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LOWELL SUN -- December
2005
Mom's the Name, Humor's
the Game
Local writer puts into words
the frustrating,
funny side of family life
By Nancye Tuttle
WEST GROTON -- Kathryn Mahoney
bounced from the corporate fast track to the
mommy track a few years back. In the process,
she landed on her funny bone when she started
writing a newspaper humor column for Nashoba
Publications.
Now, the aspiring Erma Bombeck has a book to
her credit -- Cracked at Birth: One Madcap
Mom's Thoughts on Motherhood, Marriage and Burnt
Meatloaf.
The book, a compilation of her twice-monthly
"Sunny Side Up" columns, was published
last month by Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, an
Oregon publisher specializing in parenting humor
books written by moms.
Mahoney, the mother of Tyler, 9, and Andrew,
5, also runs a marketing communications business
from home. Her columns, and the book, share
the comical ups, downs and burnt dinners of
family life. They're geared to stay-at-home
moms like herself, juggling kids, husbands,
cats, dogs and mortgages.
“After the first year of juggling the
demands of raising our two sons and running
my business, I decided I needed some comic relief
at the end of an otherwise hectic day,”
says Mahoney, 41.
So, she did what she'd loved doing since childhood
-- writing to make people laugh -- and recorded
her day's comic episodes into a journal.
“I looked back over the day and tried
to find the humor in the fact that my son had
spewed green peas all over the front of my shirt,
and that I had stepped on the deceased chipmunk
the cat left on our doorstep,” she says.
One thing led to another. She chatted with another
stay-at-home mom who confided her dream of writing
family humor columns à la Bombeck. Then
Mahoney decided to string a few anecdotes together
into a column of her own.
“I submitted them to our local newspaper
editor, Kate Walsh, and lo and behold, she liked
them,” she says.
Mahoney, who considers herself shy, was paid
the greatest compliment by her neighbor.
“After reading my columns, she told me
‘Kath, I love your columns, but I never
knew you were funny,'” Mahoney recalls.
In four years, she's written 60 columns, gotten
involved with an online humor writers group
and attended the Erma Bombeck humor writing
workshops in Dayton, Ohio.
Praise is currently coming her way for the book.
“Sometimes wise, often witty, always wacky.
This mom tells it like it is and you'll love
her for it,” says Deb DiSandro, a fellow
humor writer.
Her husband, Michael, a computer software engineer,
doesn't seem to mind that he's fodder for his
wife's columns, either. In fact, he's quite
pleased with her blossoming success.
“I'm glad she's doing this and has the
book now,” he says. “It's something
she's always wanted to do. We've got to poke
fun at ourselves and for the most part, she's
pretty right on and funny.”
Looking ahead, the sky is the limit for Mahoney.
She hopes to write humor greeting cards. She's
submitting column ideas and writing a story
for Total 180, a new magazine for women who've
traded corporate life for motherhood. And she's
got dozens of more ideas for her column.
“I'm sort of letting it just unfold. There
is a lot of material here. My kids and husband
are my inspiration for my writing,” she
says.
Nancye Tuttle's e-mail address is ntuttle@lowellsun.com.
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The Mahoney File
Name: Kathryn Mahoney
Current Residence: West Groton,
MA
What's your job? Wife, mom, humor writer
Family ties: Husband, Michael;
kids Tyler, 9, and Andrew, 5; mom and dad Audrey
and John, sister Karen, brother Kurt.
What you did before starting to write
humor? Marketing jobs and producing
radio and TV commercials for a small retail
store chain.
How did the humor writing start?
I was keeping a journal of the funny things
that happened every day. I was laughing out
loud and my family was staring at me like I
had lost my mind. I thought maybe these stories
could help relieve the stress of other stay-at-home
moms.
Does your family mind that you write
about them? No, my husband reads my
columns before they are submitted. My kids are
young, but I wonder if they might get upset
when they get older.
Have you always enjoyed writing humor?
I was always trying to write or draw
something that would make people laugh. In high
school, I really wanted to become a comedienne.
While other girls were dreaming about David
Cassidy and Donny Osmond, I was dreaming about
becoming the next Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett.
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