Putting Myself Out There

A few years ago as the last Mothers of Preschoolers meeting of the year, I realized how incredibly blessed I had been to be part of such a wonderful mothers' group. I hadn't been a mother that long, but MOPS had become an important part in my journey as a mom. Later that day, I went onto their website and started browsing around and stumbled upon the Writer's Guidelines for MomSense Magazine.

"Could I actually write an article to be published?" I wondered. Once upon a time I had been a good writer, or at least my grades in school had indicated that I was. I decided to go for it and submitted an article for consideration. A couple of months later, I was elated to discover that indeed Momsense wanted to publish my article!

That was three years ago. This week, I got the same thrill. A couple of days ago, Melody, an out-of-town friend, sent me a Facebook message saying that she was reading Momsense and was shocked to find my name in the byline. I hadn't received a copy of the magazine yet, so it was a nice surprise to hear that someone, somewhere had actually read it!

Yesterday, my copy of the magazine showed up in my mailbox. It sure is fun to see my name in print and have a tangible evidence of a successful endeavor.

It's not always easy to put ourselves out there and try for something that seems out of reach. Rejection and/or failure hurts. But, if we don't try, we definitely won't find success. This is something that I need to keep reminding myself...not just in writing but in all areas of life. As my husband considers a career change and the relocation of our family, I'm thinking about the changes that will come to my life and the many ways that I will need to "put myself out there." It won't be easy, but I'm hopeful that I will find success.

Writing and Editing

You might have noticed the bit of a hiatus that I took last week. Once Christmas hit, we had a flurry of visits from family and some law school applications that needed to be submitted. No, no. I won't be applying to law school, but my husband will. This past week, he has been working diligently to apply to several throughout the country. And man, do they want applicants to write! I've stayed close to home and served as moral support / editor. I feel as if I've been living in that movie Groundhog Day where the main character lives the same day over and over. Each day has been a series of edit, clean, feed the kids, edit, clean feed the kids, etc. One day has blurred into the next. I even found myself scrutinizing my text messages for proper wording and punctuation! Needless to say, I will breathe a huge sigh of relief once all of his applications are submitted.

Relating to writing, I did receive one exciting piece of news last week from MOPS International. I got an email indicating that their bi-monthly magazine MomSense would like to publish one of my articles in their March/April 2011 issue. They published one of my pieces in their magazine before, and several on the MOPS website (here, here and here). Given my love for MOPS, I'm very excited to have another article in their magazine. I'll be sure to publish a link to it when it goes online.

Back to MOPS

It's that time of year again for me...time for MOPS! No, I don't mean that it is time to mop my floor, although truth be told, it can pretty much always use a good mopping. I mean that it is time for my local Mothers of Preschoolers group to start meeting. When Ella was just a wee 9-months old, I went to my first meeting and loved it. MOPS is an international organization that exists to encourage and equip mothers of young children (conception through Kindergarten) to realize their potential as a woman, mother and leader. Our local meetings usually consist of brunch, a speaker, a craft and lots of time to talk with other moms in the same stage of life. While we have some time to ourselves, a dedicated group of volunteer caregivers look after our children. I feel so blessed to be a part of this group and I'm so glad it is starting up again tomorrow!

For the past couple of years, I've been the editor of our monthly MOPS newsletter. Although, it can be time consuming, I do enjoy doing it. It encourages me to keep writing and thinking. I've been working on the newest edition, and it has reminded me how much I enjoy writing articles. A couple of years ago, I was actually published in their bi-monthly magazine MomSense, a publication of Christianity Today. (If you're interested in the article, you can read it online here). I've also managed to get a couple of articles published on the MOPS International website as well (here, here and here). Although I'm far from a successful freelance writer, I've been inspired once again to keep trying and keep writing. Like everyone, I get moments when I question my capabilities..."Really, do I have anything to say that people would be interested in reading?" But, with this newsletter, I've made a commitment and I've got to stick with it. I'm hoping that it will be a fruitful year with my writing. We shall see....

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my MOPS group! I'm going to enjoy the fellowship, the speakers, the crafts, the brunch and the coffee that I can finish while it is still hot. Because we take turns bringing lunch, I'm going to be trying out a new recipe - Bacon Cheddar Egg Bake. It looks mighty tasty and since it's my big sister's recipe, chances are that it is good.

If you know of a mom who might be interested in joining a MOPS group, you can find where groups meet here.

Link to MomSense Article

Today I discovered that my article "Making Connections to Your Family Tree" which appeared in the November - December 2007 issue of MomSense Magazine is now online. For those of you who haven't read it, you can access it here.

Also, supposedly I will have another small article published online on the MOPS website in early January. We'll see if it actually happens. Other than that, nothing else is happening on the writing front. My mind has been occupied by other things lately...like getting ready for Christmas and the baby! But, perhaps in the New Year I'll get to writing again.

I'm officially published!

Yesterday I found a surprise in my mailbox...copies of the Novemer/Decemer 2007 issue MomSense Magazine with my first article in it! My article is called "Making Connections to Your Family Tree" and focuses on creating a family scrapbook to help your preschool child learn more about the relatives s/he doesn't see often. With aunts, uncles and cousins scattered in So. California, Oregon, Kansas and North Carolina, Ella & Baby #2 won't get to see their relatives as often as we'd like. So, I came up with this idea a few months ago after I realized how much Ella likes to look at photos and scrapbooks. I have to be honest, our family scrapbook is still in progress but I hope to have it finished in time for the holidays and before the birth of Baby #2! (Hint, hint...Family, I'm still waiting for your input!)

Unfortunately, my article is not accessible on the MomSense website...at least, I haven't been able to find it. But, I do have a PDF of it if you would like to read it. Just email me or post a request in the Comments section of this post, and I can send a copy.

MOPS & MOMSense

A few months ago, we had our end-of-the-year MOPS meeting. MOPS is a great organization that helps connect and support Mothers of Preschoolers -- actually even pregnant women can join. (If you know of a woman who might benefit from MOPS, direct her to http://www.mops.org/ where she can find out about local MOPS groups.) I've been going to our local MOPS for two years and I absolutely love it. At the last meeting, many women shared what MOPS has meant to them and I was touched by what many of them said. I left feeling very blessed by the part that MOPS has played in my life and a bit sad that we woudn't be meeting for the summer.


Combined with this experience and talking to my sister Jessica, the homemaker/freelance writer, I was inspired to try writing an article for the MOPS International magazine -- MOMSense. Once upon a time, I was actually a pretty good writer in school and in college. I thought, "Why not? I might as well give it a try." So, I did. In the beginning of July, I submitted an article to them. Then, just last week, I checked my email and noticed that there was something in my junk mail. Usually, it's just that...junk. But, lo and behold, there was an email from MOMSense indicating that they wanted to publish my article along with a contract for me to sign! I quickly removed it from junk mail, did a little happy dance and cracked Ella up. Just today, I got another email from the editor with an attached PDF of the article in its almost-final form for me to proof. They've edited it a bit and added a few words that technically aren't mine...but I guess that is standard procedure. But, if it all goes according to plan, my article will appear in the November / December Issue of MOMSense magazine!


For months (uh, maybe years), I've been trying to figure out what I can do to contribute financially to our family and still be a stay-at-home mom. Writing articles for parenting-related magazines might be that thing, but I'm not sure. For the past couple months, I've been doubting my ability and whether I actually have enough mom-experience and creativity to keep coming up with articles. But, this experience has definitely been an encouragement to make the time to pursue this more and see what happens.