Embracing Life as a Writer with Christine Carpenter
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Today's Mother Writer is Christine Carpenter. This is Christine's second appearance on the show, but today I’m excited to spotlight her as a writer. I first met Christine through Motherscope's Write Beside Her Workshop. At the time, Christine's son was less than a year old, and to see how her journey has unfolded as a writer since then, has been incredible. Our conversation today is one that I personally needed to hear, and I know it will inspire you too. In our talk, Christine shares how motherhood impacted her writing, how she carved out time to write with a newborn, and how she landed a paid writing job for her local newspaper. Do you ever find yourself minimizing or downplaying your writing, creative projects, or business pursuits? Keep listening to hear our thoughts on that and more.
TOPICS DISCUSSED
Reminding ourselves to not minimize our creative pursuits
The ways motherhood has impacted Christine’s writing and how she finds time to write
Christine’s journey from working in the fashion industry to coming back to writing
How Christine landed a paid writing job for a local newspaper
The importance of spotlighting creative women in our communities
How to navigate the pressures of writing about sensitive topics
How newspaper writing has helped Christine’s creative writing
Christine reads an excerpt from her essay “How I Forgave Myself for Outgrowing My Old Life” which was published in Mantra Magazine earlier this year
ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST - CHRISTINE CARPENTER
CHRISTINE CARPENTER is a mother and storyteller from New York. She is passionate about composing and sharing her journey through non-fiction stories, poetry, and an iPhone camera roll with over 70,000 images. She approaches her craft with a strong intent to make women feel less alone in motherhood, anxiety, and creative living. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys knitting, asking too many questions, reading, and most of all, quality time with her family.
Follow Christine on Instagram at @christineiswriting.
MOTHERHOOD IN THE WILD
In this week’s segment, we talk about this post by Neha Ruchon her @motheruntitled Instagram account on National Entrepreneur Day.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
WRITING PROMPT
What do you want to write about? What subject or topic lights you up, fires you up, excites you so much that you want to write about it, and would love to do it over and over again?
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Jackie Leonard
Today's mother writers Christine carpenter. I first met Christine through mother's scopes right beside her workshop back in early 2021. At the time, Christine son was less than a year old and to see how her journey has unfolded as a writer since then, has been really special. Among the writing that Christina is working on is a book she describes as the book she wish that she'd read before becoming a mother. She has also been a regular contributor for Mother's scopes online journal, and I can't wait to share her story more with you. The conversation we have is one that I needed to hear right now, and I know it will inspire you to in our conversation, Christine shares how motherhood impacted her writing, the way she carves out time to write, and how she landed a paid writing job for her local newspaper. Do you ever find yourself minimizing or downplaying your writing creative projects or business pursuits? Keep listening to hear our thoughts on that and more.
Jackie Leonard
Hi, Christine, welcome back to the podcast.
Christine Carpenter
Hi, Jackie. Thanks for having me.
Jackie Leonard
Yeah, so just as a refresher for people listening. Christine was previously on the podcast when it was the mother school podcast, and we talked about the Gilmore Girls, it was a fun episode. So if you want to check that out, be sure to listen to that, especially if you're a fan of the show. But today, I'm excited because I get to spotlight you as a writer, which you I've had the pleasure of working with you as a writer through mother's scope. And for people who are not familiar with you, can you introduce yourself? Before we get started?
Christine Carpenter
Sure. I'm Christine and I live in New York with my husband and my two and a half year old. And writing has kind of always been a big part of my life and who I am and having my son kind of broke all of that open. And I've kind of delve into all different kinds of, of writing mediums now. And just kind of exploring that has been a really enjoyable part of the last two and a half years and part of mothering him.
Jackie Leonard
So yeah, we're gonna get more into that in just a bit. Before that, we'll start with our segments, I asked Christine to kind of put her eyes and feelers out and look for some something about motherhood that she sees in the wild that she wants to bring to the conversation to warm us up. So, Christina, what did you notice about what's something that you noticed? That had to do with motherhood that stood out to you that you wanted to talk about?
Christine Carpenter
Yeah, there's this Instagram account that I follow. And it's a resource for mothers. It's called Mother titled. And it's basically about embracing the pauses in women's careers to focus on family life.
02:53
And the quote was, it's just a little blog, passion project, Instagram thing, hobby business. And the it's just a is crossed out. And it says, For too long, this language has minimized the work of women investing in their ideas at a small scale. These are brave, intellectual, creative endeavors that helps shape you as a leader, and a person and inevitably offers inspiration and impact. And I just loved that. Because I felt like that sums up all the times I tried to diminish what I'm doing. And it spoke volumes to just kind of those those projects and those those things that you carve out for yourself and all of those creative endeavors, how important they are and how if they impact even one other person, they're valuable, and they inevitably do.
Jackie Leonard 03:44
I'm so glad you
Christine Carpenter
I just love that. I love that. Yeah, yeah, I love everything she shares. But that one really stood out to me.
Jackie Leonard 03:50
Yeah, I love that you brought that one up, because you shared it I saw on social media, and I showed it and I got so many reactions from other people about it. It really resonated. And, I mean, it ties into what we're going to talk about so well, but I noticed I was just editing a previous episode, or looking at the transcript of an episode. And I saw how many times I used little to describe things that I was working on or doing. And it wasn't even something I was conscious of, but I was like, oh, maybe I'll do a little this here and there. Or I'm working on a little this. And I was like I am subconsciously put projecting out that I think what I'm doing is little and how is that going to be received? Like, how much am I contributing to some of the things that are holding me back? So it felt really timely to see that quote after you shared it.
04:49
Yeah, for me too, and how much and how much of what we do those little things add up to the big things to and to not to work to really work on that. You know, again, diminishing that work now.
Jackie Leonard 05:01
Yeah, that's what these conversations are all about, actually. So I'm curious before you talk about your current writing, or your current identity as a writer, can you share a little bit about how you identified with being a writer? What writing was for you? Before you had your, your child, your son?
Christine Carpenter 05:22
Yeah, sure. Um, I've been writing since I could pick up a pen. I always like to write little stories when I was growing up. And now it's, it's, it's funny, because it's always been a form of expression and a form of catharsis. And I kind of put it on the backburner thinking, this wasn't, you know, a job that I was going to make money on. And this wasn't something that I necessarily wanted to take on as my full time thing. And I ended up in the fashion industry for many years. But I saw the little ways in which I always kind of kept writing in my life, whether it was journaling, or poetry, or, you know, I would enter little contests or things like that. So it was always there. But I think that identity was sort of in my back pocket. And I kept it kind of tucked away. So
Jackie Leonard 06:13
yeah, I, again, just because so much of this reminds me of myself. I wonder, you know, when you said that, you saw that it wasn't something that can make money. When like, when was that decision that you made? Was it like, when you were looking at the college? Did you go to college? And you know, when did you kind of notice yourself shifting away from that as a serious thing to pursue?
Christine Carpenter 06:39
So I started out as a professional writing major, and then I think I panicked. And I transferred to a school for fashion merchandising, my sophomore year. And the thing that enticed me was I was, you know, I was very into the industry. And I was, it was a passion as well. But what enticed me was that the school that I was going to and the program that I was applying to had, I think a 97% job placement rating, it was it was extremely high. And I thought like, Okay, this will the security like this will give me security. I didn't think that, you know, and I was happy within that industry for a very long time. And in the last few years, I noticed, like a pull towards something different. But it's funny how I equated that security with ultimately being happy. And how that evolved?
Jackie Leonard 07:32
Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, I, I feel like some, it must be maybe early 20s, that we have those moments, right? Where we're just like, I'm over feeling like a kid or I'm over feeling like I'm in school all the time, I'm ready to be out in the real world. And I think that's where maybe some of that panic comes in, where it's like, well, what can I do, that's going to be a guarantee that's going to help me feel blank. And I've been kind of thinking a lot about that time period, because that seems to be when, for me at least, and it sounds like for you. We kind of let go of what we were so naturally drawn to. And I even see like in the fashion world how writing could complement that. And yet, you went into a slightly different like kind of department of the fashion industry. And all of those do sound like creative pursuits in different ways.
Christine Carpenter 08:28
For sure,
Jackie Leonard 08:30
so. So at some point in the future from where you were, then you had your son, and can you kind of share about where that shift happened that brought you back to writing.
Christine Carpenter 08:46
So when I was pregnant with my son, I suffered from terrible anxiety and depression. And I noticed that I don't think the writing was so intentional, but I noticed that I was constantly jotting down thoughts and ideas, and I was even writing letters to my son when I was pregnant, and my writing sort of amped up during that time. And I noticed in times in my life when I'm struggling, my writing amps up, for sure. I think I'm a melancholy writer. Um, so but yeah, I think that having him sort of brought me back to family and brought me back to myself. Family is kind of the heart of who I am. And I think it was just, I realized that I was running at 100 miles an hour, and that I needed to slow down and to sort of savor this moment, and not in a way that we're told into enjoy every moment because I think that's so suffocating. But in a way to just pause and breathe, and that I couldn't do I had this two hour each way commute and it's funny before I was even before I even had him before I was even pregnant with him. I had so much time to Right, and I never capitalized on it, I never did anything really about it in that time. And then after his birth that I, it was COVID. So I never actually ended up going back. But it completely broke, open and unleashed a different side of me where I was. So now so focused on family life, and so kind of getting back into the rhythm of who I am. And it was like that decision that I made to kind of veer off this path, I was being now pulled back, you know, because it was, it was a more authentic place for me. And I think that, you know, the, the fashion industry, and I was doing writing there too, but it wasn't in the same way, and it wasn't really in the way I wanted to. So it's just interesting how the whole experience really dragged me back to, to where I set out to be in the first place and the roots of who I am, you know, what I love to do as a, as a child and, and throughout, you know, all my adolescent years as well. So
Jackie Leonard 11:05
I think it's really neat how, when your world kind of got smaller, in some ways are you were forced to slow down, that became the kind of the gateway for the writing to emerge, like, you were so busy, I mean, I, I can imagine, you know, with the career and the commuting and the fast paced lifestyle that you were living, prior to motherhood, there wasn't enough stillness in your, in your days to have writing, like the creative writing that you do now. Be heard and required is that sort of forced pause. I mean, having a child on its own, and then also the pandemic, for that to, like you said, the more authentic part of your self, your voice, whatever you want to call it, to be loud enough for you to be like, Okay, I need to do this right now in whatever way that looks like.
Christine Carpenter 12:03
Yeah, I have a poem about about just that about living small, like someone telling me how you lived really small. And it wasn't, it wasn't really a put down, but it really provoked this, this thought pattern of Well, yeah, I live small, but like, I'm also living really large to like, because this is like, really where I feel like I'm supposed to be. Whereas before, it may be looked like I was, you know, living larger, but I think I was ignoring a calling to
Jackie Leonard 12:35
I think that's really the I know, we haven't talked about like this being the subject of our conversation, that's just this idea of little and small. Sometimes feeling like, a negative and actually, like, the more we talk about it, it's like, these small things, these little projects, a smaller, more contained by more and it just all feels like a something that is rare and precious and valuable that like maybe just as a society isn't, you know, valued. So we diminish it, but like it really like when I said, when your world got smaller, I felt like it you know, I like I imagined that being, you know, more clear, less chaotic, more rewarding, you know, like, but but those aren't the words that we use to describe like success, right? And so it feels like you know, it's like especially as writers right we're words people and so it like feels like I know words are intentional, the words we use and they have so many meanings but anyway, it's just something about like small and little progress and and you know, tiny moments. A small impact like impacting one person actually could be a big accomplishment that we don't like always acknowledged in our world of like big numbers and and you know, money and everything I don't know I just something about that, I think is really neat that we're like kind of finding these like common threads that are talking about small and little and pockets of time. You did touch on you know, having more time than and having more less time now. And kind of like the irony of like, I could have written so much more than but I didn't and now I'm writing can you share how what writing looks like now in your life and like how you find the time to do your write your writing for yourself?
Christine Carpenter 14:42
Yeah, the big, biggest thing as my son is a contact sleeper and a contact Napper or hold nap in the car. That's it. So I've, you know, I've learned to work around that. And when you know, when he was born, I sort of thrived in his newborns. Ah, because I had all this found time, every time he napped, I would sit down, and I would be writing or I'd be reading or I'd be doing something creative. And there were so many naps. And now the naps are fleeting, we're down to one and I'm, you know, I'm hanging on to that hour, hour and a half, if it's too, I'm like, rejoicing. But a lot of times, I'll just throw my laptop bag over my shoulder as I'm running out the door. And as I'm, you know, holding his hand to the car, and I put him in the car, and I drive around a bit, and he'll be asleep, and I'll park somewhere, either, you know, there's a beautiful little reservoir by us, and I'll park there sometimes, because I find it peaceful. Or sometimes I'll just park you know, in the lot here, where I live in, and just kind of sit and down into my computer and, you know, get that break, to do something creative. And, you know, it looks it looks different. Every time sometimes it's unintentional. It's I'm writing something for a deadline, or for the local paper I do some writing for. And sometimes it's just a brain dump, and it's journaling, or I'll get a prompt and kind of go with that. But I think it's, you know, it's definitely become more difficult. But it's also become more intentional, which is, which is nice. Because I, I have to budget that time, in a way where I'm not, you know, finally sitting down, and I'm like, My mind is blank, because that happens to you know, where I'll sit down and I'll say, Oh, my God, I'll sit there like, you know, Why isn't it coming to me like, this is the time I have, you know, that I've carved out and it's not working. But and sometimes it doesn't. But for the most part, it's just I kind of let it go. And I just, I capitalize on that time in any way that I can for a creative pursuit, and most of the time it's writing.
Jackie Leonard 16:54
Yeah, and when you look at that time, like it's precious, like, I know, I don't have this time at all, for the rest of the day, that's guaranteed, or I know that, you know, I don't, I'm not given this time normally, that I used to have. Like you said, you kind of take advantage of it, you're like, oh, I need to use this time i It's it's important you value it. What do you do in those moments when, because I've seen you post on social media you writing in the car, and I know that you're doing a lot of you know, writing and pushing through, when you know, even when the moments don't come as you know, the free flow writing doesn't always come? What do you do in those moments when you just look at it as a blank page? And they're like, I have a half an hour an hour to write? What do I do? How do you navigate that those moments,
Christine Carpenter 17:45
a lot of times I'll put on a podcast or a meditation, because I often find that, especially if it's a podcast that inspires me in some way, or causes me to reflect in some way, I'll have something, you know, to think about or to, to write about, and I kind of, you know, I've kind of have had to let go of it, looking the way it, I want it to look and you know, the way I've warned it in my head that it's not always going to be, quote unquote, productive. And you know, I think what I've learned and what I've forget, very often is that a lot of writing is done when you're not typing and when you're not scribbling you know, it's done. When you're listening, when you're observing when you're, you're just open. And I you know, I would say 90% of it is done like that, I think we put so much I for one put so much pressure on myself to produce, produce produce, because that's how we're conditioned. And writing is, you know, it's something I love. And it's also hard. You know, there's there's so many blocks that come up. And I think when I resist it is when I'm worse off, rather than when I just accept it and say, I know this is peaks and valleys. I know that there are times of, you know, incredible inspiration, and then there's times where things are kind of quiet, you know. So I think it's just kind of coming to that acceptance. And and you know, while I do try to capitalize on that time, I have to remind myself that an hour every day, if I don't maximize it, and if I don't write 500 words, it's everything will be okay. No. A lot of it is marinating the ideas in my head and gathering that information.
Jackie Leonard 19:47
Yeah, marinating the ideas is a part of the process. Right? I think that's something that we can feel empowered by because we, you know, as moms who want to write cuz I know for myself, I always am like, Oh, I wish I had more time to write and all this stuff. But, you know, we can always let our ideas kind of bubble and take little notes and stuff throughout the day, and that that is a part of the process. What are what are some of this because you're doing a lot of different I, what I see I perceive is it looks like you're doing different types of writing. And I would love for you to share a little bit more about what types of projects and writing assignments you do today.
Christine Carpenter 20:39
Um, it started off, I think more with free verse poetry that I was doing. And I still go back to that from time to time, but I think that's more when I'm at like a peak inspiration. But I do I also write for the local paper here. And I've decided, when, when I started that gig, that I was going to focus on local women. And I asked for it to be mothers, mostly mothers in business. Because I just felt like, I remember meeting with the editor and saying, there's enough about men like what, let me focus on women. And she laughed, and she said, Okay, you know, that's, that's fine. And so that's what I've done is kind of highlighted women who are doing cool things in business, whether it's, you know, fashion, charcuterie boards, art workshops, all different range of, of things. And it's funny, because it's sort of connected me to my own local community, I've lived in the same area, pretty much my whole life, but it's, it's connected me in a different way. And it's kind of had me reflecting on how I'm such an introvert and writing is so isolating anyway, but how much like, I also enjoy the community of writing and how much I enjoy when I get to speak to another writer, because I think we speak a language that we can understand. Whereas, you know, I'll, I'll tell my husband, and he's thrilled for me, but it's not the same, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't get it the same way. And I feel definitely feel at home, in sharing with that. Something else that I'm working on is Mother scope, contributor, so I get to share those, you know, honest real life stories. And that's my favorite thing to share. Because it's you can speak from a place of, you know, honesty, you're not reporting on facts you're reporting on, you know, feelings in your experience. And I think that that flows for me in a way that kind of nothing else does. And I'm also working on a bigger body of work, which I haven't had the guts to call a book yet, so. But just kind of different essays and resources and things that that's kind of the book that I wish someone had handed to me when I was pregnant when I was struggling. And again, I go back to that, if you can impact one person, you know, if you can make an effect on one person, it's worth it. So that's, that's kind of what I always bring myself back to when I'm feeling doubtful about that project.
Jackie Leonard 23:26
I love that you. I think the most the key to success as a writer is to have these different projects. I mean, projects is what I call them, but it's just like these different banks of type of writing that you can go to. So when you sit down, you can do the poetry, you can do the more essay like personal writing, you can work on the interview that you're, you know, you have an assignment for the larger body of work, or the journaling that you mentioned earlier. And I think when we look at writing as just, I'm doing any kind of writing within this timeframe that I have, and you go for it, then I don't know, as somebody who feels like I have all these different interests and helps ground me. So I'm like, Okay, well, if I'm not going to do this right now, I'll do this, versus I think sometimes. And I know there's arguments for why, like only working on one thing at a time is probably the most successful, but I just think it helps it's more realistic to like our inspiration flow and what comes up with different periods of time. Like you said earlier, you said something about that you're writing ramps ramps up when you're like more stressed or things are going on in your life that are heavy. And that naturally, that's when you do more writing. So when you're in a more maybe relaxed state. The kind of deeper writing may not flow in the same way. Right. So I just think it's something to remember as writers is that if we have kind of these different types of writing that we can be working on at the same time. We won't run out of things to say if that makes sense. I'm curious because part of what I'm interested in what this podcast is finding is helping kind of demystify some of the things that we can do as writers. And you share that you are a reporter for a local paper. Can you share a little bit about like, how, you know what, like, when you first thought about doing that, to getting this assignment to do these stories on women in business? How did that come to be?
Christine Carpenter 25:36
Well, it's really it's a funny story. I was at there was a local bakery opening in my town. And my husband and I were so excited about this bakery. And I and it was a beautiful article about it. And I, I sent the article to everybody I knew. And I was like, Look, this it was an it was an old bar that was converted to a bakery, and they kept the old sign it was this beloved bar. And I went there with my son. And he was sitting there eating a muffin and the height and the highchair. And I snapped a picture of him and I tagged the place, and then they, they shared it. And a couple hours later, I got a message on Instagram from the local paper saying, you know, we saw you're a writer, because my Instagram is Christine is writing? And would you be interested in some freelance work. And so it was just so funny about how like, I sometimes I think social media can be so toxic, but I also have seen how it's, you know, it's really fostered a lot of my ideas, and a lot of my connections have taken off with it. And so I had a conversation with the editor, and she gave me she said, you want to pitch a story, or I have I actually have something that I needed written. I said, Sure, you know, you know, what is it and it was this local, seamstress. And so I went and I met with this woman, and I realized that she was a seamstress. But her business had clothes. And she was actually the lead singer in a rock, a rock cover band. And there was just so many other stories about her. And I had met her years ago, we had so many connections. And after I wrote that piece, I agonized over that piece, because it was my first one. And I was, you know, I was so stressed about getting it perfect. And I think when you're representing somebody else, I put a lot of pressure on myself because I want I want it to be a true representation of them. And that's, that's important to me. Whereas when you write about yourself, you'd have no one to answer to but yourself. So that kind of got the idea going, have I, you know, I didn't initially say it, I said it to the editor, you know, I'm really liking, like, I'd really like to focus on women's stories, and like this is really, because this kind of is married also into everything else that I that I love to write about. And that you know, and that I love to do. And so she was like, great, you know, you can pitch some idea, and she'll send me, you know, stories that she wants covered, or I'll you know, find local women doing, you know, there was a local woman who opened up an art gallery in a creative workspace. And that opened up the doors to a bunch of other interviews. And so it's just funny happened very, very organically. But it was nice, because the editor there gave me the creative control to kind of develop it into something where I could still be true to what I wanted to do. And true to my intention, really.
Jackie Leonard 28:42
I think it's so awesome that you shared the quote earlier about, you know, as, you know, minimizing mothers and women minimizing the work that they do. And here were hearing about you writing for a local paper, you know, doing the work to spotlight, women and business. It sounds like a lot of different creative women out there in your community, and spotlighting them in a way that says look at how amazing they are. And so you're like, you are impacting you're like, you know, you're subverting that quote, or you're like kind of making that quote, real with the work that you're doing. And I think that's really cool that you're finding a way to put out into the world these things are important these things matter. Check them out, like I think so often. Because you know, whether it's social media or whatnot thing, we're all moving so fast. In even in small communities, but communities we don't care about all the amazing things that people are doing. Not because we don't want to we just like don't have the time and so writers and people interviewing and writing these kind of things. Teachers on what's going on are really important. So I think it's so neat that not only that, you know, this came about in such an, you know, like you said, an organic way that you wouldn't have even expected. What I think is an important takeaway is that you, you said like, oh, I want to write about this, you know what I mean? Like you, you didn't just say, oh, like, Give me whatever you thought to yourself, like, Oh, let me let me say what I want. And they could have said, No, but they said, Yes. And here you are. And so I think that's a really important thing for people who want to write and publish for other publications, like don't be afraid to say what you want to write about, because that's what's going to probably be those the writing that you've put the most energy and enthusiasm into, right. And that's something
Christine Carpenter
I mean, I don't know, I don't know where I got the nerve.
Jackie Leonard
But yeah, I mean, you did that. Right.
Christine Carpenter
But I think it I think it ended up being a positive. And I think that people, I think that the people who respect that, to feel that from you, they know that, you know, this is where your passion lies, and that they know, they're gonna get the best work from you, if that's where your passion lies to.
Jackie Leonard 31:12
My other question, then, you talked about agonizing over the first piece, now that you've written a few others, do you feel like, you've noticed that it's gotten a little easier for you to do it?
Christine Carpenter 31:23
Yeah, in some ways, um, in other ways, it sometimes it can depend on the topic, too, it can depend on the person, it can depend on if it was something like somebody I wrote about was a little bit more high profile, and I felt and she had a very sensitive story. And I felt such a pressure of, you know, honoring every word. And, you know, this is something where I'm not allowed to send the article before it's published, you know, there's that journalistic integrity. And so, there are times where I feel more pressure than not, you know, I've had then I've had people who I've interviewed, you know, come back, and I always say, if you have other things you want to add, email me, I'll get like, the cert with certain people, I get more emails than not, when I say, Oh, my God, I hope, you know, I hope I'm representing this person, in a way where they feel like, they can turn around and say, like, wow, like, she wrote this, but this is who I am, you know, I, I could have written this myself. And like, that's always what I'm aiming to do. And I think with with this style, too, and with being able to quote, and it being more journalistic style makes it a bit easier. But in general, I would say it's gotten easier, I've gotten to more of a rhythm, you know, like recording the conversation and playing it back. And kind of getting into like, knowing how to outline and knowing that this kind of also isn't another case where I need to sit with it, usually a little bit before I even listen to the sort of the playback, to kind of get an idea of like, okay, which angle do I want to take? And how do I want to present this person? And yeah, all of those things are always swimming. But overall, I would say, it's, it's gotten a lot easier.
Jackie Leonard 33:12
Yeah. Um, did you I know, you said you majored in writing, or you started out as a writing major? Did you do journalism? And I'm curious, like, how have you, you know, going into it now, do you? What do you do to kind of where do you put what do you pull from to do the writing that you do and I'm more journalistic way.
Christine Carpenter 33:37
I think it's I think it's more just from reading, I didn't really pursue journalism I, what I had taken was only for one year, you know, my freshman year, and it was very general. And the major ended up being more technical writing than I liked, it was less creative. And I always found myself, like, you know, with my electives, like tacking on all those creative writing classes, whether it be poetry or you know, anything else. So I think it's more of, you know, reading even reading an editorial on someone and knowing that I'm not necessarily writing an editorial, but like, kind of getting, you know, a flavor for what do I like, about the way this person was described? And what don't I like, and how can I represent this story, you know, at its most authentic form, but also keep have a voice in in in what I'm contributing. And with journalism, you keep your voice a little bit more out of it than then not. But I think there's still a general you know, cohesiveness with, with what I've kind of put out and that's, that's like, what I'm hoping for to is to represent the person and also to be, you know, to people will know, okay, oh, this is what you know, this is the person who reports on this and creating that kind of body of work. Um, that showcases women.
Jackie Leonard 35:03
Do you feel like the writing that you're doing for the newspaper has helped your creative writing? Have you noticed that? Yeah,
Christine Carpenter 35:11
definitely. I think even just practice and the editor is so amazing. She has, you know, I'm always like, I'm always kind of, I'm kind of a nerd. So I'm always kind of excited when I get like a slew of edits. The first time, it was a little daunting. But it was funny, the, I wrote a piece recently, and I felt like, I had a lot going on, personally, and I didn't feel like I gave it, like the attention. And I wrote it a little bit more conversational, and I think I was more relaxed. And it was the least amount of edits I've ever gotten back. She loved it. So it was just like, I found that really kind of funny, I was like, Oh, this is like, this is sort of telling that I can kind of take the pressure off and, and let it flow, you know, more naturally, and it will, it can still be, you know, a great piece, it can still be successful.
Jackie Leonard 36:08
Yeah, that's, that's really cool to hear. It's taking me back to I think the time that I had the most fun writing was when I was in college, and I was working for a newspaper at my, my college. And also taking a lot of creative writing classes, I felt like they really do feed each other in really cool ways. And so I'm excited to hear that that's something that you're in right now and thriving in. And I just hope that anybody listening who has considered writing more, you know, for journalism, or having their work published and doing assignments, like you're doing, feels a little encouraged to maybe go out and look and see how they can do it. And also do the type of writing think about the type of writing that they want to do versus, like, take what you can get, because I think sometimes we can feel like, Oh, I just want to write, and we go out there, I've done this myself, and start writing for somebody and realize that like, oh, wait, it matters what I write about, because it's really hard to write about something that you aren't that, you know, invested in. For sure. I know some people can do it. But it can be really hard. For a creative writer, I think especially so thank you so much for sharing just a little bit about another so much more that we can probably say about your writing journey. But I would like to before we end, give you some time to read from some of your own writing. And can you share a little bit about what you're reading and take and take us into your story?
Christine Carpenter 37:51
Sure, this was a piece that was published in Montreux magazine and it was called how I forgave myself for outgrowing my old life. And it kind of it's kind of the overarching theme of everything we've talked about how, you know, I went from this very fast paced kind of life to a slower one and how I went through a lot of guilt over, you know, abandoning that old version of myself and kind of growing into the next one, so I'll read you a little bit of the end. ‘’As women we are groomed to be hyper vigilant about our careers. I often wonder if we are trained to achieve a life outside of our homes in an effort to counter gender imbalance in the workplace. I've had to let go of the shame of loving my life. Inside my four walls. Some days being productive, is holding my son in my arms all afternoon. And measuring self worth looks different with a tiny baby who needs me for everything. That is my new reality. I had every intention of returning to my job to my mentor and friend, but another calling back and I let my son's chubby little hands grass, my fingers tugging toward a life, I could no longer deny, I chose a painful but necessary path to let the world down instead of myself. The grass is always greener just where you plant your authentic self. So I forgive myself for blooming where my roots have sought the sweetest soil in which to anchor I choose growth.’’
Jackie Leonard 39:20
Thanks for reading from that that was a really exciting time when I heard about you getting featured in mantra magazine. And I'm just really inspired hearing you talk about you know, all of these different avenues of writing that you're taking in your life with such a young child and the pockets of time that you're finding to write I wrote down three takeaways from our conversation. The first is little moments add up to big impact. The second is to accept the peaks and valleys of writing. And the third is to not be afraid to ask for what you want. And I would love for you, Christina to share how people can connect with you and read more of your writing after listening to you today.
Christine Carpenter
Sure, Instagram would be the primary place, I link on my writing there. And that's at Christine is writing.
Jackie Leonard 40:27
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, and for sharing about your writing story. And I hope this inspires people listening to to make a little decision, a little choice to take a little step forward to get what they want to in their writing. Thank you so much, Christine.
Christine Carpenter 40:53
Thank you, thanks for the space for this.
Jackie Leonard 40:56
As always, at the end of every episode, I like to leave you with a writing prompt to help you process and think about how you can apply the conversation we had on the podcast to your own life and your own writing. So this writing prompt is inspired by my conversation with Christine today. It's a reflective question that is kind of simple, but one that I don't think that we think about enough. I want you to pretend that I am your editor in the same way that Christine had an editor ask her what do you want to write about? What subject or topic lights you up, fires you up excites you so much that you want to write about it and would love to do over and over again?