Happily // a book pairing

“I am so far away from where I've never gone and what I'll never know and who I'll never be, it is impossible to tell if on that path I am radiant or falling to pieces."

I got to know

Heidi Fiedler

through Exhale Creativity, a community of women creating in the margins of motherhood together. On her Substack

Nebula Notebook

Heidi interviews mothers about their creative practices and provides rich resources for nurturing our creative lives. Heidi is kind and generous, a cheerleader and champion of creativity and I’m so thrilled to have her stop by today.

---

When I heard this book was a collection of essays about motherhood as a kind of fairytale, I thought "I wish I had thought of that." It immediately felt true to my own experience of motherhood: surreal, intense, magical, and filled with meaning. Then as soon as I started actually reading the book, I thought "Oh she's doing a much better job than I ever could." It's clear the fairytales aren't a hook or a glib attempt at theme. Sabrina Orah Mark shifts back and forth between the world we all know and the dreamland of fairytales. In her hands, fairytales are both personal and adaptable. She uses them to articulate truths about modern motherhood that could otherwise be dismissed as mundane or absurd. The effect is mesmerizing, and I am grateful she has told these stories, so when we're trying to explain why we are full of sorrow and joy all at once, we can all wave our hands and point to her stories and say, "That. That's what I'm trying to say." 

Happily

Feels like a secret

Looks like a mirror

Smells like a secret garden

Sounds like cellos in the woods

Tastes like biting your lips until they bleed

Favorite quotes

"When you find an old woman in a fairy tale, often she is tucked deep inside the folds of an underworld where the psyche grows intuition like wild mushrooms."

"I am ready to read all the fairy tales in a book my mother insists does not exist."

"There is a path of pebbles inside that book I will never follow. there is an unlived life that begins eleven pebbles in. I am so far away from where I've never gone and what I'll never know and who I'll never be, it is impossible to tell if on that path I am radiant or falling to pieces." 

---

Heidi Fiedler is a writer, editor, and creative coach. She has worked on hundreds of titles for clients like Chronicle Books and Bravery Magazine. She helps writers find ease and joy in the creative process with writing classes, manuscript reviews, and coaching. She’s also working on her own book about making space for creativity in motherhood and interviewing 100 creative mothers for her Substack Nebula Notebook. Learn more at helloheidifiedler.com or say hello @heidifiedler on Instagram.