Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Motherhood?
Not having children myself, the 'agony and ecstasy of being a mother' isn't a subject I know a vast amount about. So when I saw that the theme for a forthcoming issue of Mslexia was 'motherhood', my heart sank. That's another issue I won't be able to write for, I thought. But then I surprised myself. This afternoon I sat down and wrote an emotional little piece about two neighbours' very different experiences of being a mother to a 20-something son. I'm still wondering where on earth the ideas for that came from...
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2 comments:
I'm not surprised by that, Fiona. In fact, even though I have 3 kids (and they have kids too), you're closer to understanding what motherhood is than I am.
Except that we both had/have mothers and, as writers, we can handle any subject that's thrown at us. The authenticity of what we write depends on our imaginative engagement with the subject rather than our experience of its reality.
That's a fascinating response, Bill, and I'm sure you're right. After all, I've never killed anyone or slept rough either, yet I've written about both those things recently. Somehow 'motherhood' just seemed more personal and more 'remote', for some reason.
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