Hello and welcome to Wednesday Morning! Today I have an interview with Surviving Motherhood aka Amy Ransom aka the inventor of The New Mum's Notebook!
I was very pleased to tie Amy down for some questions and find out how she fits it all in plus juggling motherhood too!!
This is the interview my lovelies;
Hi Amy, thank
you for answering some questions for Bad Mum magazine.
Congratulations
on the success of The New Mum’s Notebook! I am hopelessly addicted to
stationary and this book is enough to make me want another baby! Before my partner
kills me, please tell me there is another one coming out for Mum’s with
toddlers? Or even just for Mum’s in general…I want one!
So many people have asked this! There are two more notebooks on development for not new Mum's for 2017. Watch this space! P.S I am a stationary geek too...obviously!
What made you
want to make the notebook and how did you even begin?
I wanted to get
some reassurance to new mums in those early weeks after having a baby, when you
can spend a lot of time on your own, doubting yourself and feeling quite
lonely. I thought that if new mums knew how normal it was, they might feel
better supported. The Notebook sort of created itself. From a 16 page booklet
it just grew and grew to the 304 page colour journal it is now. I was very
lucky to have some brilliant friends who just happen to be talented too! So I
had a designer on board from the start, a stylist to help oversee the project
and tell me that, 'No. I shouldn't have animal print ALL over the cover,' (she
was right) and a graphic designer/web developer to make sure someone could
actually buy it.
Have you been
pleasantly surprised with the positive response you’ve received so far?
Yes, it's only
been two months and I can't quite believe how many people have bought it. Not
because I think it's rubbish, I should add. But just because, wow, people are actually
buying something I've made. I've had quite a few messages from women who've
said it's helped them confront some anxiety or PND issues and that was very
humbling to hear. I felt very emotional when I read those.
These days our
time is very stretched and us Mum’s become experts at multi-tasking! How are
you finding being a parent, running a business and everything else life throws
at us?
I really like
having lots to do. That said, some days I'm not very good at it! My mind gets
frazzled, I can't think and we all end up in Mc Donald's because it's time to
call it a day and I don't have the energy to cook. We're mostly muddling
through but I'm OK with that most of the time.
Just from
looking at your website and Instagram account anyone can see you are one busy
lady! What motivates you and what is next on your To Do list?
Opportunity
motivates me. The world of social media has basically handed opportunity on a
plate to anyone who wants a piece of it. I'm not short of ideas, but I'm short
of time! And storage, ha ha. Next on the list are two more notebooks in the
range and possibly some other merchandise, related to the blog.
On Bad Mum, I
represent the real face of parenting. Do you feel it is important that the real
day to day life of parenting is shown on social media to make it more realistic
and assessable for parents?
Yes, I do. Most
of the comments I get on my blog are from people saying what I've posted makes
them feel better. We basically all want to know we're 'normal' and that we're
not alone in our struggles or thoughts. I do think that there's going to be a
backlash against some forms of 'honest parenting' in the not too distant
future. Where people get fed up of seeing mothers posting selfies drinking wine
and it just all becomes less funny.
We all know how
bloody hard parenting can be sometimes and apart from reaching for the wine, how
do you cope (or survive) the really bad days?
I'm actually
trying to be good with the wine and gin these days. I've mostly cut it out
during the week because sometimes I find it makes that 5-7 PM bedtime slot even
more painful, as I take my eye off the game and it takes twice as long! Sleep
is how I cope now. I've just discovered that going to bed at 10 PM and getting
8 hours sleep makes a real difference to how I cope with the kids. I've even
started leaving my phone downstairs so I'm not tempted for 'one more scroll'
through Instagram!
Lastly, everyone
must leave us with a parenting confession they have never told anyone before?
Now, this one
might be a problem for me. Mummy blogger. Over sharer. Goes with the
territory...there isn't much I haven't confessed!
Thank you so
much for your time and I wish you continued success with The New Mum’s Notebook
plus everything you achieve in the future! I'll let you off the confession this time...ha ha!
To see Amy's full profile and details please visit the Bloody Truthful Mama's section above.
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