By the time my daughter was three years old, many of her friends had Barbies. She began asking for one of her own. I was of the mind that Barbie was a clueless bimbo with weird feet, and Ken was a putz. I didn’t buy one until that day in the grocery store. It had […]
Eileen Vorbach Collins | August 19, 2023 | Blog | 6 Comments
The new Barbie film has transported me to my childhood. Barbara Millicent Roberts arrived at my house on December 25, 1963. Barbie was gorgeous in her gold and white bathing suit and matching headscarf. The new doll was a grown-up girl, but many of my friends looked like her, All-American little girls with blue eyes, straight part-in-the-middle, yellow-white hair, and Coppertone-tanned […]
Applications will soon be accepted for A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program (Sept. 5-Oct. 5). The winners, finalists and honorable mentions will be announced in November. The grand prize winners will be honored at the April 4-6, 2024, Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, where they will be “robed” in […]
Unless you’ve been living in a bubble, you’ve seen video and memes or heard chatter from friends about Greta Gerwig’s new film, Barbie. If you’ve seen it, we’d love to publish your 400-700 word essays or poems on the blog about what Barbie means to you as a mama. These are just some ideas you […]
If you’re reading this, you know how hard it is to make time for writing as a mom. After changing diapers to cleaning up messes and helping with homework and cleaning up more messes, it’s not always easy to dive into a writing project and find your flow. But as a mama writer, writing is […]
By the time July and August roll around, the heat can be unbearable. While this makes gardening and hiking difficult, it makes reading under a fan with a cool drink beside you an absolutely perfect way to spend an hour. Our staff shares what they’ve been knocking out from their to-be-read lists. What book are […]
Ten years ago (“the blink of an eye,” in Mama time) I wrote a post honoring this site’s 10th anniversary. I’m back for another milestone—20 years of Literary Mama! The editors asked for some thoughts on the Columns department, which is where it all began for me, having edited nine columns for LM. I really […]
Welcome to our Calls for Submissions page. Here, we’ll feature new publication opportunities for all our Mama readers. Look for updated posts every other month. Don’t see a favorite magazine? Some close submission windows during the summer months, so check back in the fall. The list below contains plenty of literary magazines that are accepting […]
Having trouble getting into your writer’s seat this summer? Hopefully you’re off making amazing memories that will inspire future essays and stories, but if you do find yourself at a coffee shop with a couple luxurious free hours, here are a few writing prompts to get your pen moving. 1.CNF/Journal: Write about your favorite 4th […]
How does summer influence you as a mother? You may try to recreate the wonderful experiences from your childhood with your own kids, such as camping in the quiet woods or chasing lightning bugs in the backyard. Maybe you struggle with summer and the pervasive lack of routine that seems to come with it. With […]
I’m a little bit addicted to traveling. While I tell myself that there are worse addictions, the state of the carpet in my home and the 16-year-old sandals in my closet suggest that maybe I ought to focus at least some of my attention on non-travel spending. The writer in me has an opinion about […]