Cracking The Mother Code
Win a private writing sesh with Ruthie Ackerman, our May Book Club author
Welcome to May! Join us on Zoom to discuss our May Book Club Pick, The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us (May 6, 2025, Random House), by debut author, in-demand book coach, and lovely human/dear friend, Ruthie Ackerman of The Spark.
And scroll down for a literary festival invite in the Catskills…
Get your copy of The Mother Code here and sign up now to Zoom with Ruthie on June 2 @ 6:30pm ET. This live Q&A-style event is free for Memoiring subscribers.
Ruthie’s award-winning writing has been published in Vogue, The Atlantic, O Magazine, and more. And in a dream scenario for many emerging writers, her Modern Love essay in The New York Times became the launching point for her memoir.
BONUS: Win a private writing consultation with Ruthie Ackerman!
Email your The Mother Code proof of purchase to thisismemoiring@gmail.com and you’ll be entered to win a 30-min. private Zoom with Ruthie on a writing/querying/publishing topic (or conundrum) of your choice! The winner will be announced during Memoiring’s June 2 event with Ruthie. You must be in attendance on Zoom to win, no exceptions. Sign up!
During our Zoom with Ruthie, we’ll be taking YOUR questions + chatting about:
Maternal ambivalence — yes, there’s a name for uncertainty about becoming a mother, and yes, we can talk about it!
The idea that women don’t always know their deepest desires because of the people-pleasing and contorting we’re taught from a young age
The concept of “outlaw motherhood” and the terrifying pro-natalism push of the Fed gov trying to incentivize women to have babies
And for writers, the craft of portraying someone on the page with empathy and compassion even though objectively their behavior could be seen as “monstrous”
"The Mother Code subverts our ideas about parenting, womanhood, nature, and nurture. [It] brings us new ways of thinking about how to be a mother, and a person." –Claire Dederer, author of the bestseller Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma
Come to the Deep Water Literary Festival in the Catskills in June
You’re invited to the super exciting IRL author events I’m doing with Memoiring at the Deep Water Literary Festival. It’s set in the charming AF Western Catskills town of Narrowsburg, New York (a 2.5 hour-ish drive from NYC), on the weekend of June 20-22. Rent a car! Make your plans! Buy your affordable tickets!
Every year festival founder Aaron Hicklin assembles an incredible roster of writers and thinkers grappling with how universal themes resonate in the present, the past, and the political moment.
This season’s writers include Susan Choi, Geoff Dyer, Douglas Stuart, Madeleine Thien, André Aciman, Cristina Henríquez, Alejandro Heredia, and many more. Seriously every event is incredible. Full program and tickets here!
Here’s how you can hang with me at Deep Water Literary Fest! I’ll be…
Moderating this conversation with
and on motherhood!Introducing authors
and Isle McElroy for a Sunday brunch and live reading on fatherhood!Teaching a memoir writing workshop on transforming yourself into a character! (All workshop proceeds go to Narrowsburg’s Friends of the Library to help fortify the library against the impending nationwide funding crisis.)
Hit me up in the Comments if you want to come. I’m excited to have Memoiring folks there and will dish! In the meantime, see ya on June 2 with author Ruthie Ackerman.
Memoiringly, Melisse
Would love to join today’s event with Ruthie. Just signed up but haven’t received confirmation. Hoping it’s not too late to be a part of this event. Thank you.
Argh, I’m flying to Oahu to get a stress test that day!! (Zoom is 12:30 PM HST which is right when I’ll be panting on the treadmill). I will still get Ruthie’s book — have a great time!