I am Diane. I am a writer. I am also a blogger. I have decided to start a Substack account because I am starting on a new project.
I have pondered memoir on and off for a while but always got stuck with the fear of “what would those in it think if they read it?” and “what would those who know me now think if they knew my colourful past?” My life divides up into three or four parts; growing up, The Wild Years from aged about 15-30, The Meeting God and having my children stage, and then the remarrying and my children leaving home stage.
The more I pondered this the more I got to thinking about how different life is when one’s children go out into the world. When they are babies and toddlers there are myriads of books about what to do. There are groups to go to, places to unload. But when they hit their teens those support networks are gone. And if you thought the competition of which child is potty trained first or learns to read/speak/walk first then that is nothing like the competition there is when children reach leaving school. It is another nightmare but one that one has to navigate alone and whilst going through menopause too. So I decided this is what I would write about.
“How to Parent Adult Children” - that’s the working title. It will change as things grow. My plan is to write a series of personal essays, poems and the like on various topics of learning to be the mum of my adult children. For now I’ve written one about saying goodbye to my son’s various girlfriends and how badly I handled that and another about when he wanted to adopt an Alsation.
I’m asking round for topics to run with and am building up a list - girlfriend/boyfriends, jobs, university, faith, in-laws, grandchildren, mental health - and more. So I’m happy for suggestions too.
I plan to share either whole or bits of what I write and also to talk about my journey through all this. I am hoping that by sharing on Substack that it will keep me motivatied.