Let’s be honest: being a mom doesn’t always leave room for creativity. It’s hard to think about art — about words, metaphors, and drawing threads that weave meaning and memories together while tantrums and diapers are competing for your time. So often, too often, the tantrums win.

But what if you stopped and took a good, hard look at the creative potential hidden underneath that pile of laundry over there? What if you decided that this was YOUR year to come alive right alongside those late nights, early mornings, I-love-you-so-much-I-could-burst and please-do-not-come-out-of-your-room-until-you’re-ten moments?  

If you’ve been waiting for the “right” time, we have exciting news: the right time is right now.

This is your year to shine. This is the time to unveil your creative soul and see it not as the thing competing with motherhood, but as the very thing helping to sustain motherhood.

We know this is possible because we've done it.

We've been writing for Coffee + Crumbs for more than two years in the midst of pregnancies and adoptions and colic and miscarriages and moves and transitions and doctor appointments filled with hard news. We’ve put our words down on paper both in the midst of the process and in the memory of it. Making time to write, to think, to dream, to wrestle with the weight of motherhood and shift it around from one tired hip to the next has often been the soul care we've needed to refocus our eyes on what is beautiful and good.

N’tima re-lived the painful early months of motherhood, when she balanced colic and post-partum depression, and in the process told millions of mommas: it is not just you. Katie wrote through her son’s autism diagnosis, and it was the experience of writing that showed her the difference between living in fear and choosing faith. April let her heart break on paper with her stories of miscarriage and adoption and growing her family in a way that was painful but ultimately perfect. Earlier this year, Anna wrote about running a marathon in honor of her son's birth mother—which, we just learned—inspired a reader across the country to run a marathon herself last week (26 miles for 26 people who've made a difference in her life, INCREDIBLE). 

Every Coffee + Crumbs writer has a story like this: a moment when words brought conviction or helped our tired eyes see the long view, not the short one. We haven’t written in spite of motherhood; we have written because of motherhood.

And now, we want to share what we've learned with you. We’ve designed The Year of Creativity for your art, for your vision, for your creative spirit.

The Year of Creativity is a twelve-month journey to empower women to pursue creativity alongside motherhood. The C+C writers have been busy crafting monthly lessons that include reflections, writing prompts, creative exercises, digital gifts, and monthly artist interviews where you’ll hear from women doing exactly what we all want to do: live creatively while raising babies at the same time. While the content is certainly impressive, we anticipate the best part of YOC to be the community itself. Our hope and dream is to develop a beautiful group of creative mothers ready to build one another up, keep each other inspired, and, ultimately, become online BFFs (like all of us). 

If any part of your heart is whispering, "I need this," - we hope you say yes to this invitation.

(And if your husband hasn't bought you a Christmas gift yet, feel free to e-mail this link with "hint hint" as the subject line.) 

2017. Let's do this. 

Ready?

Head over to The Year of Creativity page to get started!