How Becoming a Mom Made Me a Better Writer
It’s high time we start bringing inspiration to women instead of fixating on how hard parenting is
I’ve written a lot about how motherhood shattered my identity. I realize now I was just having a difficult time adjusting to a life that was foreign to me — the same way all new mothers feel once their old identity is replaced with a new (less glamorous) one overnight.
Now five years into the parenting game (and five years mentally stronger), I’ve decided to look at motherhood through a new, more positive lens, and it’s working in my favor. It can work in yours, too.
While becoming a mom is earth-shattering, life is truly about perspective. And coming from someone who specializes in mindset health, I think it’s high time I start bringing the inspiration to women instead of fixating on how hard parenting is.
With that in mind, I would specifically like to share three ways that becoming a mom has made me a better writer:
I have endless writing material
Whether you’re a personal essayist, novelist, or somewhere in between, all creative inspiration comes from real life. If you’re experiencing something in motherhood that’s puzzling you, the odds are someone else is, too.
This makes your writing more specific and relatable, the two magic ingredients for attracting (and keeping) readers.
Even if I’m not writing about motherhood, which is often the case, I get so many ideas on the mental health front (my niche) from experiencing the highs and lows of mom life. From meltdowns before breakfast to observing how other women parent at playgrounds, the writing inspiration is truly endless.
I am becoming fearless in my writing
No one really likes a “safe” read, do they? Safe meaning vanilla, meaning boring, meaning no pizazz on the page.
Controversial subjects are where I learn the most about myself as a writer. While this may bruise your writerly ego at first, it’s good for us in the long run. Controversial articles bring out two extreme sides of people — the lovers and the haters — which reveal my true audience, what they want from me, and how I can keep serving it up for them.
Allowing myself to write freely about whatever front-of-mind topic interests me often elicits my best work. Being fearless in your writing is much more fun than being anodyne, and more often than not, it yields better results.
I’m taking pitch rejections far less personally
I used to be someone who dwelled on things for years. No exaggeration here; there were years where I would let negative comments from previous bosses creep into my psyche, or berate myself for mistakes I made in my twenties.
Talk about exhausting, let alone unproductive.
Welp, no more of that thanks to a tip an editor gave me awhile back: “If you give an editor a story only you can tell, you will always have a job.”
Credit the anti-anxiety remedies, the editorial tip, or natural maturation, but I have learned to let things go in the realm of writing rejections and general life upsets after I became a mom.
Ashley Alt is a writer based in Connecticut specializing in women’s mental health. She believes our weirdness is what makes us great.
If you’d like to keep up with her writing, sign up for her Mindset Health For Moms newsletter.
