Mommybloggers: Deborah, thank you for allowing us the chance to interview you!

Deborah: Thank you! I'm glad to be here.

Mommybloggers: You've had a wide-ranging writing career, covering everything from politics to family life. How did you get started with blogging?

Deborah: I had worked as a journalist for many years, but after my kids came along I was mostly a full-time mommy. Then Chris Nolan, with whom I've been friends for many, many moons now, was starting Spot-on, the political and social commentary site, and she said, "Come write." That was just about the time after my younger son was born when I was starting to lift my head up and see the world was still out there. So I thought, "Hmm, write about
what interests me, that sounds good." And it is a lot of fun, certainly more fun than covering U.S. Commerce Department trade statistics at 7 a.m. for example.

Mommybloggers: With your pithy observations on the latest news items, you never fail to make us think. And laugh. Do you find that living outside the U.S. has sharpened your focus on the absurdities of life here?

Deborah: Well thank you. Yes, and I can also tie a scarf. Let's be clear - that part's sarcasm. Despite several years of living in Europe there's no way I could ever even think about trying one of those chic scarf tricks.

I'm living in Spain now; my husband's Spanish and we've been able to alternate living in the U.S. and Europe, although we'll see how that all works out now that we have kids. Living abroad at the least gives me a different model to, as they say on the final exam, compare and contrast. When I lived in the States, for example, I worried about what kind of organized activities my kids should do even as babies and toddlers. When we moved here I asked about activities for two-year-olds and people just looked at me. There's nothing, unless you can find a group of American expat mothers who've set up kinder music or something. Instead, you've got more family around if mom or baby needs stimulation. So of course living abroad makes you think about some of the things that are implicit in U.S. culture.

But I think a lot of writers feel they have some kind of outsider's perspective, for whatever reason. Look at a mommyblog, for example, where the writer feels different because she's surrounded by all these PTA übermoms while her chocolate chip cookies look like cow patties. You need some perspective, some kind of distance, however you feel it or create it, to write.

Mommybloggers: Tell us about Moral Certainty Mommy, whose righteous statements are responsible for several cups of coffee being sprayed at the monitor. Where did she come from?

Deborah: Oh boy, I don't know. She's not me, really. At least I don't think she is. Basically she's someone who looks at some of the current ideas about what good parenting is and what a good mother should do and says, "I totally agree. What's in it for me?"

Mommybloggers: Let's talk about the term "mommyblogging" for a minute. What comes to mind when you hear it? Are you a mommyblogger?

Deborah: Well, since I actually read mommybloggers, not to mention Mommybloggers, for me it's a female parent writing about whatever. Mommyblogs are one of those things I discovered when I noticed the world was still out there, and it's been such a treat to find all this superb writing on parents and kids and all sorts of other topics.

Certainly I've seen some of the conversation about people who dismiss mommyblogging as trivial. My feeling is that some of the critics simply haven't read the great stuff that's out there on both light and heavy subjects. And unfortunately there's nothing new in dismissing what women do as trivial.

Personally I love the term "mommy," and I'm going to miss it when my kids grow out of it. Being a mother is so intrinsic a part of my identity now that, although I might write more or less about specifically parental topics, motherhood is always lurking back there - just as being a woman is, being a daughter, being an American, growing up in the suburbs, being almost 5'2'', or whatever else there is that shapes my point of view. As an old newspaper type though, I have more problems with the term blogger - I think of what I do as writing a column. I did finally get rid of my typewriter though, now that computers seem to be here to stay.

Mommybloggers: Online journaling is going mainstream - what do you think is next for this medium?

Deborah: Good question. Umm? Certainly more and more people getting involved, both as writers and readers. And because there's so much out there, maybe more places like Mommyblogger, or like Spot-on for commentary and reporting, places that group different points of view and help provide a guide for readers among all the options.

Mommybloggers: You've written many times about the futility of moms judging moms, and about feminism being used as a wedge. How do we bridge this gap?

Deborah: Gee, if I knew… The thing is, one of the main differences played up - between working and stay-at-home moms - doesn't exist. It's a continuum - between full-time work and full-time at-home there's all sorts of options women may explore at different times. And in any case, we're all moms and so the concerns certainly overlap. Which means emphasizing the differences is just distracting women from getting together on policies that would help all parents. Now how to get together on this? Could singing Kumbaya help?

Mommybloggers: Here are the questions we subject all our guest to:

1. What is your favorite parent related word?

Can I stretch it to two or so words? "They're asleep."

2. What is your least favorite parent related word?

Stretching again: "poopie accident."

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

Oh f***, we're supposed to censor curse words?

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

Well, I don't really hide, but whenever I'm in the laundry room
the kids can't find me. I think that's because the laundry room just isn't
a space that's important enough to them to ever think about. Which is a
little bit of concern but I'll worry about it when they're older.

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

This is a little pathetic, but I haven't had much other privacy since the
kids have come along. That includes the bathroom.

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?

Deborah, I love reading you and the other Mommybloggers. I'm just going to
hand over my empire to you and you feel free to run it with some friends
or sell it or whatever. Meanwhile, I'm going to retire with a laptop and a
beach chair and just spend my time reading your archives.

Check back tomorrow as we share one of our favorite pieces written by Deborah Klosky of Spot-On.