Confession: I became a writer because it's what I was good at. Apparently, I am whatever-sided your brain has to be to intuitively understand how to construct sentences that are clear or concise or lyrical or inspirational, or whatever goal you have in mind for the words on the page. It's a thing I could do from an early age, which is why I became an English major. I figured anyone who could write well and look a person in the eye while shaking hands could get a job, and I was right. Eventually, I landed in public relations and then marketing, all the while relying on my skill as a writer to make a living. But then I got the hardest and best job I could find — motherhood —which required very little writing but a lot of storytelling. I was a confident writer. But a storyteller? Not so much.
Until I realized that stories about my growing family resonated with lots of people who also spent untold hours driving minivans across America's suburbs, engaging in the thankless civic duty of raising up the next generation of taxpaying citizens. No one had ever replaced the incomparable Erma Bombeck and I fancied myself a candidate to fill the blank spaces she'd left on the pages of hundreds of newspapers across the country. That didn't happen, exactly, but I did get a newspaper column that became the genesis of a few parenting books.
Eventually, I aged out of the parenting game and wrapped up the column. When the last child left for college, I went back to marketing communications. Happy to report we did our duty; they are all four productive taxpayers. You're welcome.
But as every writer will admit, writing's like an itch you have to scratch.
I'm a writer, and writers write.
Until I realized that stories about my growing family resonated with lots of people who also spent untold hours driving minivans across America's suburbs, engaging in the thankless civic duty of raising up the next generation of taxpaying citizens. No one had ever replaced the incomparable Erma Bombeck and I fancied myself a candidate to fill the blank spaces she'd left on the pages of hundreds of newspapers across the country. That didn't happen, exactly, but I did get a newspaper column that became the genesis of a few parenting books.
Eventually, I aged out of the parenting game and wrapped up the column. When the last child left for college, I went back to marketing communications. Happy to report we did our duty; they are all four productive taxpayers. You're welcome.
But as every writer will admit, writing's like an itch you have to scratch.
I'm a writer, and writers write.
About Marybeth
Marybeth Brennan Hicks spent more than a dozen years writing from the intersection of parenting and culture. From 2004 to 2014, her family column, "Then again..." ran in newspapers and magazines in print and online, and she authored four parenting books, including Teachable Moments (Simon & Schuster/Howard Books, 2014) and Bringing Up Geeks (Penguin/Berkley Books, 2008). Marybeth gained her expertise in the trenches as the mother of four children, but through the years, her parenting role evolved. The geeky kids who inspired countless hours in front of a keyboard grew into four very cool adults, so Marybeth returned to her career in marketing. She currently works as director of strategic communications for a niche magazine publishing company.
In 2023, she enrolled in author Mary Adkins' Book Incubator, a one-year intensive course that helps authors bring their books to fruition. The result is a debut novel called BABY CAKES, the story of a lovable busybody who faces the question, how do you forgive what you thought was unforgivable? In 2024, Marybeth signed with literary agents Marisa Corvisiero and Lisa Gouldy at Corvisiero Literary Agency with a goal of publishing BABY CAKES in the coming year.
In 2023, she enrolled in author Mary Adkins' Book Incubator, a one-year intensive course that helps authors bring their books to fruition. The result is a debut novel called BABY CAKES, the story of a lovable busybody who faces the question, how do you forgive what you thought was unforgivable? In 2024, Marybeth signed with literary agents Marisa Corvisiero and Lisa Gouldy at Corvisiero Literary Agency with a goal of publishing BABY CAKES in the coming year.