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Dearest Hathor and Mama-is fan,
I’m percolating some big changes and deep thoughts over here at mama central and thought that I’d share them with you before I get my inbox filled to over-flowing with long wondering and deeply worried letters asking where I’ve been and how everything is going. Everything is going fine. I’m great, Husband’s still dearest, the kids are wondrous. We’re all healthy and thriving and enjoying the day.
The thing is that I’ve been taking stock of my blog and have come to the conclusion that it’s way way way more work than it’s worth. There are a billion bloggers out there writing a bit daily, whereas my shtick is posting a comic (almost daily) a process that has grown over time to be a 200+ step system. In the beginning the comics were black and white, I just had to scan and post – itself a 50 step system. But over time I’ve added color, I’ve added pdfs, I’ve added lots and lots of time on the machine. I love making the comics and hate all of the computer work that goes along with them. And it has not gone without notice that I rant about technology, while spending too much time in front of the screen. I’ve become aware, funny how new babies will do that.
I’ve also noticed, that where there used to be a million mama-blogs, now there is like a kazillionbillion mama-blogs. My market share has fallen, the advertising is non-existant, and the money is piddling. The economy of the web is free, I know that. So, I’m closing shop and heading back to the real world. Sort of.
I’ve got a book that’s about to be published:
Expect it in about a week ;o)
I also, have another book/zine/magazine/comic bundle (okay I can’t figure out what to call it yet!) coming by Christmas. I hope, I hope, I hope! This one will be chock full of comics and writings about, guess! Yep, technology and life with baby.
In the meantime, I’ll miss posting all the time and hearing from all of you on an almost daily basis. When I talked this all through with my husband it didn’t go without notice that I’m a little um, reliant on the good wishes and kind encouragement of my fans. Okay, I’m a fan mail junkie. Fine, I said it. Make sure you’re signed up to receive my feed so that when new books are published you won’t miss out and as always, action alerts, warm wishes, and kind words can be sent to mama at mama-is.com. I’m still cartooning, and writing, and books are on the way!
xox,
Heather
ps. thecowgoddess.com will still be re-posting the classic Hathor comics, so don’t forget to visit often!
Big Congrats! I was just wondering about you today:)
Wow, I was so excited to finally see a new post, but now I’m bummed.
But! I understand
You have a very full life, and you deserve to live it!
There may be a kazillionbillion mama blogs out there, but you were one in a kazillionbillion! Best wishes in everything, and I’ll be looking forward to your books!
oh my god. isn’t there some way we can sort this out? you can’t do this to me! surely there’s another way out? can’t really dedicated fans pay for a weekly/monthly fix? i really don’t think i can make it on my own….
it’s my birthday soon. i asked dh for your other books i promise. man, if he doesn’t get me them i’ll f@**ing order them myself. i totally agree with the technology part of your argument. but to compare yourself to other mama bloggers…. that’s just insane. none of them can do what you do. i just remember the first time i discovered you about 2 years ago on shape of a mother. those superhero pants and biceps were all the encouragement i needed to carry on as i was. AARRGGH YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME….
and you reckon you’ll miss hearing from daily basis. well i’m going to fill your inbox up with tom hodgkinson photos. you’ll be onto the email feds to have me done for harassment.
that’s not supposed to sound quite so threatening… my buttons keep sticking, bloody computers….
I will miss you!
I’ll miss your thoughts on a daily basis, Heather. Your point of view is thought-provoking and has catalyzed many meaningful discussions within my marriage about how we would like to conduct our eventual child-rearing. Thank you!
I agree with Marylee.
We argue and discuss and come to agreement from your comics.
Aw, darn.
I checked this site daily, even though I didn’t get any emails that you had posted anything new, in hopes that the email just hadn’t arrived.
Well, I’d been waiting for my November birthday to ask for all your books, but I’m so tempted to order them right now myself. I really don’t know how I’ll get by without the weekly comics that make me feel so much at home and so…just so good! I do understand, but note the sadness in my voice when I say that.
It should make you feel good that we’re sad to see you go;)
Not “go”, though, because I’ll look forward to your book, and future…stuff.
<3
Oh, wow! I’ve been wondering where you were, but waiting patiently for something new to pop up on my RSS. I’ve been reading your comics for about 3 years now. They have been a joy, a laugh, an affirmation or a call to awareness/action. Thank you so much!
Though you will be missed, I honestly love when people take stock of their priorities. Family should come first, no matter how many fans you have. It warms my heart that you are truly living out the message you have so lovingly presented to us through the years. At least there will be books! I wish you happiness and success in all your endeavors, and a healthy happy family to boot!
Thank you for all you’ve shared.
Best wishes and *good juju*
Aw, man.
Totally understandable, though.
Thanks for bringing me to the light and keeping me strong when all the anti-attachment forces were threatening to bring me down.
And yes, I’ll buy the book. <3
I get it although I’m sad!! But hey, that book sounds AMAZING!!! EEEEEEE!
Much love!
It has been quite wonderful to read all the quite wondrous, and hilarious articles and cartoons. Yes I did purchase one which is on my fridge door. This does give some moments of puzzlement to my visitors, as I am an old fart of 78! Most unlikely.
It has been a joy also to read all about, slings, breast feeding, baby holding, birth and all those good things. My special interest is that I am the guy that improved the early slings that just knotted a piece of fabric on your shoulder.
I designed the first ring sling in 1981 in Hawaii for my eldest daughter Fonda, who is now at University. She was home schooled for the first 14 years of her life. Which does give the lie to the usual nonsense that home schooled kids are pretty useless at academia.
I shall certainly purchase your books and would love to be able to keep in touch with you.
Warmly Rayner
Now that I’ve finished hyperventilating…as long as there is some way to get and pass along the wonder that is Hathor & Mama Is fix, you do what you have to! But you are NOT allowed to fade away from the mommablogsphere without enabling those who love you most!
Geez, almost put me in pre-term labor… ;-D
xoxoxo
well until now i’ve been one of your silent fans, but i had to comment on this one!
i’ve been reading your comics for years. you were there for me thru taking my kids out of school & gradually embracing unschooling for my 3 babes, thru baby-wearing, bed-sharing and breastfeeding forever
P and then my pregnancy with no.4 overlapped with yours and i had my first homebirth, first waterbirth & was delighted each time i could read about your little one just a step ahead of mine.
you’ve been an inspiration, an encouragement when i’ve spiraled into home ed panics, a reminder to live on the sunny-side of life, treasured trans-atlantic support of why i do things the way i do (especially while those closer to home are less supportive) and have brightened my days despite post-natal depression. hathor and mama-is are my homepages cos i’m just too impatient to wait for the feed to tell me there’s a new comic ;o)
thank you – from the bottom of my heart – and best wishes for spending more time with your dear babies and less fighting with technology
)
missykai xxx
ooh, got some strange smilies there. i think they should have looked like this
:p
but then i might still have them wrong… what was that about technology???
I’ve been with you since almost the beginning. Our youngest daughters were born within weeks of each other, so especially for the last almost 6 years (through the pregnancy) I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog. I know you don’t know me, but I do feel like we’ve been on a journey together.
You have a unique voice. You have a wonderful sense of the absurd and a great sense of humor, along with clear thinking and the willingness to hit hard.
I hope you will still post once in awhile. As Rachele said, you are one in a kazillionbillion!
Awww, i will miss you comics.
And there may be that many mamablogs out there, in my opinion most of them are still blogs about feeding on the clock, letting baby’s cry in there crib blogs. Yours are a joy to read en allways made a smile on my face.
Even tho i understand your decision, dont think you where just one of the million bloggers out there, You are Hathor the Cowgoddes!
I will miss your comics and blogs
Melissa (the Netherlands)
Rats! Change is tough sometimes. I’ll miss you but understand. I had so looked forward to your latest adventures and to see what differences there would be with a boy baby in your life.
Keep up the love and I know that we’ll be seeing you in some form or another sometime.
Thank you for giving so much for so long!
Love back to you and yours,
Kathleen
I understand too, but please don’t disappear completely. Your site is one of my most favorite places online. I’ve been enjoying your comics for so long I can’t remember when I started. When I got the email notice of your new post I thought, “Yay! At last!” because I had missed you. Best wishes on your new endeavors.
aw I’ll miss you! but I know how hard it is to blog regularly and that’s without the technology issues. I’ve loved reading both Hathor and Mama over the years and look forward to the books
aw man, this sucks! i am so sad. i remember finding you as hathor back in hipmama magazine.
i wanna cry. reading your stuff has always made me feel not so alone in the world.
well, enjoy that baby and your tech-free-ish life. i totally get the computer thing. i have just been thinking i want to chuck our computer as it seems to eat up the day.
i am going to miss you so much.
much love to you.
heather in maine
But but but…
I’m gonna miss you, hon! I’ve been reading you for such a long time, you’ve seriously become part of my life.
I understand, however, the need to move on and live a “real” life.
I wish you luck in all of your endeavors, and I can’t wait to see the new book!
Heather, it’s weird how much I’ve been “synching” with the people in my life this week. Every time I’ve been thinking about something, someone will come in and start talking about it.
So yesterday I’m going through the boxes of my magazine, thinking rather coldly of the amount of time creating it takes, and how unsuited I am to some of the work involved. My family is hurting for money so badly, it isn’t even funny. There’s not a week that goes by that someone doesn’t call asking where exactly their check is.
We homeschool, but if we really worked it, I could get a part-time job somewhere — or maybe a proofreading gig at home, or some more freelance teaching work if I threw myself into that. Any of that would pay WAY more than I’m making now.
I know that there are a lot of people who like what I do even though they don’t purchase it. They read the free bits and say that someday they’ll subscribe. They’re asking for it for their birthday, or Christmas, or next Columbus’ Day.
They don’t ask their library to purchase a subscription. They don’t get together with a friend or a co-op and save the six dollars every other month to make the purchase.
They will be absolutely shocked when eventually this journal that so many people say they love and want and need goes out of business because I got tired of working full-time at a very difficult job and making less than I did back when I was doing retail part-time.
Good for you for saying “Enough, already.” Yes, it’s nice to get love letters from total strangers — but the fact is, most of those loving fans weren’t going to buy a cow when they could get the milk for free.
I enjoyed seeing your new postings, but it’s your books that really keep me going. I’m glad to know that I can look forward to more of those.
I wish you the best Heather. We’ll all miss your comics but I totally understand. Please keep us updated… would you like to place a free ad in our next issue of our Organic Birth magazine for your book? Email me at reikibirth@gmail.com for details.
Like so many others have said, I’m bummed… but I completely understand. I’ve been doing the same thing personally – pulling away from the internet and hanging with the fam. That has been so freeing – and I don’t even run a major website! So as crazy as this sounds, I’m excited for you!
Well, I suppose even good things must come to an end… Will miss you tremendeously! But it does sound healthy. And I look forward to the “teenage-mama-is” in a few years. We will need a good laugh then too. And by then, tech will have evolved…
LOVE and GOOD LUCK from Sweden!
I feel like a part of me has died. Is that overdramatic?
Good Luck! I was wondering if this was where you were headed. I’ll miss you and the blog and the comics, but I wish you so well in the next phase of your journey, I hope you’ll let us be a (small) part of it, too. We all evolve, and The Cowgoddess and Mama-is have been a part of my personal evolution, and I’m very grateful to have found you years ago! I’m looking forward to reading the book (yea!), and I hope you’ll keep in touch.
Mama is… going to be missed.
Hi Aussiemidwife,
I’m so sorry that you feel that way, please keep your chin up, and thanks for loving my work ;o) Thank you everyone for all the kind words!
xox,
Heather
hee hee, I swear mum-raa you do it and I’m flying over there to stay in your garden for a week. (I don’t mean to make that sound like a threat either, I really want to come to England!)
xox,
Heather
Hey all,
I’m going to set up a blog tour for my upcoming book…any birth/mommy bloggers that would like to host me for a day (either interview me, let me guest post, or let me take questions from your readers, etc…) Please email me mama at mama-is.com and we’ll set something up!
xox,
Heather
I always have such a hard time knowing what to ask for at Christmas! My darling husband is always begging for ideas, and NOW I know what I want! Your books! I am SO excited, lol, and he will be relieved
I’ve been wondering if you’d make this decision soon. I keep thinking of how brilliant and thought provoking your writing is and what a strong voice you have and how you aren’t making money off this and also how I am probably not the only hard-working, low or no income mom who would pay a ton to keep you up and running if only she could make some money for herself first. I really was thinking you should just do books.. hook up with a serious publisher and let me find your stuff in the bookstores. Stop giving this stuff away for free! But your message needs to get OUT and I LIKE getting it for free. But this amount of work should get paid for. Really. Just because you’re used to working your butt off as a mother for nothing but love, doesn’t mean all work is like that. You really should get paid for your art and your writings.
There really aren’t a lot of good bloggers out there. I always think of the blogger on SNL when I see most blogs. Yours and my husband’s blog are the only ones I ever read regularly. And I am only addicted to yours.
I think you’re making the right choice.. even if it does suck for us.
Good luck.
I don’t have anything to add that hasn’t already been said… you have been such an important part of our lives, a mother for us mothers. Ahh, I’m getting verklempt! A million and one thanks to you AND your family (they are the ones who had to share you with us all these years). Good luck and take care. One positive, to me, is that I much prefer to read from a book than from a computer, so I will be watching for your next one!
Even when there are a squadillionbillionschmillion mama-websites, we still appreciate the QUALITY here, nevermind the quantity.
Maybe you can call it a comic book! Keep me on the mailing list.
I will really miss Mama but not quite as much as I still miss Hathor, if that makes any sense.
Your work has been a big support to me as I tried to parent my kids while living in the middle of the mainstream. I am different from you in many ways but I am the same in many important ways. I knew from the day my first son was born that my kids needed all they could get of me and I was determined to give them as much as I could. Thanks for your help. And let me know when your comic book
comes out.
I’m glad to hear you’re listening to your gut on this and not sacrificing yourself to your work. We all deserve to enjoy our work, and when it becomes a chore or just more than it’s worth, it’s time to move on to something new. Congrats on your new direction!
I will be getting all of your books! Good luck mama, and thanks for all the sharing you’ve done with us all
Hopefully, we haven’t seen the last of you. Best wishes!
I, too, am sad to see you go offline, but glad for you at the same time. I have enjoyed reading everything you’ve posted, it has all been so thought-provoking and inspirational! I started reading your blogs when I had my son and you opened up a whole new world of parenting for me. I keep hinting to my husband that I would like your books anytime he wants to get me a gift…but like one other reader, I may just have to order them on my own.
Good luck to you and your family!
I will miss your comics so much, and I can’t wait for your new book. I’m sad to see you go, but I hope I get to meet you at the Trust Birth Conference this coming year. You have been a big source of encouragement for my choices for the past couple of years, even if you didn’t know it
.
I’ll miss you.
You change people life with your comics, you inspire.
I gave birth to my second daughter at home and your comics and your story were one of the reasons.
Hugs from Poland!
Congrats on your new endeavors. I wish you much success and many opportunities.
Genius woman, I’ve just rediscovered your web site for the first time since having a baby. I’m sad to be coming in at the end of an era but I’ve just bought your books and I expect they will keep me busy for a while. Can’t wait to read what you’re up to next.
Kirsten in San Francisco
well, i do understand but i’m also very sad for myself! your comics have been actually quite influential on the way i parent. the comic where hathor offers an onlooker a blanket to put over HER head was the best! thank you for being a good example for me, and best of luck to you!
Oh dear, so many mixed feelings on this one! I’m so excited for you (and will definitely buy your book), but will miss your comic! It’s seen me through many a rough day as a young mama.
Best wishes and continued adoration and support!
You give so much and though you do so to help the world and all things mothers milk you have to take care of your family as well.
Your blog will be missed, they are special. I hope your books bring you all you need and also bring the rest of us the support we have so much enjoyed.
Brightest Blessings
(Can we count on calendars?) =)
I will miss reading your posts! Please don’t go! It’s not just the cartoons, lol!
I’m terribly selfish and I hope you have a chance to post every so often. (I’ve been lurking since the Trust Birth Conference)
Heck, sell a subscription to your blog or a podcast! we’ll buy! You deserve to make money doing what you love!