Andrea Santo Felcone
A lover of words and books, I started my career in publishing in New York City in 1990. I spent 13 years working primarily in marketing positions for academic and trade publishing houses, and my last position was that of Marketing Manager for Barnes & Noble, Inc. When I left B&N to become a “stay-at-home mom”, Human Resources had wanted to counter offer, but there was no way, in my mind, to counter offer having one’s first child. My eldest is 13 now (so I have now spent as much time in “mom world” as I had in the publishing world—a maternal/career equinox of sorts). My teenager is caring and witty and wise beyond his years and he has taught me so much about myself.
I try not to take motherhood for granted, as I married at 32, and having children did not come easily. It seemed at the time, that the firstborn would never arrive. The wait for the firstborn, however, in retrospect, was nothing compared to the difficult struggle (4 years of secondary infertility issues) that preceded the birth of my second son. (There is almost 7 years between my two children). However, I am beyond lucky to have had my second son and he is my “jump in and figure it out later” child. He is pure love and challenges all of us to stretch ourselves outside of our comfort zones. My husband and I thank our lucky stars every day for the gift of these two boys.
About 4 years ago, I saw that my eldest did not enjoy the process of writing. I volunteered to create and run a writing workshop at his school. I found I deeply loved teaching children the craft of writing. So much so, that I turned my volunteer experience into a small business: Fearless Dragon Writers, LLC. Currently, I run creative writing workshops for children in library, school, and summer camp settings. A combined love of teaching, reading, and designing ridiculously elaborate theme parties came together to create the curriculum: www.facebook.com/fearlessdragonwriters. Through teaching, the children have inspired me to start my own writing life again and this has led me to blogging. One of my favorite things to do is to sit in a quiet house with a cup of really good coffee and write. I am very grateful to Motherhood Later for providing a platform for me to express myself and share my mothering experiences.
