Tracy Beckerman, the down-to-earth mom, wife, columnist and author, recently shared her fabulous book "Rebel without a Minivan" with me. I couldn't wait to sit down and read it! I was equally thrilled to speak to Tracy about her family, her weekly syndicated column and this heart-warming book.Tracy, please share a little bit about yourself and how you got started?
I am a stay-at-home mom with two kids,a husband, dog, chinchilla, bearded dragon, and goldfish, living in the wilds of suburban New Jersey. I quit a high-powered job in TV news promotion so I could raise my kids and teach them important things like how to change a roll of toilet paper when it is empty.
After five years of being home, I decided I needed to do something with my brain, so on a whim, I wrote a column about my son and sent it to the local paper. From that day, my humor column, "Lost in Suburbia" was born. It is a weekly, syndicated column about life in the 'burbs, parenting, marriage, pets, and all the funny things that happen when you are a mom who is still trying to retain some vestiges of your former, cool self. The column runs in over 400 newspapers in 25 states and is read by 3.5 million people every week. This past year, I released my first book, "Rebel without a Minivan" (www.rebelwithoutaminivan.com), which is a collection of some of my columns. When I am not writing my column, doing laundry, cleaning up after the nasty dog, and making Hamburger Helper, I am busy working on my second book, "Don't Feed Your Kids Dog Food, and other rules for raising happy campers," due out in 2009.
Where do you draw inspiration for column and books?
Life. There are a million funny things that happen every day when you are a mom. I just have the nerve to write about them.
Describe your favorite experience with your profession?People always tell me they love my column because I write about the same things that they experience. I love it when someone says, "Were you spying on me? We went through the same thing in our house that you wrote about in your article." The experience of parenting is universal which is why people can relate to my topics. If I can help someone find the humor in their situation, than I feel very gratified. Being able to lighten someone's day with laughter is incredibly rewarding.
What are your plans for the future?
Well, I have to talk to the orthodontist about getting braces for my daughter, and the dog really needs a grooming, and my husband says he will divorce me if I don't get my car washed. But it terms of my writing...I just started a semi-daily blog for readers who can't wait a whole week for another "Lost in Suburbia" column. You can read it at http://lostinsuburbiablog.blogspot.com. Then there's book number two which I should be working on right now but I really need a mani/pedi, so the book will have to wait another day.
www.rebelwithoutaminivan.com
www.lostinsuburbiablog.blogspot.com
www.lostinsuburbia.net
New Providence, NJ, which is a hop, skip and a jump from New York City
Beth Anderson is the Editor in Chief of Chic Galleria.com and Co-Owner of Chic Galleria Publications.
This is an awesome article, very encouraging and she's funny! Thank you for sharing!
I like funny, so I will read some of her stuff.