Reading, Writing, and Motherhood: Just Like Erma Bombeck

On Mother’s Day, I was sitting in front of my blank computer screen, thinking about the show I just watched on humorist and columnist Erma Bombeck.

Erma and I have a lot in common. I write two weekly newspaper columns just like she did. I’ve written several books, albeit only two of mine are published. She’s had ten on the New York Times Best-Sellers list. We’re both from the Mid-West. She’s from Ohio; I’m from Indiana. We both settled in the West–I’m in Utah; she moved to Arizona. And we both try to see the humor of life, although I think she’s much better at it than I am.

A journalist by trade, Erma knew the importance of reading and the joy of writing. Despite being told by a college professor that she would never make a career as a writer, Bombeck saw her goal, then did everything in her power to make her dreams come true while raising three children with her husband. She wrote about the experiences of her family, although the stories were sometimes embellished to enhance the possibility for humor. She taught us much about the importance for laughter and brought us some of the funniest pieces ever written for women.

Despite the health issues of breast cancer and polycystic kidney disease which eventually claimed her life, Bombeck continued her weekly schedule of housework which provided the fodder for her newspaper columns. "If I didn't do my own housework, then I have no business writing about it. I spend 90 percent of my time living scripts and 10 percent writing them," Bombeck once said to the New York Times. Bombeck published more than four thousand syndicated columns in 900 papers nationwide, wrote 15 best-selling books, and became one of the world's most beloved humorist columns before her death in 1996.

Although I never expect to write as many columns, publish as widely, or be as funny as Erma Bombeck, I want to thank her for proving that women have a place in the world of newspaper columnists. I only hope that someone finds my columns occasionally as funny, interesting, or true to life as those she gave to her readers.