Funny, poignant book about being a mum

Central Coast based author Lauren McKellar’s latest book, The Calendar Mums, has been described as a warm, funny and heartbreaking book about what it means to be a mother

The Calendar Mums, published by Harper Collins, aims to balance light and dark, touching on issues of identity, post-partum mental health and community, and is a reminder to mothers that they were women first, women who are strong, capable and not to be underestimated.

The book centres around the Hickory Creek Community Centre, a lifeline for new mums.

When a bad case of black mould threatens to end the only women’s services available in their small town, a new mothers’ group bands together to save it.

The plan is to create a fundraiser calendar featuring themselves – in the nude.

As the mothers bare all, it doesn’t take long for them to start baring their secrets too. 

“While I have never been brave enough to pose for a nude calendar, there are pieces of me in each of the mothers in the book,” McKellar said.

“(There are ) a lot of the themes, including loss of identity and that worry that you’re not good enough as a parent, or the concern that maybe the parenting choice you’re making isn’t the right one.

“Absolutely, I felt those feelings and asked those questions, and I still ask them every day.

“There’s no guidebook to being a parent that caters for every child and every situation – and The Calendar Mums certainly isn’t one either!

“But I hope that all mothers see a part of themselves in one of the three protagonists and that it helps them make difficult conversations easier. “

The mother of three grew up in Kincumber and Avoca Beach and now lives at Berkeley Vale.

“In typical Coastie fashion, I’ve also lived in North Avoca, Ettalong and Wamberal; this area has always been my home,” she said.

When she’s not writing books, McKellar edits fiction and is also Managing Editor for Paper Pocket, a range of calendars and diaries, and the Bookazines program at Universal Media Co.

She was inspired to write The Calendar Mums based on her own experiences.

“I was desperate to have a baby once my husband and I were married,” she said.

“We tried to conceive for quite a long time, and then the day came, and my son was born.

“He’s a beautiful boy now, but he was challenging when he was younger.

“He was one of those ‘doesn’t sleep/must always be nursed and rocked vigorously’ babies – and I really struggled.

“One day, as I was heading along the M1 on the way back from Sydney, I was driving over the bridge just before the Gosford turnoff and I thought: what would it be like to just drive off?

“That was a trigger for me; thoughts like that are not okay.”

“When I fell pregnant with my second child, I knew I needed coping mechanisms in place.

“Writing has always been there for me during challenging times, so I promised myself I’d write from the day I came home from the hospital.

“And, as I wasn’t exactly feeling romantic – romance being my previous genre of choice – creating a story about motherhood seemed the perfect fit. “