Power Moms came out yesterday and my whole life changed in an instant! I got up at 6am, fed the goldfish, made some coffee, packed a lunch and woke the kids. They snuggled on the couch watching Spongebob while I made frozen waffles. When they weren’t eating, I hit the pause button to get them started. Now late, I rushed upstairs (and my head got that “I’m too friggin tired to be doing this” feeling) to get the clothes and put in my contacts. Threw the clothes in the dryer, loaded the car. With 5 minutes to go, I put the now warm clothes on my kids’ respective laps, inspiring them to get dressed before the clothing cooled off (I love this trick!). In the car, drive to school. Drive home, get back in PJ’s, reheat coffee and sit by the fire in time for interviews. At 9am I did a radio interview in Canada. At 11 I did another. At 12 I stuffed some envelopes with forms for soccer club and tried to balance my check book and pay bills. Made more coffee – feeling sick for some reason…. yes – forgot to eat! Made a protein smoothie to be good, then snacked on chips (AS IF a protein smoothie could be remotely satisfying). I took a long, deep breath to settle my thoughts so I could finish a new book proposal to show my manager in LA (it’s far less “Entourage” than it sounds, believe me!). At 1:30 I changed into running clothes and loaded Power Moms PR materials into my car. Then I drove to the local library to drop them off. Next to the track where I WILLED myself to run. Got lapped twice by some young show-off, even after I tried to pick up the pace. Pathetic! At 2pm I hit the road to pick up 3 kids at two different schools. Dropped one at home, took the other two out for a treat, then karate. Home again. Dinner, hot tub, showers, homework, PJ’s. We made brownies and settled in to watch American Idol. But some guy was giving a speech and it wasn’t on. Who does this guy think he is, the President? No one gets to disrupt American Idol night! Watched Spongebob instead (we’re on a fix these days) and made ourselves feel better by loading the brownies with extra fudge and ice cream. We did our “highs and lows” for the day and I mentioned that my book came out. The kids kept eating, one eye on the TV to make sure they didn’t miss the end of the commercial break. Then they went to bed (I say this with a few words, but putting my kids to bed is like pushing a large rock up a mountain), and I had a glass of wine from a bottle I opened three days ago. It tasted a little off, like I really cared, but I did make a mental note to drink faster next time I open one. Then my day ended when I got into bed to watch an episode of 24 that I recorded three weeks ago (I am way behind).

WAIT! My life hasn’t changed at all! I realized this about the third time Jack Bower almost got killed, and I hit the pause button. I felt a little panicked, like did I miss something? Was I supposed to do something special today and I missed it? Nope. The book is out, and it’s a great book and every time I talk about it to the press I am genuinely excited and proud. But there’s nothing to do except keep living the life I’m living, which (thankfully) I happen to love.

I was about to hit play again when I happened to see this yellow post-it note that my 5 year old left for me a couple of days ago. Out of the blue, he started drawing a heart on the mini-note pad, then asked my brother (who lives with us) to help him write “I love you.” He then came upstairs where I was  helping his brothers to learn about not leaving wet towels on the floor, and just stuck it to my desk – without a word. A few minutes later, I went to see what it was and everything just stopped. I had this moment of pure joy – the kind that has to come from nowhere to be authentic. I had done nothing special that day. My son was just feeling it and decided to write it down.

So before I rejoined Jack Bower and his mission to save the world in one day, I was reminded that the greatest reward from doing this job of mothering, and writing so I can be a stay-home mother, is not any sort of life-changing event when my books are released, but instead the indescribable gift contained within that post-it note.

Wendy

Check out the radio interview with Wendy and Power Moms contributors Victoria Marsh and Kate Munno at 967thecoast.com.

We are exactly one week away from the official launch of Chicken Soup for the Soul – Power Moms, and two weeks from the relaunch of my novel, Four Wives, in paperback. Needless to say, I am in the throws of promoting! Two days ago I was in Florida chasing my 5-year old across a pool deck, and today I have already had two interviews for the books (one requiring make-up of all blessed things!). For anyone local, check out channel 12 tonight starting at 5pm! And for anyone wondering what this is like – promoting a book – let me just say that my life has never felt stranger than it does right now…

I had this fantasy while I wrote my first novel in the back of my minivan. It went like this: write fabulous novel, appear on Oprah, make enough money to take a long breath, meet George Clooney (inside joke). Of course, none of these things can actually drive a person to finish a novel – what makes you finish is the intense desire to have the scrambled thoughts in your head find themselves as words on pages, and in a form that someone else might actually be able to understand and relate to. This part, the actual writing, is the part that makes me feel whole and sane and able to spend the majority of my days being a mommy. And this writer’s life, the one where I dropped the kids at school and spent a few hours alone with my laptop, felt normal after a while.

As the fantasy turned out, I wrote the novel then edited Power Moms for Chicken Soup for the Soul, and without Oprah, the book has to be promoted the old fashioned way. With a team of publicists, the message of the book gets out through print, radio, blogs and TV. Word is spread cross the internet over facebook, twitter, personal blogs and emails. And, for good measure, over 500 mailings are sent. By the time it winds down, I will have done a handful of TV spots, a dozen or so radio and print interviews, and at least three book events.

I have moments when I’m speaking about my work in public when I want to hit the pause button on the whole scene. I feel passionate about my work so telling others about it has never been the problem. But there is a whole other piece that I can never adequately convey. It’s a quintessential Power Mom piece. There I’ll be, dressed nicely, hair blown, make-up on… and I’ll be speaking with confidence and (hopefully) articulation about the book. And it all just feels so put together and picture-perfect when the reality is that an hour before hand, I was probably driving my minivan with my slippers on, hair dirty and pinned up, three kids in the back needing good parenting or appropriate discipline or positive reinforcement and my brain fully focussed on the task – my work, my other work, will be the last thing on my mind. I probably had a cold mug of coffee clutched in one hand, the other on the wheel, and I was probably drinking it because it still gave me a shred of comfort after a hectic day. And when the interview or book signing is over, I will rush home, wash off the make-up, put the slippers back on and kiss my kids good night or help with homework or whatever is needed at the time. And I will feel like I have been living in two alternate worlds.

So, yes, it is strange because most of the time, as I am discussing my work, what I really want to do is hit the pause button and say, as loud as I can, does anyone know what my crazy day looked like? Really looked like? Not to mention what I really look like most of the time …

The beauty of promoting Power Moms is that most of you do know. And it is my mission for the next few months to promote these books and share our stories with the world!

Stay tuned!