Take Your Child to Work Day = I finally have an Assistant!

My daughter, Jackie, is spending the day with me as part of Take Your Child to Work Day. What a wonderful experience. Not only did she help me plan the 31 days of blogging we have coming up, she is now helping me do research for the YA novel I'm working on. Pretty cool to have a YA on "staff" while you are working on a YA novel!

Jackie constantly has a book in her hands. The love of reading is a gift I passed onto my kids after receiving it from my own mom and grandmother. Other than the two siblings I gave Jackie, this will be one of my greatest gifts to her.

But, while I have her here, I wanted to get her perspective on what we've done so far today, so . . .

Mom/Tia: What do you think would be the hardest part about being a writer?

Jackie: Having to think of so many ideas and put them down on paper.

Mom/Tia: Who is your favorite author? Other than your mother, of course.

Jackie: Erin Hunter (author of the Warriors and Seekers series), because I've read almost all her books.

Mom/Tia: Before today, what did you think your mom did all day? (Note to self: this is like asking your husband if you look fat in an outfit. I'm holding my breath awaiting a response I know will probably go poorly)

Jackie: Cleaned the house and edited stuff. I figured you edited because you always edit my papers so much. Can I ask you a question?

Mom/Tia: Sure (gulp)

Jackie: What's the hardest part about being a writer?

Mom/Tia: Focusing on writing and not all the business aspects of writing such as keeping up FB, Twitter, the blog, the website, etc. I need to set a goal, even if it's 500 words a day, and stick to it.

If you are with your son or daughter today at work, enjoy it. And, if you get a minute, ask them some questions!

Why a Daughter Needs a Mom: Reason Two

Gregory Lang's Why a Daughter Needs a Mom: 100 Reasons is a beautiful ode to the special bond between mothers and daughters. I hope my daughters and I stay close through the years just as I have stayed close with my mother and sisters. Our novel is also dedicated to this special bond.

Reason Two:

A daughter needs a mom

who is never more than a phone call away

I have many blessings, but I have never been blessed enough to live just down the street from my mom or any of my sisters. Since moving to Maryland, I'm finally six hours away, the closest I've ever been. Especially since having kids, daily phone calls with my mom and sisters have become a ritual. Most of the time I was calling with tears or fears! Parenting is so hard.

In Depression Cookies, Krista is having a particularly hard day at middle school and desperately needs her mom . . .

“Hi, Nurse Perry, I just threw up and I’m not feeling well. I need to call my mom,” I said. Mom would save me, and I needed saving right now. I could not face another minute of this insanity.

The nurse called her, and I heard some whispering before she came over and told me I could wait in the office. She then put her hand on my shoulder and told me everything was going to be okay.

I am not sure how long I sat there, but I was glad to be protected by the glass walls of the principal’s office. When Mom walked in, I ran into her arms before saying, “Thank God you’re here.”

Seated safely in the car, Mom tried to get me to talk, but I didn’t know where to begin. More than that, I was terrified about how it all was going to end.

Krista needed her mom and thankfully she was simply a phone call away. What a gift!

***

My mom is always a simple phone call away as I am for my girls. What's the craziest thing you called your mother about?

Our First Commercial

Our first video commercial! It's a bit of a test for us to start using Video. In this age of social media and internet, the ability to see and "hear from" authors is becoming increasingly important.

This is especially for mothers . . . I figured what better spokespeople for a mother-daughter book than two of my daughters!

Enjoy!

Why a Daughter Needs a Mom

My husband gave me a copy of Why a Daughter Needs a Mom: 100 Reasons by Gregory E. Lang for Christmas. I put it where all good reading material goes (especially the quick reading kind that I want to re-read daily): in the bathroom. The more I took in the quick 100, the more I realized how much our novel touches on each one of these. My plan, on and off to amuse our blog readers, is to go through each of the 100 reasons and detail how Depression Cookies (and writing a book with your mom) covers the topics.

REASON ONE:

A daughter needs a mom to provide her

with memories that will last forever.

My mother clearly passed down many memories; our novel is built around sharing and attempting to capture a mother-daughter relationship through all its ups and downs. But by writing the novel together and publishing it, we passed down "memories" to my children and my children's children as well. Even though it's fiction, so many of the feelings and love presented in the book bound our real family together.

With Mother's Day fast approaching, we hope you'll take some time to enjoy these mother-daughter blog posts! If you haven't called your mother or daughter in awhile, take a moment to do so.