Celebrating Ten Years of Literary Mama: Maria Scala
October 2013 marks Literary Mama’s ten year anniversary! On Wednesdays for the next few months we’ll celebrate this milestone with editors and columnists, both past and present. They’ll share what being a part of Literary Mama has meant to them, what they hope for the future of the magazine, and how Literary Mama has shaped their writing, their mothering, and their lives.
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Maria Scala- Senior Editor
It was definitely an “aha” moment for me when I discovered Literary Mama. As a new mom to a baby girl, I sat transfixed before the site on my then desktop computer in our home office while my daughter either slept, or nursed, or both, in my arms. Not long after, in the summer of 2007, when she turned two, I joined Literary Mama as a Columns Editor.
I was, and still am, thrilled to be a part of this intelligent and warm community of writers and editors. Over the years I have had the privilege of editing columns by Ericka Lutz, Vicki (Forman) Kamida, and Jessica Berger Gross. I currently edit the columns of Cassie Premo Steele, Ona Gritz, and Marjorie Osterhout (Marjorie was LM’s Managing Editor, and hired me in 2007.) I know I have become a better, more confident editor by working with these talented women. As well, they have encouraged me in my own writing, offering feedback that comes from a place of true wisdom and kindness.
A few years ago, Editor-in-Chief Caroline M. Grant invited me to become part of the Senior Editorial team, and I saw it as a great opportunity to become more versed in all the content on the site. Along with column editing, I am now involved in the approval process for every department, and count myself lucky to be able to work with such a brilliant group of editors.
Things have changed a great deal for me since those early days of motherhood. My office is now wherever my laptop or smartphone happens to be (the old office became a bedroom for Baby Number 2.) As I write this post, my eight-year-old daughter sits beside me reading a book, and my three-year-old son is making accidents happen on his Thomas the Train Wacky Track Bridge. Here he is, during calmer days, sporting a Literary Mama onesie the staff gave me when he was born:
