A couple of weeks ago I received the exciting news that one of my stories was selected to be included in the upcoming anthology, Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! which is being published in June by Shannon Day (Martinis & Motherhood) and Tara Wilson (Don’t Lick the Deck) of Tipsy Squirrel Press.
I’m so excited and honored to have my story included along with 35 other talented authors sharing their stories of the Wonder, Woe & WTF moments of motherhood (and of course, martini recipes.) Read more about the book here.
At about the same time I got the news about the book, I was also nominated by Teresa at Embracing the Spectrum for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. This award is a fun way to learn more about fellow bloggers by nominating them to answer a series of questions. It’s kind of like a fun chain letter but more likely to be answered since you send it to a bunch of bloggers who already spend most of their lives talking about themselves online.
I was thinking about who I should nominate in return and thought what better way to learn more about all of the fabulous authors that are included in the Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! than for me to nominate them and challenge them to answer a list of my questions.
They are:
Publishers/Contributors
Shannon Day martinisandmotherhood.com
Tara Wilson dontlickthedeck.com
Contributors
Susanne Kerns (me) thedustyparachute
Kim McDonald Twobugsandablog
Leigh-Mary Barone Hoffmann happilyeverlaughterblog
Shannon Drury theradicalhousewife
Kate Parlin shakespearesmom
Kirstenjill Hudkins Robbins rippedjeansandbifocals
Andrea Mulder-Slater noreallyandrea
Patricia Mirchandani raising-humans
Magnolia Ripkin magnoliaripkin
Lori Lu Green LeRoy theinadequateconception
Abby the Writer Little Miss Perfect
Kristine Laco mumrevised
Holly Rust Mothersguidetosanity
Sara Park crcrsmommyblog
Kathryn Leehane foxywinepocket
Brooke Takhar missteenussr
Sarah Halsall del Rio established1975
Lynn Morrison nomadmomdiary
Cordelia Newlin de Rojas multilingualmama
Olga Mecking europeanmama
Vicki Lesage vickilesage
Angila Peters detachedfromlogic
Alison Huff crumbsdown
Lauren Stevens lo-wren
Jocelyn Pihlaja omightycrisis.com
Christina Antus christinaantus
Lisa Webb canadianexpatmom
Sarah Deveau doingallthethings
Jennifer Baird- Dean – Blog coming soon!
Tamara Schroeder thattamiam
Kristen Hansen Brakeman kristenbrakeman
Louise Gleeson latenightplays
Jessica D’Andrea Kapp jesskapp
Be sure to check out their blogs and of course stalk them on all their social media channels…we bloggers love that!
But first, here are my answers to the questions that Teresa from Embracing the Spectrum asked me:
What made you decide to become a blogger?
I really had no intention of becoming a blogger. Last summer I was hitting full panic mode as my son was about to start a full time pre-k program. I felt this overwhelming pressure to go right back to work but felt like my skill set was hopelessly out of date after being home with my kids for 10 years. My career had been in advertising (most recently online advertising) but back when I was working most people weren’t using Facebook, Twitter and social media for advertising yet. I decided to start The Dusty Parachute to both document the trials of a long-term stay at home mom trying to reenter the workforce as well as to use it to learn about marketing across social media. It didn’t take long for my posts to veer from ‘career search’ to ‘random mommy ramblings’ and seven months later, here I am.
What’s your favorite book and why?
Martinis & Motherhood, Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?!, of course!
I’m bad at answering this question because “I love them all equal.”
- I love “The Endurance” because it’s a true story of courage & hardship and I think of this book every time that I complain about being cold when the temperature dips below 50 degrees.
- I love The Hunger Games because it was the book that reignited my excitement for reading after a way-too-long hiatus.
- I love Let’s Pretend this Never Happened because I just love how Jenny Lawson’s brain works.
- And I loved Gone Girl & Where’d You Go Bernadette because they both managed to keep surprising me all the way through the end of the book.
- I love Trendology both because my husband wrote it and because reading it made me excited about learning more about Twitter and Social Media as a marketing tool. He somehow managed to write it in a way that makes Twitter (which used to scare the sh*t out of me) understandable and entertaining.
- I love The Riviera Contract. It’s like a James Bond type book, except the author (my father in law) actually had a career in the FBI and really knows about the stuff he’s writing about. He’s a total bad ass, not just because he could probably find 100 ways to render a man unconscious using just a ballpoint pen and a cotton ball but because also because he followed his dream of writing after he retired and got his first book published in his 60s.
When you’re in the car, what’s one song that you would sing out loud like no one’s watching/listening?
Kiss, by Prince, anything by Depeche Mode and Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake.
Are you a cat person, a dog person, or a reptile person?
I love anything furry with big, sweet eyes. I even love my two 18-year old brother cats who fill my days with cuddles, purring and piles of poo and vomit on pretty much every carpeted surface of our house. We recently lost our 12 year old dog to cancer. You can read all the valuable lessons he taught me about living a happy life here.
If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?
I would have been nicer to my mom as a teenager and I would not have lost the silver necklace that my husband gave me when my son was born.
Describe the best day of your life.
Sitting under a giant Live Oak tree, listening to live music while enjoying a beer with my husband and watching our kids run around and play. (I think I need to go back to Salt Lick soon.)
If you could only use three words to describe yourself, what would they be?
Honest, Caring, Worrier
(My daughter added ‘inspiring’ so I raised her allowance.)
If you could do anything you wanted to do for 24 hours, what would you do?
Lie in a giant lounge chair on a beach in Kauai while a team of waiters brings me margaritas and Gordough’s Cinna-Bomb donuts.
If you found a magic bottle on the beach and you were granted three wishes, what would you wish for (you cannot wish for more wishes)?
Cure cancer. Cure Diabetes. Cure Alzheimer’s.
Now, this one is really important, so be honest. Apple or Android?
100% Apple. They used to be my client. Love them, love their products.
*Note: All the links to books, restaurants, etc are unpaid/not sponsored and done just because I really love those things and want to spare you the effort of Googling them.
And now, my questions for the ladies of Martinis & Motherhood -Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! (No pressure ladies, I know how busy y’all are and how much work a post takes – if it’s easier you can even just answer some of the questions in the comments.)
- What made you decide to become a blogger/writer?
- How would you describe your blog (writing) in one sentence?
- Without giving too much away, what three words would you use as a teaser to describe your story in Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of wonder, Woe & WTF?!
- What’s your favorite book?
- What’s something you’ve done in your life that you’re proud of?
- Share a link to a favorite piece that you have written. (And if you’ve been published in another book, be sure to pimp that out here too!)
- What’s the best piece of parenting advice that your mother has ever given you?
- Do most of your days as a parent fall under the heading Wonder, Woe or WTF?
- What do you do for inspiration when you get writer’s block?
- How are you going to celebrate when Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! is published in June?
Thanks again to Teresa at Embracing the Spectrum for thinking of me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Thank you to Shannon & Tara for including me in Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! And thanks in advance to all of my fellow authors who take part in this fun award challenge. I look forward to learning more about you and sharing the pages of this wonderful book with you.
Coming soon: I’ll be answering Melissa Mowry, from One Mother to Another’s “One Lovely Blog’ challenge. There’s a pretty good chance I’ll be nominating fellow contributors from the upcoming new book from It’s Really 10 Months: Special Delivery, due Labor Day.
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Once upon a time, Susanne Kerns was a Senior Account Director at an advertising agency working for two of the top brands in the world. Nine years ago she traded in her corporate life for a life as a stay at home mom, raising two of the best kids in the world. She started her blog, The Dusty Parachute as a way to dust off her online advertising skills and begin her job search. Instead, she now uses it as a way to spend lots of time on the computer so her kids think that mommy has a job.
Susanne’s essays have been featured in Scary Mommy, BonBon Break and Redbook and she is also a contributor in the upcoming books Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! and It’s Really 10 Months, Special Delivery. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Be sure to follow me on Facebook & Twitter and check out my 'Photos' tab for a sample of my Instagram feed. It's where I post my tasteful nudes (made you look!);)
xo - Susanne
- Come Check Out My New Place! SusanneKerns.com - May 23, 2017
- Don’t Miss “Touch a Truck” Austin! - May 11, 2017
- The Priceless Benefits of Having a Pen Pal - May 7, 2017
Without giving too much away, what three words would you use as a teaser to describe your story in Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of wonder, Woe & WTF?! My story has nunchucks and public defecation.
Share a link to a favorite piece that you have written. Another tale of parenting woe: http://abbythewriter.com/2015/01/21/get-it-down/
Do most of your days as a parent fall under the heading Wonder, Woe or WTF? I think parenting, like life in general, is about equal parts woe and wonder with a sprinkling of WTF. Or maybe 3/4 woe and 1/4 wonder. But somehow the wonder outweighs the woe.
What do you do for inspiration when you get writer’s block? I read!
How are you going to celebrate when Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder, Woe & WTF?! is published in June? Chocolate martini, of course!
So excited to get to know everyone better!
Your story description just made me laugh so hard that I scared my cats half to death – I officially can’t wait to read it. Thanks for answering the questions – it’s so fun getting to learn a bit more about all the writers in the book.
I am excited to be in this book with you and can’t wait to read your story…and all the stories. I am with you on the Hunger Games and pretty much any song by Prince or Depeche Mode. We have to agree to disagree on the Apple versus Android, though. My husband is convinced Macs are the root of all that is evil in the world and since he’s my IT guy, I’m totally on my own if I decide to be rebellious and come home with a Mac book one of these days…
I can’t wait to read yours too! Yes, we’re so Apple loyal it’s kind of over the top. My husband and his brother have a side gig where they develop some music apps so he needs to be able to test them on every version of iPad so we have quite a collection. 🙂
Great post! Congratulations! I would write more but I’m a complete blank slate and need more coffee 😉
Great answers! I’m so excited for you and your book! I want to write/(be in) a book one day. My biggest dream is to become an author one day. When I was in middle school, I always told my teachers that when I grew up, I was going to be an author. I used to write stories featuring Garfield and Odie and I even illustrated them (they would call that fan fiction now, right?).
I once tried writing a ‘Sweet Valley High’ type book…it was awful…but probably not *that* much worse than the actual Sweet Valley High series. 😉