What We Learned From This Mother + Writer About Storytelling And The Messy Middle Between Creative Pursuits & Motherhood

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In this episode, we cover:

1. Mother + Writer or Writer + Mother: Jackie Leonard describes the moment after her first child was born when she started "writing things in her head again," and what she did with that inspiration. 
2. Jackie created Motherscope Magazine—an online writing and publishing community for moms—when her firstborn was just one year old. 
3. We've said it before and we'll say it again—community is everything. Jackie shares her journey with Motherscope's community events, both in-person and virtual. 
4. Jackie on the importance of storytelling in motherhood: it keeps us present, helps preserve memories, and keeps us connected to ourselves.
5. "Just show up." Jackie shares her policy of encouraging moms to come as they are, and how she's learned to adjust her expectations and remember that any work she's doing is important and worthwhile. 
6. Jackie on balance—our most loved and hated topic—and how it's much more about taking breaks, patience, pausing, frequent reassessing, and shifting focus when needed. 
7. The comparison games mother + writers can't help but play, and when it feels like you "aren't winning anywhere."

Books we referenced:
Body Work by Melissa Febos
Angela Garbes: Like a Mother, Essential Labor

JACKIE LEONARD is a life-long writer, podcast host, Southern California native now living in Oregon, and the founder of Motherscope. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and years of experience as an editor for college and literary publications. However, it was the birth of her first child in 2017, and her experiences in those early days of motherhood, that inspired what would eventually become Motherscope, a community of moms who inspire and uplift one another by writing and sharing their own stories.

Where you can find her:
https://www.motherscope.com/
https://www.instagram.com/motherscope/ 

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