Leesa Dean: On Motherhood, Baby Jail, and Protecting Your Writing Life

In this episode, Andrea meets with award-winning multi-genre writer, editor, and teacher Leesa Dean to talk about writing in the early days of motherhood, including the experience Leesa describes as “baby jail,” where she found herself physically attached to her baby while maintaining a creative practice (aka finishing a manuscript!). Leesa shares how becoming a mom reshaped her relationship to writing, deepened her sense of purpose, and pushed her work in new directions. They discuss the importance of protecting creative time, the reality that no one else will do it for you, and how learning to set boundaries is essential to sustaining a writing life.