Milda De Voe on Curiosity, Mistakes, and How to Write a Book While Being a Parent

Jun 9 2021 • 1 hr 7 mins

My guest for this episode of The Sensitive Rebel is author Milda De Voe. In addition to founding Pen Parentis, a literary nonprofit that helps writers stay creative after having kids, Milda (also known as M.M. De Voe), is a Pushcart-nominated author of short fiction, with work in the Shirley Jackson Award-winning anthology Twisted Book of Shadows and in literary journals in Israel, Great Britain, Canada, and the US, and in the anthology Delirium Corridors. Nominated for her fourth Pushcart in 2021, her first full-length nonfiction — Book &Baby: The Complete Guide to Managing Chaos & Becoming a Wildly Successful Writer-Parent (Brooklyn Writers Press, 2021) — is an instructional guide that Midwest Book Review called “a mandatory read.” This book won first place in the 2021 Indie Awards for writing/publishing books. She is a Columbia University MFA graduate (and fellow) who studied under Michael Cunningham. She has also co-written the book of a sci-fi dance musical, won a NYC poet-tweet contest judged by the mayor’s wife, and has danced for the Pope in Vatican City. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, kids, and an urban rabbit.

In this episode, we discuss her rebellion against 'anti-curiosity' (indifference is the word neither she or I could think of during the interview), the impact of growing up as the child of a scientist and an educator on her as it relates to her curiosity and her attitude about mistakes, her career progression to becoming a writer, the impact of 9/11 on her life, her new book, upcoming projects, and more.

Related links:
College Station TX (Wikipedia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Station,_Texas
Aggie Bonfire collapse (Wikipedia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Aggie_Bonfire_collapse
Maria Montessori (American Montessori Society) - https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/History-of-Montessori/Who-Was-Maria-Montessori
Christopher Durang (Wikipedia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Durang
Alexander Calder (SF MOMA) - https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/alexander_calder/
Scribente Maternum - https://www.scribentematernum.com
Tiny Owl Press - https://tinyowl.co.uk
Domenica Ruta - Last Day (Goodreads) - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41794726-last-day
Sarah Langan - Good Neighbors (Goodreads) - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54304088-good-neighbors
Helen Phillips - The Need - https://www.helencphillips.com/the-need

Connect with Milda:
Web - https://mmdevoe.com
Web (Pen Parentis) - https://www.penparentis.org
Twitter - @mmdevoe

Connect with Steve:
Email - steve@sensitiverebel.com
Web - https://sensitiverebel.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk7zd5kba1SQZOyM5sKKiVA
Instagram - https://instagram.com/thesensitiverebel