Author Interview Series: Trina Folse
In this weeks author interview series, we would like to introduce you to Trina Folse, a farmer turned writer from Florida, who after the birth of her beautiful daughter was inspired to write a simple guide to raising a baby. "The Uterus' Guide to Raising a Baby" is a beautiful illustrated and fun picture book that gives first time mums all the info and reassurance they need to survive the ups and downs of the first year of their baby’s life without having to plough for volumes of dry traditional books on motherhood. We fell in love with Uty and we are sure you will too. Read the full interview with Trina below to find more about the cute book and her journey as a first time writer.
Where do you live and how does it inspire your writing?
I live on a small farm in the Florida Panhandle. Being on the farm is a lot of work but being with the animals all day gives me time to really get into my own head.
What inspires you to write?
When you become a mother, you all of a sudden realize why they say "it takes a village," if you look at social media today between Pinterest and Instagram you would think everyone has this mom thing figured out but you. When in fact most of those "perfect" moms are dealing with the same things you are but just aren't sharing raw images. I wanted to show real, everyday motherhood with a positive spin.
When did you first start writing and what was it about?
"The Uterus' Guide to Raising a Baby" is my first book. I wanted to create something that was fun and uplifting to new moms who were in the trenches, sleep deprived with little time for basic hygiene. Something that reassured them that struggles in motherhood are normal and that as crazy as it is, it is all worth it.
Do you support yourself through writing financially, or do you have a day job and what is it?
Not yet, currently I am a stay at home mom and farmer full-time. We have a variety of livestock that I care for throughout the day while maintaining the house, and keeping the tiny tot alive!
How many hours a day do you spend writing and what helps you to get into the writing mood?
When I’m not doing farm chores or chasing my wild little one - I dedicate every spare minute to writing and planning this illustrated short story series to unite moms. I, usually, find time to spend on writing during nap time and after my little girl is in bed.
And what’s the best moment you’ve had in your writing career so far?
The best moment so far has been receiving comments from moms who were struggling in silence with some of the things I cover in the book, and them telling me that this book changed their perspective. If I had to pick one- I recently had a mother who was struggling to accept her mom bod and after reading about Uty, was in awe of all her amazing body had done for her.
Tell us about your book.
The Uterus' Guide to Raising a Baby is a sweet and real look at everyday motherhood. How through all the struggles and crazy things that happen during the first year, your love for that child outweighs any amount of puke or poop they get on you as well as any situation you might find yourself in. Through it all you just look at that amazing little human you created as THE CUTEST BABY EVER and honestly feel like they are so worth all the insanity they cause!
How long did it take to write?
This has been a year in the making. The writing part of this book didn't take very long, maybe a week, but the illustration planning, editing, word placement, color choice, took over a month. I started this project last year with an amazing illustrator, we got to the last few pages and they weren't able to complete it so I had to start from scratch. I found a new illustrator who could bring this project to life and couldn't be happier with how it turned out.
What inspired you to write it?
When I was pregnant I got all the traditional pregnancy/ baby books and they scared me. I was already feeling like I wasn't going to be a good fit for this new role and every book was a couple of inches thick. What was worse was if you read something in one book, it seemed the next book gave contradicting advice. Once my baby was earth side, I had no time to pour through countless pages that seemed to only tell me what I was doing wrong. I couldn't find anything that encouraged me or made me felt heard as a new mother.
When I finally opened up to family about all these disgusting things that had happened to me as a mother - these women in my life LAUGHED - not at me, they were laughing because they, too, had had a similar experience! I had known these women my whole life, spoke to them regularly throughout my pregnancy, they were at the hospital while I was delivering my baby, and not one of them wanted to share these experiences with me because they didn't want to scare me even more than I already was. Immediately, I felt like a normal mother. I couldn't help but think that there was a mother out there somewhere all alone without any support system, questioning EVERY LITTLE THING she was doing/ had done since the moment she gave birth with no one to tell her it was normal and that she was doing an awesome job, so I decided I wanted to change that!
What are you working on next?
I am currently working on the next two books in the series! Uty is navigating all things motherhood and tackling some big topics new mothers need to hear about.
Where would you like to see yourself in three years time?
With a whole series of books featuring Miss Uty, the uterus, talking about a range of subjects on motherhood.
Can you give any advice for an aspiring writer?
If you can dream it, you can do the work to make it happen! Don't waste a good idea, once upon a time people went crazy for pet rocks.
You can grab your copy of the "The Uterus' Guide to Raising a Baby" here on Amazon. To get more info on Trina’s writing sign up to her newsletter and follow her on her social profiles.
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