(Don't) Steal This Post

You might find it hard to believe, but I am not all happiness and light.

Yesterday I was pissed off for a good five hours. I was talking to Ruth, who heads up Brain, Child's advertising and marketing. We were chatting about some of the calls she gets, and she mentioned that she got one from a P.R. person who wanted our media kit (which is basically a little package that tells potential advertisers about our demographics, ad rates, blahdee blah.) This caller represented a "very successful" online magazine for mothers that was getting ready to become a print pub. She was also wanting the tips on becoming a successful print magazine.

Huh. Kind of weird, in a Single White Female way.

Then we looked at the online magazines for mothers, and it gets weirder. There's a website that is indeed moving into print. Its fare does not look tempting. But its mission statement does.

Or not so much tempting as... familiar.

Here's a little something Stephanie and I wrote in some promo material about Brain, Child: "Our philosophy is pretty simple: Motherhood is worthy of literature. And there are a lot of ways to mother, all of them interesting. We're proud to have published articles and essays that are smart, down-to-earth, sometimes funny, and sometimes poignant. Take a peek at our current issue to see what we mean. Or read our mission statement to get the full-blown manifesto."

From the editor of this website: "[Redacted] features unique writing by mothers on the ups and downs and many challenges of motherhood. We seek writing that is vivid, complex, intelligent, and down-to-earth. ... Our philosophy is simple: Motherhood is always worthy of literature. We are a literary magazine for mothers with something to say. We're proud to have published essays that are poignant, smart, raw, and sometimes, humorous."

Woman? It's called plagiarism. Look it up.