Parenting blogger Olivia Siegl hits back at publishers who rejected book for being 'too real'
"I will have another baby when the thought doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out"
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Your support makes all the difference.A blogger and mother has spoken out after publishers rejected her brutally honest guide to parenting because it was “too risky.”
Olivia Siegl runs The Baby Bible blog, which tackles the physical and emotional realities of being pregnant, giving birth and as well as her struggle with post-natal depression.
One of Ms Siegl’s posts warning mothers about childbirth includes the advice: “The day you give birth is not the best day of your life,” and goes on to ask readers whether they would rather be at a spa or “pushing what feels like an eight legged elephant out of a tiny hole.”
Following the success of the 36-year-old’s blog, her agent suggested that she write a book as TV companies and publishers showed interest in her no-nonsense approach to motherhood.
The book included tongue-in-cheek quotes such as “Sh*t, that’s sh*t in my hair”, and “I will have another one [a baby] when the thought of it doesn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out with a blunt spoon”
But when Ms Siegl presented the initial chapters of her book The Baby Bible: The No Bullshit Guide to Motherhood publishers dismissed it as “too risky”.
Ms Sigel told The Metro she was “really excited” about the book and had received positive feedback from her friends.
“My agent was really excited about it too but when it went up to the marketing department, two women, who were both pregnant, said it was ‘too risky’," she said.
Praising her writing, they told her: “some things we would rather just not know when going into motherhood.”
Writing on her blog, Ms Siegl argued that the idea that women “would rather go into motherhood with their eyes closed is ‘BULLSH*T!’”
So I have been sat here trying to think of witty/interesting/engaging ways to do this. However, after being sat here for...
Posted by The Baby Bible on Wednesday, 23 March 2016
"I wanted and needed something that would make me stand up and take notice, a book that was different to all the others found on the shelves as it was real and unapologetic," she added.
Ms Siegl is part of a movement of mothers who are using social media and the internet to raise awareness of the difficulties of parenting.
Blogger and artist Constance Hall recently gained mainstream attention when she wrote a post exploring the reality of having sex as a parent.
The 32-year-old, who runs The Not So Secret Life of Us blog wrote about realising “it’s been almost a month since you [and your partner last] banged and are starting to feel like flatmates”.
Meanwhile, athlete and mother Stephanie Rothstein was recently praised for sharing a photo online of her excess skin after giving birth.
The 32-year-old, whose space between her right and left abdominal muslces widened after birth, told her followers: “I can stick 3 fingers in between my 2 ab walls. But it's not about ascetics it's about functionality."
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