When I told my husband I wanted to start a Substack, he laughed and said, “Substack is silly. Everyone has a Substack. You should call it ‘The Mommy Blog.’” I pondered an embarrassingly long amount of time on alternative names. I even asked the AI oracle that is ChatGPT what I should call it, but to no avail.

I mean — I am, indeed, a mom. I have spit-up in my hair as I type. And this is a kind of blog (though I prefer to think of it as a digital catalogue of quotes, or an online journal, or perhaps even a trove for future biographers to mine — but I digress).

So here we are. Welcome to The Mommy Blog. A blog not just for mommies.

So, you may be wondering… what is this thing? Well, I must be honest: it’s not original, that’s for sure. The format for this bloggy journal is taken with few modifications straight from my online friend, Haley Baumeister, whose own Substack — Life Considered — you must also subscribe to. I began following Haley’s weekly musings and have been inspired by the things she’s reading, listening to, thinking, and doing. They’ve made me a better reader and thinker (and thus hopefully also a better doer), and have inspired me also to live a more thoughtful life.

I consume a lot of articles and books and listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks. But I don’t want only to be a consumer of the word — I also aspire to be a doer of the word, and a writer of the word as well. The Mommy Blog (I can’t help but smile as I type that) is a means of cataloguing the things I’ve read, thinking through them more deeply, pondering favorite quotes, and sharing them with others. Generally you can expect the topics to range from theology, ethics, and politics, to poetry, literature, and culture. Though I expect those aren’t an exhaustive list, as my reading can be a bit eclectic.

This journal is also a way to discipline my writing, one of my goals for the new year. As all writers know, writing isn’t merely (or even mostly!) an innate gift or joy — it’s a discipline, a process, a honed skill. Maybe I’ll write a lot, or maybe I’ll just share quotes from others’ writing. Either way, keeping up this journal will help me to read well, and that’s half the battle in writing well. And it’ll also help keep me accountable to reading and writing, too.

I hope you’ll follow along, and that The Mommy Blog will help you read well, think deeply, and do good, too. I always love discussing ideas, so if ever you are struck by something you’ve read (here or elsewhere), leave a comment or send me an email.

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