That Writer (Mom)

In this episode, Andrea sits down with screenwriter Joan Digba to talk about how we can use storytelling to explore complex emotional and social questions, like how the idea that striving for perfection, especially in parenting, can come at a cost. Joan shares how her work engages with the Black experience, including themes of adultification and identity, and how becoming a parent has shaped the way she writes. We discuss our shifts in writing habits after motherhood and how important it is to be able to take advantage of nap times and to enter that creative flow state as quickly as possible.

In this episode, Andrea reflects on a simple game with her toddler that lends itself to a deeper meditation on happiness, mortality, and the emotional weight of motherhood. As she navigates sleepless nights, financial pressure, and creativity, she confronts the question: what does it mean to be happy in tumultuous times?

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.

In this episode, Andrea sits down with author, editor, and writing instructor Christina Myers to talk about the myth that once children reach a certain age, mothers will “get their lives back.” Together, they unpack this cultural narrative of independence that spans generations. Christina talks about her shift from newspaper reporting to creative writing during early motherhood, listening to the urge to be more literary in her work, and navigating productivity that’s often fuelled by self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Together, they discuss the challenge of setting invisible boundaries when writing in the same space you live and parent, and why every mother’s story deserves to be written and read, even when it feels like it’s already been told.

Welcome to season 2 of Notes from That Writer (Mom). In this episode, Andrea shares what’s ahead: more creative nonfiction essays about writing and motherhood and - new! - honest conversations with other writer-moms about creativity, caregiving, and the ever-evolving landscape of making art while raising children. This is a season about ambition, exhaustion, devotion, doubt, and learning how to honour more than one version of yourself at once.

In this episode, Andrea looks back at the first season of That Writer (Mom)— what sparked this project, how a quiet writing endeavour became public creative practice, and what feels important when sustaining a creative practice inside constant interruption. This is a literary reflection on voice, identity, and the quiet insistence of creative work inside a very busy life. Season One isn’t just a collection of essays. It is an excavation of language, of selfhood, of what it means to keep writing while being called to, needed by, and loved wholly by the little humans in your life.

In this episode, Andrea explores the hidden math of motherhood— not the viral kind, but the quiet cause-and-effect calculations behind every small decision. A reflection on creativity, rigidity, the split-screen of writing while mothering, and what it costs to choose yourself.

In this episode, Andrea reflects on a season shaped by wildfire smoke and the challenges of first separations. As her toddler starts daycare, Andrea wrestles with the question many parents carry quietly: Am I doing the right thing? Moving between climate anxiety, creative longing, and the deep, wordless experience of attachment, this episode is a meditation on love, work, fear, and the tiny moments that remind us we’re still connected.

In this episode, Andrea reflects on returning to Toronto with her family after three and a half years away, exploring how motherhood reshapes ideas of home, love, and time. This episode traces the shift from believing love is a place to understanding it as something boundless and lived, experienced through memory, travel, children, and the quiet (challenging) work of building upon one’s creative life while traversing motherhood.

In this episode, Andrea explores the shapeshifting nature of self-doubt and the surprising way becoming a mother helped her see it for what it really is: a persistent, little fly. This is a story of someone learning to trust the version of themself who shows up — tired, interrupted, and imperfect — and presses publish anyway. If you’ve ever felt held back by the quiet insistence of “not yet” or “not good enough,” this episode is for you.

In this episode, Andrea reads a letter to her toddler on their second birthday. A story about raising a tiny human in a new place, building life from scratch, and finding meaning in the small rituals that root us. Part love note, part time capsule, a reminder of how quickly these days can shift under our feet.

In this episode, Andrea explores the strange overlap between putting her toddler to bed and watching Die My Love, Lynn Ramsay's latest film; an uncensored, cinematic interpretation of the edges of early motherhood in which the protagonist is also a writer (Surprise!). Part film reflection, part bedtime confession, part love letter to mothers who feel more than they might be able to articulate.

A blinking cursor on one side. A crying baby on the other. In this episode, Andrea dives into the daily reality of balancing unfinished thoughts and drafts with the demands and pleasures of motherhood. The episode focuses on how writing and motherhood intersect and explores what unfolds when we stop trying to pick just one path.

Every story begins somewhere. Welcome to That Writer (Mom) — a podcast about the place where writing and motherhood meet. In this short episode, Andrea introduces the show and what listeners can expect.