What is TCF?
When women create life, it is often at the expense of our ability to create anything else. Our brains work differently for some time. We are exhausted—physically, mentally, emotionally—we’re overextended, and our emotional labor is increased for a very, very long time. It can be nearly impossible to carve out the hours to create something, much less find the energy and inspiration to do so. Here, I will talk with mothers who have found ways to do just that. Whether it’s their job or side hustle or passionate hobby, these women have kept art in their lives. My definition for what is “art” and “creative” will be broad; a wide range of work requires creativity.
What you won’t find here is a glossy, airbrushed, Instagrammable portrayal of mothers’ lives. When we see women with perfect hair, whose kids’ clothes are stain-free, and they’re showing us a beautiful painting they just finished while a casserole was in the oven—well, that just makes most of us feel like shit. Here, you will find honest talk with real women who are doing good things. And this is a forum. I want readers to get involved in the conversation and be able to come here for community and support and inspiration.
Why subscribe?
Every Monday, subscribers will be able to read my chat with a mom creative. On Fridays, I’ll send out a Happy Hour Hack, where I’ll share my interviewee’s, my, and readers’ tips for how to make your life easier, along with some tidbits of inspiration. Maybe it’s a healthy dinner recipe that actually takes only 20 minutes, maybe it’s a book of poetry that adults and kids will enjoy reading together, maybe it’s a low-proof cocktail for the moms who’ve lost their tolerance. Maybe it’s a high-proof cocktail. Because: children. There will eventually be a weekly discussion forum on Wednesdays as well.
My goal is that by the end of every week, you’ll feel more tethered and supported by a community of creative women, and you’ll walk away rejuvenated and inspired, with one more trick up your sleeve for getting by day to day.
All readers are welcome. For the first little bit, all posts will be free. But if you value access to this project and you have the means, paid subscriptions are much appreciated and will allow me to spend more of my time on The Creators Forum. Your subscription will also do some good in the world: 10 percent of subscription revenue will be donated to No Kid Hungry.
About me
I live with my husband and two children (5 and 7) in the Hudson Valley, New York. Since the pandemic, I’ve been a freelance copy editor, working with writers like Patti Smith, Lyz Lenz, and David Lebovitz; magazines like Pop-Up Magazine and Alta Journal; and companies like Slack, Faire, and Lyft.
Before the pandemic, back when my children were born, we were living in Oakland, California, and I was working as the managing editor and copy chief of The California Sunday Magazine. (It shuttered in 2020, endcapping its illustrious run with a posthumous Pulitzer Prize.) I would drop my children off at the nanny share, sometimes crying and sometimes singing as I drove away to go take the BART and then Muni to my office in San Francisco. There was spit-up on my scarf, my hair was unseemly, and I always forgot to eat breakfast. I would rejoice when the notoriously slow T train would glacially inch from downtown SF to the Dogpatch neighborhood so I could get some extra minutes to read or listen to something or scratch some ideas in a notebook. This was supposedly having it all, but I felt like I was doing a pretty bad job on all fronts.
What gave me hope, as always, was talking with other women. This publication stems from countless conversations—the rushed whispers in the kitchenette of an office (Are you sleeping? Are you able to remember things?), the late-night texts (Are you able to read? What should I read?), the fragmented talks while pushing a swing (When…did…you…make…that?)—about trying to reconnect with our creative sides, mentally and logistically. It helps to talk. It helps to hear that it’s possible. It helps to hear that it’s hard. It helps to get tips from other mothers.
Logo design by Megan Lotter. Profile illustration by Lisa Brown.
