687. Leap Blog Day Guest Blogger: We Band of Mothers!

(After months of planning and preparation and secret emails back and forth, I step aside on this, Leap Blog Day, and give you the first of my two very special guest bloggers, Marianne from We Band of Mothers.  When you are finished reading these two posts, please hop on over to Marianne's blog to read the posts by her guest bloggers.  About forty different bloggers are participating in the hop!  and then come back in a couple of hours and I will be posting my second mystery guest blogger!) 

I have been taking anti-anxiety medication since MOV asked me to guest-blog. I’ve embarked on about a dozen different blog entries and systematically scrapped them all. At first, I was going to offer an homage to MOV using my beloved collection of vintage Fisher Price Little People:



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MOV as career woman

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MOV as Mom

I was then going to juxtapose those images with my slightly different take on motherhood:


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Marianne as Mom

Yet every time I set up another “scene,” my camera batteries would go dead or my youngest would start stealing my Little People. I saw it as a sign from God to move on.

I then veered into the world of boring introductions (“Hey! I’m Marianne from We Band of Mothers and I am SUPER COOL!”). Totally not funny or interesting. This was harder than I thought.

I tried next to pick up on some of MOV’s favorite topics (Target, imagined relationships with famous people, etc.). Yet in reviewing my work, I found that MOV did it better, funnier, and first. I didn’t even bother saving those drafts.

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I was having such a hard time. MOV had given me weeks and weeks to come up with something brilliant. I had no problem writing two other guest posts for other bloggers. Yet for whatever reason, I hit a mental roadblock every time I sat down to write for Mother of Brothers Blog. That’s when it dawned on me.

I totally had a blog crush.

You bloggers know what I’m talking about. You build these cyber-relationships with people you have never met. Yet for whatever reason, you click. You get each other. You share bonds, similarities, and countless stories.

Trying to write for MOV’s blog was like trying to decide what to wear on a first date with a guy you really like. You want to look good, but not like you’re trying too hard. You want to be yourself, but yourself without the snorkel laugh and big zit on your chin. You want to be cool.

I am not cool.

But I do have a knack for making everybody else around me feel better about themselves. I’m 6 feet tall, so I am always the biggest dork in the room. I wore maternity clothes for years after I had kids because they were just so darn comfortable. I still think Donny Osmond is the sexiest man to have ever lived (even though he won't return my calls and his security people know who I am).

You see where I’m coming from.

So thank you, MOV, for this awesome opportunity to share my own brand of Blog Geek with your devoted followers.  It's always a special day when the big girl gets invited to the prom. 

Because even big girls like to dance.

** This piece written especially for Leap Blog Day (list of blogs HERE) by the brilliant and über-talented Marianne, famous writer for Chicago Parent Magazine and also the founder of the hysterically funny blog We Band of Mothers.

*** So where is MOV blogging today?  You can find me guest-writing in two spots:  Kirb Appeal and Haley's Comic.  Enjoy the hop!  And please consider "following" some of these new blogs!

652. Marianne Walsh Interviews Me

Marianne Walsh, über-talented writer for Chicago Parent magazine, contacted me to do an interview about writing and publishing my book, Mom's Had A Rough Day. I have followed Marianne’s blog, We Band of Mothers, for a long time, so I was thrilled that she would want to talk with me. The email exchange went something like this:


Her:  Can I interview you for an article in Chicago Parent?

Me:  OMG, yes! Is the magazine going to pay my airfare? Will there be a photographer? Should I buy a new outfit?

Her:  No. No. And yes (no reason not to buy a new outfit!). But it’s a phone or email interview.

Me:  Oh. So I could be in my jammies and no one would really care?

Her:  Pretty much.


We finally settled on an email interview (translation: I did not want her to write negative things about my kids screaming in the background), and I thought it went well. I only forgot to send the attachment twice.

So without further ado, I give you the interview. (Thanks, Marianne.)

MOV