A Syllabus of Renegade Motherhood
New series I'm doing on Outlaw Mother Protagonists in Novels
It’s scary hot here in Hudson, NY (someone on Reddit called it “The kind of city you’d find in a Tom Waits song” and I’m drinking STOK cold brew out of a stemless wine glass, wearing lingerie like some Queer Carrie Bradshaw. QCB.
The Believer and I have been chatting for months trying to nail down a topic for my column for them. We landed on protagonists who are outlaw mothers in various novels. The inaugural piece published a few days ago:
Read: Outlaw Mothers: Love Me Tender by Constance Debré
Every two weeks (more or less) I’ll have a new one published. Instead of doing the tried and true outlaw motherhood books I’m using this opportunity to highlight more obscure indie books that don’t get tons of airplay. Like, of course All Fours and Motherhood came to mind but I’m intentionally choosing books my homies wrote that are a bit less known. You’ll see.
Excerpt:
You can subscribe to The Believer to follow along. I’ve got a stack of the other outlaw-mother-protagonists here on my desk and I’m temped to list them or show a photo but then I’d be giving my “syllabus” away for free.
Paid subscribers: I have two pieces drafted for you, one as a craft talk on Using Your Resources and another of two year emails with my editor, Yuka Igarshi at Graywolf, showing how we approached my life blowing up after I’d sold her a memoir. In classic editor fashion, she wants to….edit it….first. Typical.
In the meantime, I’ve been reading The Baby on The Fire Escape for months now. Partly because it’s dense, partly because I’ve been putting it down to pick up other books.
You’re Invited
Sunday, June 29th, 7pmET I’m hosting a reading for my messy draft cohort that wrapped up. Everyone “graduating” has worked with me for at least two years, some of them over five years! There are manuscripts on sluttiness and the body, how your firsts shape you and adlerian theory, a comedian’s coming-of-age story on immigration from Russia, a classic family memoir, a polyamorous tell-all, and one novel with an unlikable protagonist burnt out from the toxic corporate world.
If you’re interested in any of my classes, this is a good way to catch the vibe. Email me for the link.
The ones who have a Substack are:
, , ,More soon.
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Loved the column, love Constance, love you.
Also, I knew early on I didn't want to be a mother (various reasons, including I was an oldest and I just like my freedom), so reading about outlaw mothers has been really enlightening for me.