social reviews @jillchristman.bsky.social's memoir, The Heart Folds Early: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
"I developed a protective instinct for her—wanting to be the one person to see my mom for who she was and wanted to be." M.D. McIntyre interviews Lauren W. Westerfield, author of Woman House: Essays & Assemblages, in our July/August issue: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
More like running full speed into fascism’s open arms.
Brett Meiselas@bmeiselas.bsky.social · 2w agolots of reporters suddenly worried about slipping into communism but strangely f*cking quiet about slipping into fascism
We invented phonetic writing so we could put our sounds down on paper and, by glancing at a page, hear someone speaking in our head—an invention that became so widespread in the last few thousand years that we hardly ever stop to consider how astonishing it is. —Carl Sagan
One of the best things you can do for an author is check their book out of the library. If your library doesn't have the title, requesting it is also great! Never apologize. The library bought the book! Sometimes more than one! Because of you!
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2w agoNever ever apologize for getting someone's book from the library. A lot of them were written by authors who themselves first read a lot of other books in a library
"On the porch, my husband and I fling words into the humidity, watch them stick in each other's web." -from Abigail Michelini's poem, "Flicker," in our July/August issue: literarymama.com/articles/dep...
"He kept staring at the hills across the valley, just looking off into the distance as though he were the one getting the abortion, not me."
Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” from the “Girl’s” Point of View
“He kept staring at the hills across the valley, just looking off into the distance as though he were the one getting the abortion, not me.” JUly 21 2021 (an...
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***NEW EPISODE!!!*** On the latest episode of This Mama Is Lit!, Tiffanie Drayton & Amanda Fields talk with Rebecca Morrison, author of the YA novel The Blue Dress, about disordered eating, beauty standards, & representing Iranian culture:
Rebecca Morrison: Disordered Eating and Representing Iranian Culture
Tiffanie and Amanda chat with Rebecca Morrison, author of The Blue Dress, about beauty standards, creating space for teens to talk about disordered eating, and representing Iranian culture.
open.substack.com
Emma must not have read Yesteryear.
Rob Larson@ironicprofessor.bsky.social · 3w agoMax three hours! Prioritize people!
"If we respect our children, there are many things we have to set straight over time. There are a sea of paradoxes in which they must find their own keel because our model is not sufficient." Sara Nolan beautifully blends quandary and humor in "Stepwhat?": literarymama.com/articles/dep...
My child spilled their milk and the shape of the spill was…a cow.
"I don't believe that my job is to give them everything they need and to entertain them all the time. I'm going to keep them safe. I'm going to talk about how they're connected to each other, to their community, and to the world." Kerry Docherty, author of Selfish, on This Mama Is Lit!
Kerry Docherty: Faherty Brand’s Cofounder on Being Selfish
Holly Rizzuto Palker and Sam Field chat with Kerry Docherty, author of Selfish, about finding quiet moments of creativity, ambition, and why putting yourself first isn't always selfish.
open.substack.com
WRITER FRIENDS: if you distribute books using INGRAM SPARK you *need* to fill out this opt-out form so they don't sell your books to AI corps to rip apart and feed to their machine for training AI.
Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱@susankayequinn.bsky.social · 2w ago
