Writin' on Empty: Parents Reveal the Upside, Downside, and Everything In Between When Children Leave the Nest

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Testimonials

I wish I'd read this book before my daughters headed off to college. These fine writers make the empty nest a little less lonely.

—Ellen Sussman, Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave (WW Norton, 2007) and On A Night Like This (Warner, 2004)

This heartfelt collection includes a raucous chorus of diverse voices: all of them full of excitement, optimism, and hope about life with no kids left at home.

—Carin Rubenstein, Ph.D, Beyond the Mommy Years (Springboard Press, 2007)

Writin' on Empty delivers the "upside, downside, and everything in between" its title promises. This collection of essays about the universal experience of children leaving home is guaranteed to strike a chord—to make you smile and laugh out loud—and yes, even shed some tears. It will confirm what you've been thinking as well as challenge you to think a bit differently. A diverse group of writers—both those who write for a living and those who simply love to write—reflect on the "emptying nest," each in a distinctive voice. This is not a "how to" book, it's a volume that captures "how it is." You'll want to mark it up with exclamation points and your own thoughts—and return to your favorite entries again and again.

—Karen Levin Coburn, co-editor, Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years (Harper, 2003)

After suffering through some bad days when her daughter left for college, Julie Renalds gathered a group of parents together to talk about their kids leaving home. There she met Joan Cehn who had sent her only child off to college and was going through a tough transistion. After realizing that there was a need for stories like theirs to circulate, they joined forces with Risa Nye, a writer who had successfully ushered her three children off to college. Writin' on Empty was born out of the experiences of its three editors who are all from Oakland, California. The book includes an indispensable and heartfelt collection of essays from a variety of writers about the universal experience of children leaving home.

—Walnut Creek magazine, November/December 2008

Remember how nice it was, as a brand-new parent, to share experiences with other new mothers in your moms' group? This delightful anthology of essays by (mostly) Bay Area writers recreates that experience for parents facing another milestone: the time when your child leaves the nest.

With humor, style, and great diversity, these parent-authors talk about the good, the bad, and the totally unexpected. This isn't a "how to cope" book; each short essay is more like a conversation with a friend. Like those long-ago shared confidences ("No, Jacob isn't crawling yet, either"), this book reassures and sometimes inspires the new empty-nester. It's especially nice that the writers deal with a range of scenarios: leaving for college, of course, but also for a gap year, the military, or a new job and an apartment shared with friends.

Full disclosure: Several of the contributors to Writin' on Empty were published in Parents' Press earlier in their careers. I liked their writing then, I like it now, and I think you will, too—whether you are already coping with empty-nest syndrome or are trying to prepare.

—Dixie M. Jordan, editor
Parents Press

Book Review: Writin' On Empty

About.com Rating4.5 Star Rating

By Jackie Burrell, About.com Guide

The Bottom Line

Rekindled romance, grief and poignant farewells. There are as many empty nest experiences as there are individuals. So writers Joan Cehn, Risa Nye and Julie Renalds, whose empty nest support group helped them get through their own transition, began collecting first person accounts of the empty nest experience. You'll find at least one thing - and maybe many somethings - that mirrors your hopes and fears. And you'll find significant, shared comfort.

The ecstatic couple who rediscovers passion after the kids leave home. The grandfather who says a poignant goodbye to the girl he helped raise. And the mom whose empty nest "list" includes hip-hop classes, Spanish lessons and a trip to New York to see the Museum of Modern Art at last. There are as many empty nest experiences as there are individuals. So writers Joan Cehn, Risa Nye and Julie Renalds, who launched an empty nest support group to help get them through their own empty nest transition, began collecting stories - first person accounts of farewells, celebrations and grief.

You'll find at least one story that mirrors yours, and many more that inspire you - and perhaps a few to which you can't relate at all - in this terrific compilation. It's a quick, easy read, and very accessible.

The book is loosely organized into chapters, beginning with "The Upside of Empty" - refeathering the nest, rediscovering romance and, of course, the son-replacement dog. Other sections are devoted to grieving the far-away child, the single parent whose household is down to one, and bittersweet farewells. But the biggest emotion is one of optimism, hope and comfort shared.