-
-
Subscribe
Between June of 2003 and July of 2004, my husband Matt and I took our (then 1-year-old) son Tommy on an odessey across six states, three countries, and two continents before returning to Delaware, where Matt is an English professor at the University of Delaware. In March of 2005 we welcomed Teddy to our family.
Like so many other parents, my life since we came back has been caught up in the typical chaos of school, play, work, home, yard. I work twenty hours a week. I volunteer at school and church when I can. Lately I’ve been trying to buy local food and prepare much of what we eat from scratch. Because I developed bad back problems after my second pregnancy, I started doing hot yoga 18 months ago. I garden obssesively. Oh, and of course, I wrote a book and found an agent.
The book, titled The Mother of All Trips: 13 Months, 8 Stops, 1 Toddler, details our 13 months on the road. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part meditation on motherhood, it tells stories about bottles and binkies familiar to all parents of young children with the twist that only travelling can provide.
I’m sorry to report that although my wonderful agent did everything possible to get the book published, I’ve had no luck and she finally told me we were at the end of the road. Many editors loved the book, but no one bit because no one thought it would sell. Discouraging though this may be, I’ve decided that surely they are all wrong. I know that there are many parents out there who want to read about traveling with children.
And I’m hoping that all those people find there way here to my own little bit of the blogosphere. What the future will hold, I don’t know. Will I post all of the book here? Self-publish? Make an audiobook? Try and excerpt it for magazines? I haven’t decided. At the moment I have at least the preface of the book published as a pdf on Scribd.
What I have decided to do is create a place where I can share my own story both past and present. We’re leaving for a family trip to Paris on June 27th and I’m going to try and blog the entire time we are there (pray that the gods of wireless Internet will be kind). And when I come back, I’m planning to start posting not only my own travel stories, but stories from other mothers (and maybe even some fathers) around the globe. It’s my hope this will become a place where anyone who wants to take a trip – no matter how big or small – can find help, advice, and inspiration.
Comments
One Response to “A little background…”
Got something to say?
I also hang out at
Connect with Mara
And look! They liked me
Have you thought about self-publishing ? Of course you’ll carry the expense, but if you really want to get your book out there, this might be something you want to research.
Just a thought.
Michelle