Announcing the Listen To Your Mother Anthology!

Notes and Words 2015 Au Revoir, Remodel

Announcing the Listen To Your Mother Anthology!

Today’s a big day in Listen To Your Mother land. And in Midlife Mixtape land, because I’ve got work in a brand new anthology (with a cover that looks like an early sketch for a Cars album.)

Listen To Your Mother, the staged reading series founded by Ann Imig about “Giving Motherhood a Microphone,” has grown from one cast in Madison in 2010 to a nationwide phenomenon that will take place in 39 cities in 2015. Anyone who has attended or read in an LTYM show will tell you that there is powerful mojo in hearing both the diversity and the universal elements of mothering experiences. There’s something fundamentally reassuring and inspiring in the stories we share about being moms and having moms. Half the time the audience is howling with laughter at these shows, and half the time they’re sniffling. Sounds like life as a mother to me.

I applied for the 2012 show in San Francisco, didn’t make the cut, sulked, gave myself a pep talk, then tried again the following year. Reading “In Praise of the Other Mother” as part of a diverse set of stories about motherhood in the LTYM San Francisco cast was one of the highlights of my 2013.

And now the reading series has officially made the leap from stage to page. Today’s the release date for Listen to Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now, a collection of stories told in LTYM casts across the country and over the years. Contributors include NYT bestselling authors Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) and Jennifer Weiner, not to mention writers who you’ll know from the Still in Rotation series here: Wendi Aarons, Lisa Page Rosenberg, and La Imig herself. I’m thrilled and honored that “In Praise of the Other Mother” made the cut.

Snuggled up with LTYM

I got my contributor copy last week and was sniffling by page 8, laughing again on page 9. While it’s certainly a perfect Mother’s Day gift, the stories that grabbed me by the throat hardest were about an aunt and about a divorced dad who was a better mom than his ex-wife. I truly think anyone can relate to this collection. It’s already been praised by Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Elle, and PopSugar.com.

Want to win a signed-by-me copy? Leave a comment below about a song that reminds you of your mom, or of being a mom. Why? Because I’m putting together the pre-show music mix for the 2015 LTYM San Francisco show, which will be held on May 9 at the Brava Theater in San Francisco. Tickets here – hope you’ll consider attending. I’ll be in the audience with my tissue-pak. (I’ll pick a book winner using Random.org on Friday, April 10 at 5 pm PST.)

And finally: I’ll be doing two readings for the Listen to Your Mother anthology in the Bay Area in the coming months, along with my fellow Bay Area contributor Michelle Gonzales (former member of punk band Spitboy) and some special guests.

Friday, April 24, 7 pm: A Great Good Place for Books, Oakland. For this we’ll be joined by one of the directors of the 2015 Listen to Your Mother show, Janine Kovac, as well as LTYM 2014 cast member Risa Nye.

Saturday, June 27, 1 pm: Book Passage, Corte Madera. Michelle and I will bring our Oakland shenanigans to Marin for the afternoon.

Mark your calendars and I hope I’ll see you at one of them!

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I’ve been getting great suggestions via Twitter and Facebook for my mom- playlist. This song has come up repeatedly… and if you want a reason to feel old, 2pac’s “Me Against the World” is 20 years old this year.