Using Writing as an Escape Through Tough Times with Alison Macor, Episode 159
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There are a ton of challenges that go into writing a book. It involves a lot of research and travel, plus juggling that with your personal life and everything that’s going on. Such is the determination it takes to be able to get a book done, especially as a single mom. In today’s episode, Alison Macor shares her journey through writing and motherhood. Imagine a mom whose parents were both ill at that time so she had to fly back and forth from Austin, where she lives, to her parents in New Jersey to help with the care, while flying to Los Angeles for her book.
Alison Macor received a Public Scholars grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her forthcoming book “Making The Best Years of Our Lives: The Hollywood Classic That Inspired a Nation” (University of Texas Press, 2022), about the 1946 blockbuster that influenced the way we talk about PTSD. She is also the author of “Rewrite Man: The Life and Career of Screenwriter Warren Skaaren” (UT Press, 2017) and “Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas,” which won the 2012 Peter C. Rollins Book of the Year Award. She holds a Ph.D. in film history and taught for more than 20 years at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, Austin Community College, and the Austin Museum of Art. A former film critic, Alison currently works as a freelance writer and ghostwriter and lives in Austin with her husband and son.
A lot of moms out there have to make different major decisions in life – and there is no perfect path. There are always going to be moments when you have to re-establishes stages in your life and have different approaches to motherhood and a writing career depending on the season of your life and your kid’s life.
In this episode, you will hear:
- How some moms have made different career choices and the doubts that pop-up
- About the juggle of traveling for interviews as a mom while caring for aging parents
- The beauty of handling weekly writing deadlines as the ultimate productivity hack
- How career dreams do evolve once the reality of motherhood surfaces
- What is it like to be a woman in academia? What about a mom?
- How writing and work can be a useful escape through terrible times
- What was it about 1946? It’s a Wonderful Life and The Best Years both came out in the same year
- How women have been portrayed in movies and whether it’s changed much through the years? The answer Alison shares is surprising.
- Should we adjust our lives to our kids or should the kids fit into our lives?
- Alison’s baby and book birth story and how it wasn’t planned that way
- A perfect metaphor for what being a mom and writer really looks like
- A positive way to escape from the idea of workaholism
SHARE this episode with a mom who enjoys reading nonfiction and/or is writing her own.
Similar Episodes:
Melissa On Why I’m Pivoting An Interview With Melissa Llarena, Episode 146
Q&A Tuesday – How Can Writing Improve Your Self-Esteem, Self-Love, or Self-Care For A Mom?, Episode 154
Supporting Resources:
Shop the Book: Making The Best Years of Our Lives: The Hollywood Classic That Inspired a Nation – https://amzn.to/3icDRR5
Website: www.alisonmacor.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmacor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/agmacor
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“This book is about getting in touch with your creative, playful, imaginative side. The part of yourself that perhaps felt freer before you became a parent, before you chose your identity and had a lot of responsibilities weighing you down. In helping you get in touch with your more playful, creative self, it not only helps you on a path toward greater happiness and fulfillment, but it also helps you to feel more fulfilled as a parent.” – Mom/Librarian
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