#BlogTour ‘Winging It’ by Anna Jefferson

About the book…

Emily is sure she’s getting this baby stuff all wrong. Why does everyone look like they’re smashing motherhood when she’s barely made it out of the house? She’s usually covered in sick, eating yet another beige freezer dinner, and relying on wet wipes to clean the baby, herself and the house. And coffee. All the coffee. Surely she can’t be the only new mum totally winging it?

Emily’s about to discover that when you’re starting a family, what you really need are your friends…

HUGE thanks to the wonderful Alex Layt at Orion for my gifted review copy of a literary hug, ‘Winging It’ by Anna Jefferson which is out NOW in paperback, audiobook and ebook editions.

I just want to enjoy being a new mum without assessing every situation with a new found sense if impending doom,without aching all over,or generally feeling like I am two breaths away from a panic attack.That isn’t too much to ask,is it?”

The months prior to having baby Lucy have been spent solidly preparing by doing all the grownup things. But now they have brought her home,Emily and Nick are at a complete loss of what to do.

How does Emily reconcile with her brand new body? Or the baby whose schedules are so different to hers? Or the oblivious husband who eats the last biscuit in the pack(the only thing in the world that Emily wanted right then)?

What makes it worse is that everyone else seems to know exactly what they are doing-how will Emily and Nick ever get there as a family of 3?

The secret that most every parent knows is the title of the book, we are all winging it whilst putting on brave faces.

Whilst ‘Winging It’ is uproariously funny,Anna Jefferson pinpoints a fundamental truth-having a baby is just the start, the hard work is yet to come.

Navigating the first post baby poo, the first outing in public, all the little things which now seem mountainous is what brings a couple closer together. Anna totally nails the emotions, the mood swings, the absolute despair of the other half bringing home the wrong chocolate from the shop…all of these moments pale into insignificance when confronted with the fact that you have managed to keep your baby healthy and safe.

The journey becomes the stuff of family legends and the tales we tell our children when they are older. And by facing the lies head on,that we are conditioned to believe that all other parents have it figured out, it creates a warm and lovely sense of familiarity. Yes that unique smell of baby milk and Savoy cabbage is both balm and blasphemy to the nostrils!

Having a baby feels like simultaneously losing AND finding yourself, and this is perfectly conveyed in ‘Winging It’, a paean to modern motherhood.

About the author…

Anna Jefferson is a fiction writer and playwright. She has written for stage and screen since 2005. Having grown up in rural Lincolnshire, her work draws on her abiding love of northern England, its people and humour. ‘You Can Take Her Home Now’ is her first novel.

Her first short film script, Rudy Can’t Fail, was produced by Makelight Productions in 2014 and screened at BFI Flare, GAZE Festival, Dublin, MIX Copenhagen and London Short Film Festival. Anna is founder and co-director of Broken Leg Theatre. She has written and toured five plays, having most recently co-written Three Generations Of Women which toured nationally to critical acclaim. Anna lives in Brighton with her husband and two children.

Links-https://annajefferson.co.uk/

Twitter @annajefferson @OrionBooks