Syndicated humor columnist and mom blogger, Tracy Beckerman
as told by Butterfly co-founder Bradi Nathan
I try to find the humor in things- sometimes you know it’s the only way to get through the day. Like when we took the training wheels off of my daughter’s two-wheeler... off she went on the first try. My husband and I were cheering, jumping up and down with excitement like we’d just won the lottery. Fast forward 5 seconds as we watch our precious offspring become entangled in a nearby fence - tears streaming down her face as her hot pink Barbie helmet drapes from her tiny head. She was fine, truly she was, but it was the funniest damn crash scene we had ever witnessed! Had we not laughed she would have possibly carried on for the latter part of the day only to feel defeated. But, because we made light of the situation, off she went for another go at it.
It’s stories like these that go on in the “burbs” that become relatable and desirable to read. My story though, cannot compare to the thousands of entries that have be logged in the column called LOST IN SUBURBIA® by Tracy Beckerman. Tracy has been a columnist for seven years for the weekly Independent Press newspaper in New Jersey, as well as other NJN publishing papers. LOST IN SUBURBIA® is also carried weekly by the North Jersey Media Group, a chain of 47 newspapers in Northern NJ. Her column is also syndicated monthly to 390 newspapers in the Gatehouse Media chain, which reaches an audience of nearly 2.5 million readers in 23 states.
In a humorous interview with Butterfly, Tracy, mother of two, shares her suburban stories:
BN: It has been established. You are one funny mommy. What laugh-out-loud moments do you remember from your own childhood?
I grew up in a nice, normal family, in the suburbs of New York with two brothers, a dog, a cat and a goldfish that lived for 15 years, although I suspect the original fish died when I was very young, and my mother replaced it with a lookalike fish several dozen times over. It was all that normalcy that drove me to become a humor writer and find all the laugh-out-loud moments of parenting and life in the ‘burbs. By the way, I now realize it is much funnier to see your kid crash into a tree when she is learning to ride a bike than it was when I actually did it myself.
BN: When did you first start writing and how did that evolve into a career?
I wrote my first book when I was 6. It was a memoir, which is probably the reason why it was only 3 pages long. My parents thought it was cute but it got panned by the New York Times Book Review so I decided to hang up my literary hat for awhile and focus on selling Girl Scout Cookies.
I started writing my humor column, LOST IN SUBURBIA, about 9 years ago when my son started kindergarten. I had quit my full-time job in television to be a stay-at-home mom. After about 5 years of that, I launched my column.
BN: Where were you at in your career when you had children and how did that alter your profession?
I always thought I would continue to work full time, even after I had kids. But the day I came home and found my nanny and ten other nannies in my apartment eating Chinese food and watching game shows on tv while the babies all played, I realized she was having a better time than I was, so I quit.
By the time we moved to the suburbs and my second child was born, I knew I wanted to work again part time, but didn’t want to be in such a time-consuming profession. One day something funny happened to my son at school and I sat down and wrote about it. Then I sent it to my local newspaper and they published it. I don’t think they had any idea I was going to keep sending them columns every week.
BN: What’s the best place for you to find inspiration for your stories?
Home is where the humor is.
BN: How would you describe your audience? Any crazy letters from readers you can share?
Most of the people who read and can relate to my columns are other moms who live in the ‘burbs. The experience is pretty universal, whether you live in the suburbs of New Jersey or Minnesota. Maybe it’s a little different in Alaska because they don’t sell fish eyeballs in my supermarket, but other than that, I think it’s pretty much the same.
The funniest letter I ever got was after I had written a mock Holiday Newsletter column. I talked about the fact that my kids had lived on the International Space Station, my husband had won the Nobel peace prize, and my dog had saved sixteen people from a burning building, among other outrageous achievements. One lady wrote a letter to the editor saying how refreshing it was in this day and age to see one family doing so well. That was a howler!
BN: What challenges have you faced in maintaining your career and the needs your family?
I have learned to write several columns ahead so that if I hit a dry patch or get busy with the kids, I don’t panic about meeting a deadline because I always have a few columns in the can. There are times, though, when I am asked to do something to promote my book and it conflicts with the kids’ schedule. Fortunately, they are now at the age where I can leave them home alone with a bowl of food and water, and they can fend for themselves. Oh wait, that’s the dog. Whatever.
BN: What advice do you have for women who are perpetually stressed from trying to do it all?
Don’t do it all. Or take Xanax.
BN: How does your family feel about being your subject matter? Do your kids read your column?
For a long time, my kids had no idea they were the stars of my column. Then one day when my daughter was about 7, a girl from her class said to her, “So… you still sleep with a blankie?” Yes, I had written about that and her mom read my column and shared it with the other girl. My daughter was very unhappy with me. But I still didn’t get it until some time later when she and I were walking through the elementary school and another mom stopped us to praise my column. As we walked away, my daughter said under her breath, “Another fan for the backstabber.”
BN: There have been rumors of “key parties or swingers” in the “burbs” … what would your column entail relating to this topic?
Wow, I must be spending too much time at Dunkin Donuts. This is news to me. The only swinging I do is on the playset in the backyard, which I just learned, is not built to withstand the weight of a 44 year old mother of two.
BN: Millions of bloggers have emerged due to the availability of social media. How realistic is it for these women to turn writing into a paid profession like you have?
Well, it’s that “millions” part of the millions of bloggers that you mentioned that is the biggest obstacle for the mom bloggers. Which is not to say that it can’t be done, but there is a lot of competition out there for internet advertising dollars (which is the most direct way to make money from blogging). The bloggers I have seen do best with this, are the ones who use their blogs to market something else: a home-based jewelry business, food allergry cookbooks, or some other very specific niche product. People who just write funny stories like me, have a lot of competition. We moms are a funny lot and we have an endless source of material (at least until the kids go off to college). Everyone who does what I do wants to be the next Erma Bombeck. But Erma didn’t have all the blogger competition we do today. If you are truly funny, though, I believe your work will rise above the rest of the clutter and readers will find you.
BN: You have written a book called Rebel Without a Minivan. Tell us about it.
I liked to think that when I was a working girl in the city, I had some level of coolness. When I got out to the suburbs, I was concerned that I was suddenly going to start wearing mom jeans, and drive a minivan, and become decidedly uncool. But as I got to know the other moms, I learned that many of them felt the same way. Even the ones who did in fact drive a minivan, did it with some level of shame and guilt. “Rebel without a Minivan” is for all of us moms who are still trying to hold on to that hip city chick inside of her.
BN: Why are you opposed to driving a minivan?
I’m not saying it’s a bad choice for other people. I’m just saying it’s not the right car for me. Minivans are certainly convenient and practical. They are just not the sexiest cars on the road. Would I rather have convenience or sexiness in an automobile? If they both get me from point A to point B, I’d rather haul the kids in a mustang convertible then a minivan. However, even I realize that with kids, comes lots of stuff. That’s why we actually have a three row SUV. Life is a compromise.
BN: What do you think Octomom should drive?
A bus.
BN: What mark do you hope to make on the world?
One day my daughter was telling us at dinner about a friend’s mom who was involved in all sorts of incredible charitable organizations. The mom was raising money for breast cancer, and hurricane Katrina, and orphans in Africa. As my daughter spoke, I got kind of quiet. “What’s wrong, Mom?” she finally asked. “Well your friend’s mom does all these incredible, selfless things and I just write a humor column. I feel kind of bad.”
My daughter shook her head and said, “NO mom. What you do IS incredible. You make people laugh, and people need that just as much as money and stuff.”
Out of the mouths of babes.
Nominated for a
2007 COMEDY ZONE Cool Site Award
Humor Writer of the Month, March 2007
Tracy Beckerman’s new book, REBEL WITHOUT A MINIVAN is now available!
I try to find the humor in things- sometimes you know it’s the only way to get through the day. Like when we took the training wheels off of my daughter’s two-wheeler... off she went on the first try. My husband and I were cheering, jumping up and down with excitement like we’d just won the lottery. Fast forward 5 seconds as we watch our precious offspring become entangled in a nearby fence - tears streaming down her face as her hot pink Barbie helmet drapes from her tiny head. She was fine, truly she was, but it was the funniest damn crash scene we had ever witnessed! Had we not laughed she would have possibly carried on for the latter part of the day only to feel defeated. But, because we made light of the situation, off she went for another go at it.
It’s stories like these that go on in the “burbs” that become relatable and desirable to read. My story though, cannot compare to the thousands of entries that have be logged in the column called LOST IN SUBURBIA® by Tracy Beckerman. Tracy has been a columnist for seven years for the weekly Independent Press newspaper in New Jersey, as well as other NJN publishing papers. LOST IN SUBURBIA® is also carried weekly by the North Jersey Media Group, a chain of 47 newspapers in Northern NJ. Her column is also syndicated monthly to 390 newspapers in the Gatehouse Media chain, which reaches an audience of nearly 2.5 million readers in 23 states.
In a humorous interview with Butterfly, Tracy, mother of two, shares her suburban stories:
BN: It has been established. You are one funny mommy. What laugh-out-loud moments do you remember from your own childhood?
I grew up in a nice, normal family, in the suburbs of New York with two brothers, a dog, a cat and a goldfish that lived for 15 years, although I suspect the original fish died when I was very young, and my mother replaced it with a lookalike fish several dozen times over. It was all that normalcy that drove me to become a humor writer and find all the laugh-out-loud moments of parenting and life in the ‘burbs. By the way, I now realize it is much funnier to see your kid crash into a tree when she is learning to ride a bike than it was when I actually did it myself.
BN: When did you first start writing and how did that evolve into a career?
I wrote my first book when I was 6. It was a memoir, which is probably the reason why it was only 3 pages long. My parents thought it was cute but it got panned by the New York Times Book Review so I decided to hang up my literary hat for awhile and focus on selling Girl Scout Cookies.
I started writing my humor column, LOST IN SUBURBIA, about 9 years ago when my son started kindergarten. I had quit my full-time job in television to be a stay-at-home mom. After about 5 years of that, I launched my column.
BN: Where were you at in your career when you had children and how did that alter your profession?
I always thought I would continue to work full time, even after I had kids. But the day I came home and found my nanny and ten other nannies in my apartment eating Chinese food and watching game shows on tv while the babies all played, I realized she was having a better time than I was, so I quit.
By the time we moved to the suburbs and my second child was born, I knew I wanted to work again part time, but didn’t want to be in such a time-consuming profession. One day something funny happened to my son at school and I sat down and wrote about it. Then I sent it to my local newspaper and they published it. I don’t think they had any idea I was going to keep sending them columns every week.
BN: What’s the best place for you to find inspiration for your stories?
Home is where the humor is.
BN: How would you describe your audience? Any crazy letters from readers you can share?
Most of the people who read and can relate to my columns are other moms who live in the ‘burbs. The experience is pretty universal, whether you live in the suburbs of New Jersey or Minnesota. Maybe it’s a little different in Alaska because they don’t sell fish eyeballs in my supermarket, but other than that, I think it’s pretty much the same.
The funniest letter I ever got was after I had written a mock Holiday Newsletter column. I talked about the fact that my kids had lived on the International Space Station, my husband had won the Nobel peace prize, and my dog had saved sixteen people from a burning building, among other outrageous achievements. One lady wrote a letter to the editor saying how refreshing it was in this day and age to see one family doing so well. That was a howler!
BN: What challenges have you faced in maintaining your career and the needs your family?
I have learned to write several columns ahead so that if I hit a dry patch or get busy with the kids, I don’t panic about meeting a deadline because I always have a few columns in the can. There are times, though, when I am asked to do something to promote my book and it conflicts with the kids’ schedule. Fortunately, they are now at the age where I can leave them home alone with a bowl of food and water, and they can fend for themselves. Oh wait, that’s the dog. Whatever.
BN: What advice do you have for women who are perpetually stressed from trying to do it all?
Don’t do it all. Or take Xanax.
BN: How does your family feel about being your subject matter? Do your kids read your column?
For a long time, my kids had no idea they were the stars of my column. Then one day when my daughter was about 7, a girl from her class said to her, “So… you still sleep with a blankie?” Yes, I had written about that and her mom read my column and shared it with the other girl. My daughter was very unhappy with me. But I still didn’t get it until some time later when she and I were walking through the elementary school and another mom stopped us to praise my column. As we walked away, my daughter said under her breath, “Another fan for the backstabber.”
BN: There have been rumors of “key parties or swingers” in the “burbs” … what would your column entail relating to this topic?
Wow, I must be spending too much time at Dunkin Donuts. This is news to me. The only swinging I do is on the playset in the backyard, which I just learned, is not built to withstand the weight of a 44 year old mother of two.
BN: Millions of bloggers have emerged due to the availability of social media. How realistic is it for these women to turn writing into a paid profession like you have?
Well, it’s that “millions” part of the millions of bloggers that you mentioned that is the biggest obstacle for the mom bloggers. Which is not to say that it can’t be done, but there is a lot of competition out there for internet advertising dollars (which is the most direct way to make money from blogging). The bloggers I have seen do best with this, are the ones who use their blogs to market something else: a home-based jewelry business, food allergry cookbooks, or some other very specific niche product. People who just write funny stories like me, have a lot of competition. We moms are a funny lot and we have an endless source of material (at least until the kids go off to college). Everyone who does what I do wants to be the next Erma Bombeck. But Erma didn’t have all the blogger competition we do today. If you are truly funny, though, I believe your work will rise above the rest of the clutter and readers will find you.
BN: You have written a book called Rebel Without a Minivan. Tell us about it.
I liked to think that when I was a working girl in the city, I had some level of coolness. When I got out to the suburbs, I was concerned that I was suddenly going to start wearing mom jeans, and drive a minivan, and become decidedly uncool. But as I got to know the other moms, I learned that many of them felt the same way. Even the ones who did in fact drive a minivan, did it with some level of shame and guilt. “Rebel without a Minivan” is for all of us moms who are still trying to hold on to that hip city chick inside of her.
BN: Why are you opposed to driving a minivan?
I’m not saying it’s a bad choice for other people. I’m just saying it’s not the right car for me. Minivans are certainly convenient and practical. They are just not the sexiest cars on the road. Would I rather have convenience or sexiness in an automobile? If they both get me from point A to point B, I’d rather haul the kids in a mustang convertible then a minivan. However, even I realize that with kids, comes lots of stuff. That’s why we actually have a three row SUV. Life is a compromise.
BN: What do you think Octomom should drive?
A bus.
BN: What mark do you hope to make on the world?
One day my daughter was telling us at dinner about a friend’s mom who was involved in all sorts of incredible charitable organizations. The mom was raising money for breast cancer, and hurricane Katrina, and orphans in Africa. As my daughter spoke, I got kind of quiet. “What’s wrong, Mom?” she finally asked. “Well your friend’s mom does all these incredible, selfless things and I just write a humor column. I feel kind of bad.”
My daughter shook her head and said, “NO mom. What you do IS incredible. You make people laugh, and people need that just as much as money and stuff.”
Out of the mouths of babes.
Nominated for a
2007 COMEDY ZONE Cool Site Award
Humor Writer of the Month, March 2007
Tracy Beckerman’s new book, REBEL WITHOUT A MINIVAN is now available!
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