Date Night Discoveries

I found the coolest, inspiring stationary from this neat company




and discovered a new-to-me writer, Tessa Hadley. I am really enjoying her book Sunstroke & Other Stories, but she has written several books getting attention including The Master Bedroom reviewed here . A quick search led me to this great interview with her about mothers who write.

A few quotes from that interview worth mentioning:

How old were your children when you started to write?

"Even when they were very young, writing was such a wonderful thing it kept me alive. Some aspects of motherhood -- especially very young babyhood -- can be so difficult, but I found if I could have three hours a day to step into this other world, it kept me going and I could enjoy my children. In that way, writing helped me be a better mother because I could escape for three hours and then go back to other things with real pleasure. With my second child, I had a "child minder" which felt very greedy, but that was my time. I couldn't justify it, but it was crucial."

From a practical standpoint, how has being a mother affected your writing?

"The topics I write about are hugely affected by motherhood. Since my life from age twenty-three through my thirties was completely taken up by motherhood, all of my ingenuity and interest have been focused on that. It's the challenge of trying to capture in writing the essence of women juggling home and work, women with babies, sexuality and young mothers, the division of labor -- that's been my story, and that's what I know about."

Any other thoughts on how being a mother has influenced you as a writer?

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"A.S. Byatt has talked about women developing later as writers, and how maturity and motherhood are sort of a backwards route to writing. That was true for me. Although I look back now and know I was not that happy with writing in secret and being rejected by publishers, I'm glad I had that time. It was almost as if I needed a period of privacy and solitude to develop. It was a plus and a minus, but I wouldn't exchange being at home for those years." Tessa Hadley





And I packed my new finds home in this cracker jack:



Envirosax-
This bag rolls up like an umbrella cover into the size of travel Kleenex, perfect for your purse, to have any time you purchase anything. We have been using larger green bags for groceries, but this works for everything else, comes in great patterns and retails for about $7 bucks.