What was it like for you to create her on the page, and how much a part of the process was she? Did she read your early drafts? She's so vivid as a character from the moment she walks into the bakery where you’re working, with her Carhartts and ponytail and her old Ford pickup out front. I had so much fun helping find a structure for her story that I started to work on my own.ĭW: Tell me about Kellie. The project was on the back burner for years, until I wound up helping a friend with her memoir. That way, anytime there were unexpected twists, I felt like they were material. I think it was a way for me to handle how it had turned into this long, drawn-out process. JB: It’s funny, I told myself I was writing a book while I was in the midst of trying to get pregnant. When did you realize you were writing a book? During COVID, your neighbors become your community in a different way.ĭW: The memoir follows your journey to motherhood from before you met Kellie to your family life now. Their sheep come graze on our pasture during the spring and summer months. We've had a chance to learn from them and work with them. We’ve got about 12 acres, near a collective of folks who have their own projects going on.

Kellie and I happened to move up the road from this cool farming community right outside the city. I’m less connected to the Olympia arts scene and more grounded in the agriculture community now. I love how you write: “Our grunge was grungier, our rainy days were rainier, and our queers were queerer.” What’s it like living there now that you’re older? Jenn Berney: Let’s start with Olympia, where much of the book takes place.

The Other Mothers by Jennifer Berney