I’ve had the pleasure of meeting today’s Perspectives on Motherhood and Writing guest in person. She brought me delicious pasta salad and didn’t even flinch when James spit up on her white jacket.
Rachel Zupke is a go-getter and I love that she channels her passion towards projects and subjects that have eternal significance. She’s a teacher at heart and I’ve learned many things by just observing her life.
Enjoy today’s post and check out the Motherhood and Writing archives for more inspiration and encouragement.
Why do you write/blog?
I started blogging to keep family updated on what was going on with us, especially once we had the first grandchild on each side of the family. When I became a stay at home mom, blogging became an outlet for me since I was so used to having daily interaction with lots of people and subsequently lots of conversations. I still blog for that reason, but I also have found that God has me write things that, while I’d love for them to go viral, end up speaking right to the heart of a few key readers (and that is totally fine!). I also enjoy sharing recipes and how-tos.
Lastly, and most descriptive of what I feel my blog’s purpose is, I want to encourage people to live with what I call “mason jar values”: perseverance, passion, and purpose. Hopefully they’re encouraged to do this via what I write in an indirect way but also when I address them specifically.
I started Intimate Truths because there are too many [Christian] women who don’t talk about sex enough. Single or married, we need to redeem discussions of sex and take them back from what society has made them into.
How long have you been writing/blogging?
I started blogging back in April of 2012. I transitioned to self-hosted blogging in November of 2013. Then I launched Intimate Truths in July of 2014.
How has your current season of life impacted your writing/blogging?
I definitely have WAY less time to write with a toddler. We’ve gone from 2 naps to 1 but that’s also increased the amount of things I have to write about! It’s amazing how much I’ve learned about being a woman, as well as a daughter of God, since becoming a mother two years ago (two years this week actually!). Now that we’re going to have another baby, I can only imagine I’ll lose more time but perhaps that will mean that I’ll be more purposeful with my writing time when I do get to sit down at the computer.
How has this season of life changed your writing habits?
I get to write sporadically throughout the week in 15 minute spurts here and there. Once a week, I set aside an hour or two to work on things for both my personal blog and Intimate Truths. Thankfully, my husband is supportive so that makes it a lot easier to find the time. When life gets too crazy, blogging is the first thing to get pushed aside but that’s how it goes!
What is your writing/blogging battle cry?
For Mason Jar Values (personal blog): I want to encourage people to live with the values of yesterday, things I tend to see less and less in my everyday interactions with others. Encourage you to live with thankfulness for the harvest? I’ll teach you to can summer fruit like peaches. Hard work and perseverance? I’ll encourage you to do things you never thought you could, like take your toddlers camping. Heritage and passion? I’ll recount things from my own life, like making and using cloth napkins, something I’ve done after learning from my mother and grandmother.
For Intimate Truths: It saddens me that sex is such a taboo subject among Christian women, even once they’re married. Even though it is a fairly private subject, there are too many struggles in intimate relationships to not have a buddy to bounce things off of with. I’m blessed to have a woman like that in my life but I’m sure that I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve also given too many women their “talk” because all their parent(s) told them about sex was “sex is great but wait ’til you’re married.” They never learned how their period/cycle worked, the anatomy and physiology of sex and the pleasure cycle, or how to receive pleasure as a women (since so much of sex focuses on the man). The tagline for IT is “sex is sacred, not secret” implying that we should talk about it in a very respectful and forthright manner while maintaining privacy and honesty.
How does faith, writing, and motherhood intersect in your daily life?
I feel incredibly blessed to have journeyed through both fun and difficult years of marriage, homemaking, out-of-the-home career work, adventuring, and motherhood. I am constantly amazed by what God has taught me through everyday experiences. He has revealed Himself in countless ways over the years and I am honored I even have the chance to share what I’ve learned the hard way, and the easy way, about how He wants me to live. And, of course, parenting is quite sanctifying. Sooooo much patience and perseverance needed with my spunky little gal!
Rachel Zupke is a stay at home mom to a toddler. Her husband brings home the big bucks as a high school science teacher and she helps out money-wise by coaching (basketball and rowing) and substitute teaching at her hubby’s high school (She taught HS science pre-baby). She writes about living with perseverance, passion, and purpose (what she’s deemed Mason Jar Values) over at rachelzupke.com. Rachel also runs Intimate Truths, a site that discusses sex as sacred rather than secret (intimatetruths.com). Life for her = faith and family, homemaking, real food and natural living, outdoor adventures with their Siberian Husky, and local happenings. (Rachel and her husband welcomed a baby boy to their family on Thanksgiving day!)
Emily C Gardner 