Mommybloggers: Sheryl, you have been writing for your blog paper napkin, for nearly two and a half years now, which makes you a blogging veteran. What inspired you to start putting it out there on the Internet?

Sheryl: We had just moved to Texas , and I didn't know anyone, so it helped alleviate some of my isolation. Also, I wanted to write the great American novel, but I had no ideas, and nothing to say: perfect for blogging. I really like to write, but I don't do it unless I have some sort of deadline, and blogging offers that too, in a way.

Mommybloggers: When did you start writing?

Sheryl: I didn't discover how much fun writing could be until college.

Mommybloggers: Tell us a bit about what you were like as a kid.

Sheryl: A lot like Truman Capote, only taller with less fashion sense. Okay, maybe not.

I had two imaginary friends, Big Jane, and Little Jane, and an imaginary sheepdog, Bushy. Obviously my imagination didn't extend to naming them. Big Jane was always in jail for various offenses, and Little Jane would have to bail her out.

I had a lot of bloody noses, and regularly swabbed my nostrils with Vaseline.

My mother taught in the theatre department at UNM, so I was acting in plays from a very young age. I remember a lot of late night tech rehearsals, doing somersaults down the isles of the theatre.

I could mix a mean gin and tonic.

Mommybloggers: Speaking of kids, you have three beautiful children (and they are gorgeous. -Keep the pictures coming!). You write amazing things that detail your journey. Things like watching them grow up , protecting them from Disney), their differing personalities), and so many milestones and day-to-day memories. Do your kids read your blog?

Sheryl: My kids don't know I have a blog yet, or even what a blog is (so far they believe me when I say it's a pustule found on the buttocks).

Mommybloggers: Do you want them to?

Sheryl: One of the many reasons I started writing online, was so my children would have a partial record of their own lives, and a more complete picture of who I am, as their mother, and as a person. But I'd like them to be older when they read it. Like 80. Okay, 20. I've made a sweep through the archives a time or two, to remove posts I thought they might find embarrassing.

Mommybloggers: How do you see your blog fitting into your family legacy?
Sheryl: I'm hoping it will make up for spending their inheritance.

Mommybloggers:Throughout the life of Papernapkin your readers have enjoyed plenty of creative surges in your writing. On the other side, you have written about times when you didn't feel you had much you wanted to write about, and even a couple of posts where you have toyed with the idea of hanging up your writing hat. One might say you have a love / hate relationship with blogging. We understand the love, because we love to read what you write (and please don't EVER stop writing)! But we are curious. What kinds of things do you find impede your creativity and enthusiasm for writing?

Sheryl: Oy vey with the love, and the hate, and back to the love again. I'm like a one woman soap.

I try not to whine about it too much, but I struggle with depression. Good writing requires some mental get-up-and-go, and depression is pretty much the antithesis of that. I'd say that's the biggest impediment. And lately I may be taking blogging and/or myself too seriously (boy, is my face red!) and that's a creativity killer too.

Mommybloggers: What inspires you?

Sheryl: Honesty, kindness, joy, balance, floam.

Mommybloggers: Sheryl, one of the qualities you possess that makes your writing so honest and appealing is your willingness to cut through the Pollyanna hooey, and reveal the dark side of motherhood. You write candidly and compellingly about things like depression, boredom boredom, and guilt, which are often unfortunate badges of motherhood. They are also topics that are grossly under-examined. What made you decide to put it all out there?

Sheryl: Ah yes, the three legged stool of Paper Napkin. God, that's depressing. Excuse me, I just need a moment. Do you have a tissue? Well, for better or for worse, Paper Napkin is representative of who I am, at least in part, and I usually write about what's on my mind. So unless I were to adopt the voice of, say, Biffy the Wonder Horse, that stuff is bound to come out.

Mommybloggers: You log the fun ideas you come up with for family time in your "mommy merits" category. Where do you find your ideas?

Sheryl: Some ideas just pop into my head, some of them I find on the internet (all hail Lord Google) and I used to teach elementary school, so I've gathered some ideas hither and yon. What kind of feedback do you get? I've gotten a lot of hate mail. Apparently fun is a highly controversial subject. Who knew?

Mommybloggers: Sheryl, you write often about your battle with sugar.
Are you winning the war?

Sheryl: Am I winning?! I balk at your impertinence! Much like the Bush administration's efforts in Iraq, I just keep winning, and winning, and winning. There's just no end to the winning I do. What can I say? Insurgency is a bitch.

Mommybloggers: What advice do you have for people in the trenches?

Sheryl: Get out of there right now, you'll muddy your pants!

Mommybloggers: We applauded your vote to end the sensationalized Mommy Wars, and to turn to a kinder, gentler and more supportive art of cheering on our fellow "good-enough" mothers who are doing their very best for themselves and their kids. What are your thoughts regarding the state of motherhood, and how mothers treat each-other?

Sheryl: I don't think motherhood is a state, or an institution, or any of that. It's much more fluid than that. I think that's part of the problem, people keep trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Motherhood is so hugely important it feels as though it should have some sort of quality management system, or governing board, or at least a very thick reference manual. I wish! But essentially, it's a bunch of people having a relationship with a bunch of other people. It's art, not science. You never hear people talk about the state of Friendship, or the state of Aunthood. As for how we treat each other, it's like anything else, there are lovers and there are haters.

Mommybloggers: Do you see anything changing?

Sheryl: Your question implies I have great vision, or some highly refined observational skills, which, alas, I do not. But I'm sure things are changing, they inevitably are.

Mommybloggers: How do you think moms who blog are changing the game?

Sheryl: I think having so many voices out there, can be nothing but good.

Mommybloggers: What can we expect to see from a writing standpoint from you in the future?

Sheryl: Well, hopefully soon, I'll stop writing crap! Tune in and see!

And here are the questions we subject all of our featured bloggers to (With apologies to Bernard Pivot and Inside the Actors Studio):

1. What is your favorite parent related word?

Zerbert.

2. What is your least favorite parent related word?

Guilt.

3. What is your favorite creative censored curse word used around children?

Lately I've been channeling my inner Scarlett , saying Fiddle-dee-dee a lot. But, unfortunately if I'm pissed, I pretty much just swear a blue streak. Gah.

4. What is your favorite hiding place within your home when you need to get away from it all?

The bottle. Ha, I kid! Usually I can get away to my bedroom to read for a few minutes.

5. What hiding place have you been found in too often and can no longer use?

The undercarriage of the car. The cat's always kicking me out of there, so she can hide from the children. Those claws smart!

6. If Oprah exists, what would you like to hear her say when you arrive at the Oprah Winfrey show when she features the Mommybloggers?

"I'd like to present you with this check for 20 million dollars, and the keys to this villa in France."