Reading While Writing
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Calling all bookworms and bookworm wannabes! In this solo episode of Mother Writer, I’m unpacking Stephen King’s famous advice about reading and writing. Rather, I’m adapting it for us mother writers out there who would like to read more, and write more, but fall short even with the best of intentions and an ever-growing pile of books to be read. I’ll share why reading more has improved my writing in the past, and how I’ve kicked off 2023 reading more than I have in years. I’ve boiled it down to 5 things that have worked for me, and I’m sharing them with you. I couldn’t end the episode without some book recommendations, and you’ll hear what I’m currently reading as well as the next 6 books on my TBR list!
TOPICS DISCUSSED
Why we need more candid stories from people who choose not to have children
Coming to terms with the fact that writing is hard and takes work
How we end up being our own worst enemies when it comes to writing
Unpacking Stephen King’s famous advice about reading and writing
The reasons why reading more will help you write better
5 tips for you to fit more reading time into your lifestyle and ultimately, write more!
The books I’m currently reading and the next 6 one my TBR (to be read) list
MOTHERHOOD IN THE WILD
In this week’s MITW segment, I discuss this feature on People.com about celebs who don’t want kids.
BOOKS REFERENCED
Support Motherscope and independent bookstores by shopping our Mother Writer Bookshop List for the titles below:
Galatea by Madeline Miller
Spare by Prince Harry
Happening by Annie Erneaux
Thrust by Lydia Yuknavitch
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Nightbitch by Rachel Zoder
Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
OTHER REFERENCES
Past Episode: Five Books Perfect for Summer Reading with Reading Through Life Podcast Hosts Sarah and Mia - The Motherscope Podcast
WRITING PROMPT
How would you describe to your child what makes a writer a writer?
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Jackie Leonard 00:00
You're listening to Mother writer, a podcast by mother scope. I'm your host, Jackie Leonard, a lifelong writer and mother of two. each week's episode will focus on the uniquely challenging and powerful dance of writing, while mothering. With a mix of Scylla hosted and guests episodes, you'll walk away with actionable takeaways, recommendations, and prompts the light of fire in you to write, share your story and proudly call yourself a mother writer.
00:37
Or are we doing on our resolutions for the new year?
Jackie Leonard 00:41
I know it's a little passe now and 2023 to publicly say that you have a New Year's resolution. I know, words for the year are kind of more popular these days. And for good reason, I think New Year's resolution and the New Year in general has a lot of big expectations and a lot of pressure to just completely redo our lives and make everything rights. And so often we struggle to, to live up to those expectations and then feel worse about ourselves in the process, right. So that's not the intention for the resolution. But I still can't help myself, I set benchmarks for myself, I set goals and have things that I want to work on and do better each year. And so often I find myself, like I said, not living up to those or feeling like I have too many. And I spread myself too thin and can't really dive into one as much as I'd like to. So the subject matter of today's episode touches on that. But I'm sharing it with you even though it has to do with my own personal goals. I think if you're listening to this podcast, you're a writer, and you're somebody who likely wants to write more, that's something that I always have on my mind. I'm always working to find ways to write more, and feel like I'm doing it more consistently and with more intention. And that's the purpose of this whole podcast. Even though I've put out a few episodes so far this year. This is the first one that I've recorded in the New Year, and 2023. And I wanted to make sure that early on in the year, I put out an episode all about reading while writing. So that's what we're going to do. Before I dive in. It's time for our motherhood in the wild segments, if you're new to the podcast, this segment is where I or the guests for the week will share where they have noticed motherhood come up in the wild, so to speak, in the wild can be anything from on social media in their real worlds, day to day experiences. In an article they read something they listened to or saw on the news, whatever. So for me, this popped up. In an article I stumbled across from people.com. The headline rates celebs who've opened up about their decision not to have kids, these stars are skipping the path to parenthood, at least for now, because of everything from environmental concerns to simply not wanting to deal with the pressure of raising children. So something to know about me personally, is I'm often drawn to narratives by people who've chosen to not have children. I think these stories are so so so important because they serve to counter the more common expectation, the more common routes for people, which is to have children to start a family and well, I am one of those people who have chosen to have children and have a family. I have a lot of respect and admiration for people who make the decision to not have children, because they face an immense amount of pressure, typically from society from I'm sure family members, and not just pressure but judgments and criticism. And in spite of all of that they hold firm and they stay true to their themselves and their decisions. And I think if these stories are put out there more and more and more people will feel empowered to make those same decisions for themselves if that's what they choose to do. I know for myself as a woman, I felt that pressure and I regularly heard people asked me if I wanted to have children. Even after I had my first child, it still didn't go away. There were more questions about when I was going to have another one and all of that fixation on having children and building and growing your family feels very odd to me. It's like it just it's so strange to me that that is something that other people are very concerned about. And keep track of even for myself, someone who, you know, went the very traditional route got married, had two children. Still, I contended with that. And so, like I said, I just, I just really respect the people who speak out and share their stories about it. Because frankly, I think there are a lot of people historically who have not been able to make the choice to not have children, I'm sure we can all think of examples where there was a person out there who had children, because they thought they were supposed to, or they just did what they knew was expected of them, or they really had no choice and the children suffered for it. So I won't get into all the different celebrity celebrities that are featured in this article, but I'll link it in the show notes. But the two that that stood out to me the most were the first one was from Chelsea Handler, who says that she's choosing not to have children, because she doesn't think she has the skills, or kind of like the patience or tolerance to have children. She says, I'm not equipped with what it takes to answer all those questions from children, because they don't just ask you once they come in, and in and in. And that is very, very true. Chelsea Handler, they don't just ask you once. And she says, You know, I have nieces and nephews to know I don't have the tolerance for that kind of questioning. And she also shares that she's had women reach out to her and say thank you for saying you don't have to be, you're not worthy in this world. When you become someone's mother and wife, you're worthy before that. And she says, and I understand some people want children go get one. But for the people that don't, we're doing the world a favor, too. And the other person who was featured in this article was Seth Rogen and his wife, Lauren Miller. He says that he has chosen he and his wife both do not want to have children. He says he wouldn't have the time to work as much as he would like if he had kids, and that his wife completely agrees. He says I wouldn't be able to do all this work that I like, people are always like, it's something I think I was uncomfortable answering this before. But they were like, how do you do so much? The answer is I don't have kids, I have nothing else to do. And I really appreciated this perspective as well, because there's some real honesty there, that he recognizes that there is a lot of work that goes into raising children that he doesn't want to have to dedicate his time to, because there are things that he is much more interested in doing. This. At first, when I read it made me feel a little resentful not of Him, but like of the situation that exists in the United States, especially for child care. Because I was feeling a little rebellious or like, like, I wanted to push back on what he said and think to myself like, well, everybody should be able to do what they want to do. And the answer shouldn't be not having children, which is not to say that his choice is wrong, he can make that choice for himself. But it just made me start to feel all these feelings like well, because I've had children, does that mean that I can't do the things I want to do, which, again, is not what he's saying. But it brought up all those feelings for me. And this has been on my mind. I mean, it's something that I think is always on my mind. But there is a very real limitation that we have as parents, especially when our children are young, of what we are able to do. And whether it's a reality of any parenting no matter how amazing the situation is, or just the unfortunate consequence of the world we currently live in parent people who have children are not going to be able to do the same amount of things that a person without children does, if they are participating in the child care that goes into raising their children. This kind of reminds me of the essay that Serena Williams wrote and she announced her retirement from tennis, where she felt a sort of resentment against her partner because her husband because she physically is the one that's going to have more children if they choose to have more children. And her having her daughter set her back so much in her career in a way that her husband did not have to contend with at all just because he isn't the one who physically birth their child. So that was the motherhood in the wild that I wanted to share with you. And it's a little funny to me that people magazine is the source for so much kind of introspection and criticism about social norms around people who choose to not have children and all this stuff and getting me thinking about the sacrifices of Parenting and all of that it came from people.com of all places, which is the whole purpose of this motherhood in the wild segment, because I want to point out how much is out there, that comments on motherhood, specifically that you may not even expect or realize is is going on around you, and how those things that were exposed to elicit these feelings that us so there's that. Now for the heart of the episode, reading while writing, I knew I wanted this episode to be released at the beginning ish of the new year, especially for somebody who's been listening to this podcast, I want us all to write more this year, I want to start off the year strong. And I want to not just be, you know, hit the ground running, I want us to be focused, I want us to be intentional, I want you to feel like you know what you need to do, and that you can do it so that you can just go out there and write, I have a weekly writing group that I participate in every Thursday. And at the end of the hour, one of the members in the group said something to me that, you know, is staying with me. But just writing is hard writing is really hard. And I don't think you know, I try to simplify writing so much. Because I don't want people to be discouraged. But this this medium, this art form, this form of creativity is really difficult. It's really hard, not just because it's vulnerable, but because the craft, putting together words and having them hit an audience a certain way get making sure that what you really want to capture, you can do in the written form. It's a tough trade, it's a hard thing to do. And it's a hard thing to do successfully. Not to mention the added difficulty of trying to do that, while mothering trying to do that while pregnant and having a toddler running around. It's not for the faint of heart. And yet if you're listening, you're one of those people that wants to do it and wants to find a way to make it happen. So often we can be our own worst enemies, we can be the one that's standing in our way more than any other obstacle that I just named right. So while I agree that writing is really hard, I also think that the things that we need to do to write are very simple, or at least are not as difficult as we'd make them out to be. And my preparation for this episode of Stephen King, quote came to mind. He says, If you want to be a writer, you must do two things, above all others read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of no shortcut. So if I wanted to do a real short and sweet episode, I could just end it right there. But I'm not going to do that. Because why absolutely agree. I think if you want to improve your writing, the best things to do are to read a lot and read a lot. I absolutely agree. But I do think that there does need to be some more intention. And that goes into that. I've known people who read so much, but don't write and I know people who write a lot and don't write, and I know people who do both, and still struggle with writing. So I'm just going to expand on this Stephen King quotes by relating what has been working for me recently what I've been applying to my own practices and routines that have been effective in recent weeks. In addition, I'm going to share some just tips and recommendations for things that you can do that I think are specifically targeting moms just like me to welcome or provide more space and time for you to read and write. And I'll end with some book recommendations because quite naturally, based on this subject matter. I've been reading more this year already, I've already read, almost finished reading four books. And I'm not even through with the first month and that's a huge one for me because I am not one of those people that reads fast. And I'm not one of those people who has been able to really read on a consistent basis in about a decade I would say the first thing I want to direct you to is a previous episode that aired on June 21 2022. This is my interview with the reading through life podcast hosts, Maria and Sara. And they give a lot of really great tips for ways to read more from two moms who read a ton they have a podcast all about the books that they read and they read a lot of books every month. Next I just wanted to touch on why like the Why Why am I telling you where Stephen King telling you that the key to writing better to writing to being a writer is to read a lot whenever just trying to figure out how I wanted to articulate this, I searched online and I looked at that list. And then I was like, No, I should just share why I believe that reading is essential to being a good writer. And what I have found for myself personally, is this, when I am reading more, I noticed that I just am naturally innately more likely to sit down and write, I think that reading is a way of keeping your own writing your own stories, top of mind, it works your brain cognitively in a way that watching movies and and doing other things. The other types of stimuli just don't translate the same way. The easiest way I can articulate this is a little bit of a diversion. But but it does serve its purpose. I when I was in grad school, I worked for a literary magazine through the college that I was at, and we would get hundreds of stories submissions, I was one of the fiction editors. And we would have to read through these submissions to decide if they were good enough and pass them forward. So when you are in that position, and you're exposed to people's writing from all over the world, you get a taste for what people are writing about the stories out there that people feel inspired to sit down and write. I cannot tell you how many of these stories it was the sad staggering balance of them. Read Barry's cinematic, they read in a way that I guess like the easiest way to describe them is it was very obvious that these people that were writing were people who watched a lot of TV and movies, specifically, I think, TV and movies that were very action based. So what that would translate to was stories that had a lot of just dramatic things happening. But very little substance, very little energy put into characterization and depth and emotion. It was all very just like quick paced, cinematic writing, one of our faculty advisors shared that yes, this is the result of people who watch a lot of movies and don't read enough books. And I don't mean to disregard the influence that I think can be positive of watching and consuming all different kinds of things. You should know if you if you haven't listened to earlier episodes of this podcast, I very much am all about elevating television and film. I'm not saying that at all. But I am saying that our brains need to be exposed to the kind of writing that we want to try to do ourselves, if that makes sense. So if I want to read a novel, but I'm not reading novels, I'm not even going to have a concept, I'm not even going to be able to, in my brain conceive of how to put this story into novel form. Because I'm not regularly exposing myself to what that looks like. You know, like I said earlier, writing is really hard. And so if I if Writing is hard, and then I'm also not reading a novel, but I'm wanting to write a novel and I have a whole novel conceived in my brain, I am not setting myself up for success if I'm not intentionally finding ways to expose myself to other novels. The other reason why I believe and I have found that reading really is such a resource to improve my writing is because Reading helps me see what I want to do. It helps expose me to different ways of writing that I may not have even thought that I could do. And my brain anytime I found a story or writer who was doing something that I knew I really wanted to do, my brain latched on to that specific story or, or writer or book so much that I can like almost viscerally remember reading them for the first time. I have that that feeling in my bones. When I think of when I first read. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, when I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. When I read self help by Lorrie Moore or on Earth, we're briefly gorgeous by ocean Vogue. When I read these writers, stories and books, I saw elements to their their writing to the forums to the genres that they were exploring in their own writing that I wanted to try to do myself and as a writer, I wouldn't have even known to try those things or to go in that direction or feel like I could write in that way. If I hadn't seen other writers do that before me. I would say reading expands the possibilities of what we're capable of as writers. It's our way of opening doors for ourselves. And lastly, I made a choice at the end of last year to read more, because I realized in the future, my goal is to publish a book. And when I publish a book, I would like for people to read it. That is my goal. I don't just want to publish a book, I want to republish a book that is able to reach people. And that is able to excite people enough to open it up and read it. I want my stories to have an impact on other people, my stories are not going to impact other people if they just sit on a bookshelf, right. And so I am starting to think about what I'm putting out into the world, I'm buying a lot of books, which I do think is still good. It's better than not buying books, because at least I'm supporting the writers, but I want to do what I want them to me, right. So I want to, it's like this karmic paying it forward kind of thing. If I want other people to read my book, when the time comes, I want to do that for other writers. And so I'm going to make a better, more concerted effort to read their work and support their work and receive it. For whatever reason, that's been the mindset that has stuck for me, and really helped me understand the importance of supporting other writers and also how I can feel more worthy myself of wanting and expecting that of other people in the future. With all of that said, I also have some tips for what I've done, I already shared kind of like, I guess that last one was more of a tip than a reason why Reading helps your writing, as well. But my first tip, and what's worked for me is to start small, like if you have not read a book in a really long time, if you have really young children, and your life is in survival mode, and you just really don't see how you have the capacity to sit down and write a book, what I would say first to you is find a really, really short, easy read. And an easy read might not necessarily be sure for me, the less pages the less overwhelmed. So to start off the year I read technically a short story, but it's like, released in a little tiny book form. And I bought it at the bookstore recently. So if it's sold in book form in isolation that counts as a book to me. The story is Galatea by Madeline Miller. If you are a fan of Greek mythology, this is one I would recommend. But it's like I said it's a short story. It's less than it's maybe less than 50 pages about 36 pages. And reading that I think it took me like two days to read it because I read the first half one night got a little tired read the second half the next night. That was enough for me to be like oh, like I can read a few pages every night. I can do this again. I really think choosing to pick a book that was that short to just get me going. Get me shifting gears, it was the perfect one to help me get into a special routine after having such an inconsistent schedule over winter break. So that's my bit of advice. Start with something short and sweet to get you going. My next tip is audiobooks. Finally accepting audiobooks has been a game changer for me. But I do have some tips within this tip that I think help if you are somebody who like me had a hard time has had a hard time adjusting to audiobooks. I've been listening to podcasts for years now I enjoy podcasts, they keep me energized, I can focus on them. Even though I don't consider myself an auditory listener. Like I'm not very good at taking things in and an auditory way. But I really have enjoyed the podcast form. So what I decided to start listening to audiobooks, I thought it would be an easy transition. But for a while I would put on an audio book in the car and automatically I would start to get drowsy. I would try listening, you know, during tasks throughout the day, like if I was doing the dishes or cooking or cleaning up around the house or doing something else I'd put on the audiobook and I would not be able to it would not be able to hold my attention and I'd like space out and then I went in here and half of the half of the chapter. I was really struggling and so at one point I just kind of stopped and I was like okay, I can't do audiobooks, like my brain just doesn't want to listen to them that way I need to actually sit down and read a book if I want to read it. And that approach was leading me to not reading very many books and not finishing even more books. What I have found that has really helped me cross over into audiobooks is making sure that the audiobook is narrated by the author. I have found that if it's not narrated by the author, there's something about it that just doesn't grab my attention. It doesn't appeal is engaging. So what I would definitely recommend is if you're going to get an audiobook, listen to the sample as a way to feel out if you respond well to the voice of the narrator. We all have our unique sensitivities. So if you're somebody who is totally fine with audiobooks, and has doesn't have to give it a second thought, then obviously you can disregard all of this. But if you're somebody who, like me has been a little hesitant to them. Try that out, try listening to the narrator and see if in that sample, you know how you engage with the reading. If their voice bothers you, it's gonna be really hard to listen to a whole book narrated by them. I made this mistake actually, with the book cultish, the language of fanaticism by Amanda Montel because she's the host of the podcast sounds like a cult. And I listened to that podcast. So I thought, Oh, this will be a great audiobook. I downloaded the audiobook, and I just assumed she was the narrator. And I could not listen to her because I expected it to be her voice. I don't even know if the voice was like problematic to me, it was just that I wanted it to be her voice and it wasn't. So I just couldn't engage with the book in that way. So I have found more often than not, if the audiobook is narrated by the author for whatever reason, I usually fare better at being able to engage with it. Case in point I'm currently almost finished with the audiobook spare by Prince Henry Henry, Prince Harry, his real name is actually Henry. And I think he does a fantastic job narrating it, I'm very engaged thanks to the energy that he brings to the narration. And my last tip within this tip about audiobooks is to get a subscription for Audible. I don't know any of the other audiobooks services, but Audible has been really convenient for me, and I pay a monthly subscription. I think it's about $15 a month and I get a book credit each month automatically. This one works for me because I get one a month. And if I don't use it that month, it rolls over so I can accumulate credits. Having that one credit to be able to buy an audiobook every month feels like a nice amount to set as my goal. So having one audio book a month feels doable. And because I'm paying for it, and it's recurring, I feel that structure and pressure to finish the audio book each month. My next tip about reading more to help your writing is a little unconventional, but it has been what's worked for me. And what's helped me be more successful in the last month or so that I've been more intentionally trying to read. And that's read multiple books at a time, I will say I'm not entirely sure that this will work for everyone. My husband, for example, is somebody who will zero in on something with all of his attention, and do it until he's done with that thing and then move on. So I don't think he'd be able to like read more than one book at a time, he'd want to like focus specifically on the one book before moving on to the next I am somebody who often is interested in things based on my mood. I'm less a creature of habit, and more somebody who's driven by my feelings and my moods, and they're not often consistent. And so where one night, I might want to read a book The next night, I might want to watch a TV show to settle down or I'll want to listen to a podcast one day with my free time and the next day I might want to go for a walk and listen to some music. My approach to reading is the same way I've noticed that if I'm only reading one book, if there's a night that I don't feel like reading that specific story that I won't read. And so it makes it really easy then to continue to push, push the reading time back a day back a day back that day because the story that I'm reading doesn't fit that particular mood. A primary is an example of this as I was reading the book Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. And this is the book that I have started many times have not been able to finish. I've gotten the furthest into this book, because while I was reading that book, which is very heavy and dark, and was a lot for me to read late at night, so I had to kind of limit how much I would read is I read a very light hearted memoir alongside that one and then started another one when I finished the memoir, having like two to three books that I was working on at the same time really helped me be able to decide, okay, which 1am I going to do today versus am I going to pick up this book or am I going to do something else? Oftentimes in the past when I was faced with that choice book or something else, I would do something else. And usually that's something else would be like scrolling on social media on my phone, or watching like binge watching something and not getting a lot of sleep, which impacts my ability to write in another way because I'm not stimulating myself in cognitive way that's getting me thinking about writing and storytelling, and it's also depriving me of like quality sleep. The fourth tip that I have for you, as a writer who is looking to read more is this, don't just read for pleasure. So I know I make a lot of caveats to what I say. And it's not that I don't stand by them. It's just that I'm very aware and conscious of the mom listening who's like, already feeling overwhelmed. Like, I gotta listen to an audio book once a month, I've got to read multiple books at a time. And now you're telling me that I can't even read a book that I enjoy reading? Like, what, how am I going to do this? And I'm not saying that, but what I am saying is similar to the criticism around like watching too much TV or movies and not reading enough books, if I'm only reading romance novels, for example, and I want to write a memoir, or I want to write critical nonfiction essays, I'm not exposing myself to the kind of writing that I want to be doing. I'm just reading books as entertainment that's not serving this purpose, which this whole episode is about how can we read while writing to improve our writing, essentially, I will stand behind that. I do think if you only read romance novels, and wanted to write blank other books, that's not a romance novel, The reading of those romance novels would still improve your writing, compared with not reading at all. But I do think there does need to be some intention that goes into the books that we select, and the books that we choose to read. If our goal is to be able to write the book, or the story or the type of writing the blogs, whatever it is, that we want to write, because I'm a big fan of variety and choices. If you can only read one book at a time, a good way to practice this is by alternating genres from book to book. So if you have a goal to read one book a month, one month, you could read a crime thriller. A next book, you could read a memoir, The following month, you could read, you know, a collection of short stories, I will throw in as an additive experiment with reading books of poetry. First of all, they are a lot quicker to read than a novel. And exposing yourself to poetry can be a really great tool to help you focus your own writing on powerful imagery, and lyricism and rhythm and tempo, into your writing, even if you're not yourself a poet. My last tip, I think, goes off of what I said for number four. Tip five is to always have your next book in mind. And this could be like a running list of the books you want to read. But I do think, again, like I shared earlier, be intentional with what book you're going to read. Next are the next few books that you have on your list to read. Because you don't want to get into the habit of reading the same type of book, back to back to back. Having the list is also really helpful because it hold you accountable. It can be really easy to like finish a book and be excited that you've finished the book, but then not know what's next. And that space between books will make it a lot easier to drop the habit, I do have an exception with what I just shared, like where I said, Don't ever eat the same type of book over and over and over again, I think there are situations where you might want to read the same type of book. And that would be like if you're actively working on a specific type of book or project that is a very unique style of writing or covers a certain subject matter and you want to really like immerse yourself into that then by all means, yeah, read multiple books that are in that category to keep you and that writing at top of mind. But I think on a regular basis if if that's not something that you have an intentional reason to do, you should mix up the type of books that you're reading. So I couldn't end this episode without some book recommendations to share. I'm recommending these books to you. But these are books that I have not yet read. These are the next six books that I have lined up to read once I'm finished with the two that I'm wrapping up this month. The first book is happening by Annie are no last year or no became just the 17th A woman awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in happening. It's 1963 Annie are no 23 in unattached, realizes she is pregnant. Shame arises in her like a plague understanding that her pregnancy will mark her and her family as social failures. She knows she cannot keep that child. This is the story written 40 years later of a trauma are no never overcame. The second book is thrust by Lydia you can image as rising waters and an encroaching police state endanger her life and family. A girl with the gifts of a carrier travels through water and time to rescue vulnerable figures from the margins of history. Third, crying and H Mart by Michel zona, from the indie rock sensation known as Japanese breakfast and unforgettable memoir about family food, grief, love and growing up Korean American and losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life. Zahner became herself fourth night bitch by Rachel Yoder, and this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel and artists turned to stay at home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog. Fifth, sirens and muses by Anthony Anna and grass for artists are drawn into a web of rivalry and desire at an elite art school and on the streets of New York. In this gripping, provocative and supremely entertaining debut. sixth and final book, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle's seven, two friends often in love. But never lovers come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, or success brings them theme, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and ultimately a kind of immortality. So if any of those books called to use spoke to you, or any of the books I've spoken about earlier, which will all be in the show notes, start reading, I promise it will be the thing. One of the best things you can do for your writing. I almost wasn't going to do a writing prompt for this week's episode and instead just leave it on encouraging you to read. But I'll do this instead. For this week's writing prompts, make a list of the next five to 10 books you want to read next. Thanks so much for listening to Mother writer. My hope is that you walk away from this episode feeling a little bit seen inspired to write and ready to proudly call yourself a mother writer. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave us a review. And if you're looking for more support on your writing journey, come join us inside the mother scope writers club a weekly membership for our community of moms who right just like you learn more at Motherscope.com