Harriet's Voice:

Survey for Creative Mothers

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creative mothers, mothers who write, inspiration for writing mothers

Women out in force to vote, circa 1922

So far, nearly 40 women have completed the survey Art in the Balance. Many mothers have told me that completing the survey helped them gain some real insights into their own writing life. The purpose of this survey is to gather both qualitative and quantitative information on the experience of the creative mother. It will inform the book Harriet’s Voice: A Writing Mother’s Journey, currently under consideration for publication. The survey takes about 10 - 15 minutes to complete.

1. How many children do you have:

2. What are their ages?:

3. How old are you?:

4. What is your creative interest (music, art, writing, etc)? Please be specific (eg, what kind of writing do you do?)

If your children are grown (over 18), please complete questions 5 - 18 as a reflection of the time before they were grown.

5. Is your creative interest also your career? If so, please describe. If not, please describe your occupation (also, please specify if your full-time occupation is motherhood).

6. Please mark what percentage of your average day is devoted towards the items below (items should total 100%):

Child care

Family time

Alone time with significant other

Household responsibilities

Work

Errands

Leisure

Creative pursuit (writing, art, music)

Other (explain below)

7. What percentage of time would you like to spend on your creative pursuit?

8. What might be a realistic goal for percentage of time to spend on creativity right now?

9. What works for you right now, in terms of getting and using time to create? Any tips to pass on to other mothers?

10. What obstacles are you facing in trying to pursue your creative interest?

11. Please describe any plans you have to increase your creative output:

12. Are you a single parent? If so, what has your experience of balancing parenting with creative pursuits been like?

13. If you are in a relationship, has the challenge of balancing art and motherhood contributed to any challenges in your relationship with your significant other? If so, please describe:

14. How would you define artistic success, for you personally? (please be specific, eg, having an art exhibit, performing your music live, publishing a book, writing every day, winning a contest, etc)

15. Do you think you will achieve artistic success? If so, when?

16. Who/what inspires your creativity, and why?

17. Who/what discourages your creativity, and why?

18. Please add any comments or insights about juggling art with motherhood that you think might be valuable:

E-mail:

Name

The results from this survey may be shared in Web site and/or book form. Mothers would be cited by first name, creative interest, and location. If you would prefer for your name and location to remain anonymous, please indicate so below. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.

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If you are interested in hearing more about the Harriet’s Voice project, a Web site and book for writing mothers, please visit Contact Katherine.