If Mama Blog Tour 2009 Stop: Welcome Author Lucy Adams

Today, we are excited to introduce Potamus Prefers readers to Lucy Adams, author of If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny. We are honored that she chose us as a stop on her If Mama Blog Tour 2009.

Author Lucy Adams
If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny

Biography:

If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny, tells the tale of every mom, every wife, every husband, every family. Lucy Adams, the author, relates to readers of all ages with stories about love, life, and all the little lessons in between, making her audience feel as if they have plopped themselves down in a rocking chair on her front porch while all the mayhem of the Adams family swirls around them. The stories found on the pages of If Mama not only reveal a woman’s drive to live every moment of every day fully, embracing both the grand and the mundane, the painful and the nearly perfect, with equal verve, but also her ability to laugh at her own frailties and foibles.

Lucy’s many roles as mother (of three boys and a girl), wife, daughter, educator, friend, neighbor, team mom, and carpool queen keep Lucy busy. Inspiration streams from the daily sprint around the metaphorical hamster wheel: burning meals, trying to look cool in a minivan, funeralizing deceased hermit crabs, eating pet watermelons, observing the oddities of Southern culture, dodging road rage in the grocery store, and then doing it all over again the next day.

In addition to authoring If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny, Lucy writes a weekly humor column, which currently appears in three newspapers - The McDuffie Mirror, Tennessee Star Journal, and Columbia County News-Times. Lucy maintains contact with her readers through her blog, web site, www.IfMama.com, and regular e-newsletter.

Before the life she lives at present, Lucy worked as an over-educated stay-at-home mom, who still couldn’t out-think her kids, with a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Georgia and a Master of Science in Psychology from Augusta State University. In her spare time, between the endless chaotic moments that fill her days with angst and joy, Lucy washes clothes and breathes.

Pour a glass of wine, run a hot bath, and grab a copy of If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny, a collection of hilarious memoir-style stories ranging from endearing tales of three-legged pigs to hair raising accounts of unpredictable cockroaches to sentimental moments between mother and child. Before you know it, you’ll be giggling until your bathwater sloshes over the sides of the tub and stuff comes out of your nose.

I also had the opportunity to interview Lucy and learned a lot about this funny mom!

Here is our interview:

What inspired you to write this book?

So many things inspired me to write If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny. My husband stayed after me about doing it. Readers of my weekly newspaper column frequently asked me when I planned to write a book.

The turning point came when a publisher called me and asked if I was interested in writing a how-to book on parenting. Wow! I was flattered. But when I finally got my puffed up ego to sit down and be quiet, the reasonable, logical side of me said that it was dangerous territory to trod. After all, my own children aren't fully cooked. I've yet to see the end product of my own parenting. Who am I to tell someone else how to do it? I had to call the publisher and decline the invitation. While on the phone, however, with newfound confidence clutched in my sweaty palms, I pitched the idea for If Mama. He liked it.

If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny was also inspired by my need to prove that life is more than a collection of chaos bookended by rare moments of calm. Every moment counts. Every minute of every day has a purpose. I have found that by learning to live in the little moments, I open myself to the biggest lessons and the best rewards. And, of course, humor. The smallest sliver of a second contains a complete journey. So much more happens between loads of laundry than wiping noses, folding shirts, and scrubbing the kitchen floor. In fact, most of life happens at the same time that I’m driving carpool, cleaning toilets, and scorching spaghetti.

How many books have you written?

If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny is my first book. My second book - a humorous perusal of the corners we back ourselves into, the uncomfortable situations we find ourselves inadvertently in, and the crazy conversations we wish we never had - is currently in the works. Look for it in the summer of 2010.

What is your favorite thing about being an author?

Let’s see. Perhaps that total strangers write me and e-mail me to say they love If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny and that they’ve put it in the basket of reading materials in their bathrooms for guests to enjoy.

Making people laugh. Making that emotional connection.

I also enjoy the idea that something of my creation with my name on it is recorded in perpetuity in the Library of Congress. I'm a permanent, though tiny, piece of the fabric of America. It's a record of my existence and my contribution. Hmmm. That sounds so silly and neurotic when I say it out loud.

I see that you are a blogger. How did you get into blogging?

I actually got into blogging to support If Mama. But now I use it as an outlet for all the things that I don't have space for in my weekly newspaper columns. I also started a self-help series, Southern Girls Living Fearlessly, when I got into a rough patch and realized my thinking and my attitude were my problem, not the people around me. It's been a tremendous source of personal growth. I wish I had time to blog every day.

Do you have a favorite story from the book?

My favorite story is "I Hope I'm Getting Smaller," about an interaction with my then 4 year-old daughter about loving "bad guys" and what God would want us to do. We shared an amazing moment when I had a revelation about my relationship with my daughter, as well as about how she and I both understand God. It was such a profound experience; tears fill my eyes every time I read that story.

Another of my favorites is about Noah, the three legged pig. But that story is best consumed a little bit at a time, so I won’t go into detail here.

Potamus Prefers readers who checked out the preview post had a few questions for Adams. Here are those questions and her answers.

Danosaur and rmc1ra both want to know the inspiration for the title: If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny.

While many people think it originated as a wordplay on the saying, If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy, that’s actually not where it came from. My husband takes most of the credit for the title, because of an event that transpired one night at dinner. He threw a buttered biscuit to one of our sons, who didn’t catch it. The biscuit rolled down the front of his shirt and the leg of his pants.

Every mother knows how hard it is to get greasy butter stains out of clothes, plus also understands why I didn’t so much approve of throwing food at the dinner table. So you can appreciate my angry reaction, despite my family’s uproarious laughter. Seeing the expression on my face, my husband hooted, “Uh-oh. Mama isn’t laughing. If Mama doesn’t laugh, it isn’t funny.”

That only made them laugh more.

Nana*2*4 wants to know what writers inspired you?

I’ve always loved southern novels, so I have to say the style and language of southern literature influences my writing. In addition, the humor and story telling techniques of Erma Bombeck, Lewis Grizzard, and Garrison Keilor shape the way I write.

Karly asks if the stories in If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny are all true?

Karly, they are all true but one. And the book has a clue in it as to which one isn’t true. Keep in mind, however, that just because they are true, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t take some artistic license with them.

Deb K wants to know if you are this funny in real life?

Deb, since we may never meet, I’m going to claim to be even funnier. If we do someday meet, please don’t hold it against me if I’m not. I’m playing the odds here.

Kristy Clayman wants to know the source of your inspiration for the things you write?

Life.

Felicity, asks if your older brother and you really dropped the cat . . . in a bag even?

Yes, we really dropped the cat. And yes, we really dropped it in a bag. And yes, it landed on its feet every time. For the record, I would also like to clarify that although it makes for a wickedly funny story about my childhood, I do know now that it was a terrible thing to do. (Lucy also hopes you do not try this at home, Felicity).

The mama behind Potamus Prefers says:

I'm a mom and I laughed so, yes, If Mama is funny, but it's also real.

Lucy Adams is hilarious and real in If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny. As a busy mom of two under two, I don't have the time or attention span to read a huge book that makes me think too hard. This book totally relates to mothers. I think most mothers can identify with many of the stories. As I went from one story to the next, I kept thinking "Amen, sister! I hear ya!" I think this is a thoughtful book to give to other moms (Mother's Day anyone?) or to keep on the coffee table or in the "reading room". It's one of those books where you think you'll read one or two stories but you can't put it down.

I definitely recommend If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny. Adams is super humorous and writes things that many moms probably think, but not all are brave enough to say. I think many moms will be glad that someone finally put pen to paper and let it all out. Walk don't run (I don't want you to trip over a toddler toy or I'd say run) to your computer and order this wonderful read right here.

And, if you'd like to win the If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny cap that Lucy generously donated for one lucky reader, click here to enter. For those entering today, just mention something you learned during Lucy's Blog Tour 2o09 stop. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. tonight.

***UPDATE: We have our winner of the hat.

The random winner is the 12th comment.:

Karly who said... "The book looks like a good, fun read. I would like to ask if the stories in the book are all true!". Congrats! I will be sending you an email shortly.