Love, Miss Cackle x

"Stay Fabulous!" the tweet said.

The tweet, I might add, that only happened to come from a VERY FAMOUS AND AWESOME PERSON (VFAAP) - A VFAAP whom Cackle Mummy had admired for a very long time and had finally met In Real Life.

You see, Cackle Mummy had just attended a writing workshop with VFAAP - a rare writerly outing in the life of The Mummy of the Best Baby Ever (AKA Tiger). The workshop was on writing chick lit, a genre Cackle Mummy adores and secretly aspires to produce herself (okay, not-so-secretly now. Does this mean I have to actually do it? Gulp).

The workshop was wonderful, exciting, inspiring, funny, just-gosh-darn-BRILLIG, and the presenter was just as super lovely as I had imagined she'd be from her thigh-slappingly funny, feisty, sassy, intelligent, opinionated (in the very best sense of the word) books. I left buzzing and bouncing and DETERMINED to be the next Monica McInerney (or the next VFAAP, as a matter of fact).

It was not only the content of the workshop that made me buzz. I had a very small chat with VFAAP. And I didn't acquit myself too terribly, despite my nerves. And I even talked in whole sentences, which is a huge achievement for someone who spends most of her days reading "Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear," and saying "Bububububububububub" for hours on end.

Plus, she liked my shoes (my-five-dollar-from-KMart shoes. A detail I chose to omit from our footwear-appreciation discussion).

The next day, I went to a talk by VFAAP and another AP, a journalist who is one of the few whose job title should not be in inverted commas. I.e. one who actually does his job. And does it with integrity. He and VFAAP ran a session that moved me to tears. Because it reminded me there are good people in the world, people making a difference, taking a stand. People who are kicking against the pr***s and actually winning.

I left full of even more admiration, for VFAAP and her co-presenter.

And then, later that evening, the tweet came.

"Stay Fabulous".

And, of course, my first instinct was to reply to the tweet with something along the lines of, "Me? Fabulous? Golly, I think you have the wrong person! I wear five-dollar-from-KMart shoes! I spend my days rolling on the floor blowing bubbles on my baby's belly! I leave the house most days with yesterday's makeup on and no idea how my hair looks! My idea of a rocking good time is a long hot shower, and fifteen minutes to read a few pages of my book. My favourite pastime in life is hugging my little girl. I'm not making a difference. I'm not FABULOUS. I'm just silly little cackle Mummy."

But then I took a moment, and took my fingers away from the keyboard, and I thought about it. I thought about how I want Tiger to grow up thinking she's fabulous. I want her to be so gosh-darn assured in her little Valkyrie self that there aint nobody gonna bring her down.

And in order for her to be that she needs to see me being that.

And you know what? I am fabulous, in my own little way. I write books that people like, I have friends and family who enjoy being around me, and I have a Tiger baby who laughs when I tickle her feet. And I do kick against the pr***s, in my own small ways, every day. I have been through some nasty things and I am still here, still standing, and still singing and dancing around the room with my little girl. Who thinks I am fabulous.

And so, instead of writing some self-deprecating twaddle, I put my fingers back on the keyboard, and I wrote:

"I intend to! Tiger expects nothing less!"

Now, I just have to put my money (even if it is only five dollars) where my mouth is. Because Tiger deserves a fabulous mum. And, in the interests of the much-maligned YOLO, I deserve to be fabulous.

Thank you, VFAAP, for reminding me of that, and for being fabulous yourself. 

Now, I AM off to start work on the Best Darn Chick Lit Novel Of All Time.

I'll see you at the launch!

~ Love, Miss Cackle x