The Milk of Female Kindness, Book Review

The Milk of Female Kindness is an anthology from predominately Australian and British women of stories, poetry, artwork, interviews, and articles about motherhood. As such it addresses issues that everyone will recognize. This book resonated with me on many levels. As a mother and daughter, as a writer and teacher, the entries spoke to me, made me catch my breath, surprised me, forced me to think, brought up memories, and invited me to laugh. I read several stories and all the poems more than once; the art encouraged me to linger. I found myself reflected on many pages.

 

An anthology can be a tricky mix to scoop into one book. Authors are bound to have different strengths and individual ideas about the intent of the production. What I liked about this book is the sincerity evident in each entry. Every author spoke with the authority and wisdom that comes from empathy and experience, some of it in hindsight. They explore a gamut of tragic, humorous, and realistic situations, from the challenges of being a mother to those of being a child.

Writing Process Blog Tour: How I Write

Though we writers don’t inhabit the same buildings, or even necessarily the same continents, we do live in communities of other writers, sharing the experiences of our craft and supporting each other on the journey toward building a readership. I’ve long admired the work of Sandra Danby, whose eponymous blog can be found by clicking here: http://sandradanby.com . She kindly nominated me to be part of the weekly Writing Process Blog Meme. Sandra posted her article, How I Write, on April 7, 2014.

Sandra shared her unique approach in that post and also nominated two other writers whose work she chose to feature. Those other writers are also posting their articles today. We will all answer four pertinent questions about writing.