An Interview With Melissa Llarena

Question from a writing client/listener: How can writing improve self-esteem, self-love, or self-care for a mom?  Answer: If I had to pick the house chore I avoid most, I’d say ironing clothes. I’ll go as far as pulling a sweater over my wrinkled shirt just so I don’t have to get out my iron. It’s sad that I don’t even need to find an ironing board and steady it on the ground, and yet the simple act of ironing still feels so extra. Extra, aka superfluous—I just want to emphasize how annoying it is, particularly for a mom of three boys (who shove their clothes into drawers). But when it comes to writing, this is the practice where I enjoy ironing: I can iron out my illogical thoughts, irrational reactions, and series of options before making big and small decisions, and anything else that would appear blurry if all I did was think about it for too long.   There’s something to banging a keyboard in search of the truth behind the truth in several life categories, hence I write. I write quite a lot, especially wh