A Question of Balance: Artists and Writers on Motherhood

``When I had my daughter, I learned what the sound of one hand clapping is--it's a woman holding an infant in one arm and a pen in the other,'' says poet and novelist Kate Braverman, who, along with 24 others, describes the often arduous path a woman must travel to combine motherhood with a career as a writer or artist. Certainly she must have the drive and self-discipline to do her work despite the demands of home and family; being organized helps, too, as does having a partner who is emotionally and--just as important, as interviewees stress--financially supportive. Linda Vallejo, who movingly describes how she is fulfilled artistically, spiritually and emotionally as an artist and mother, is also resolutely pragmatic, with a hired housekeeper and a strict work schedule. On the other hand, writer Perri Klass shares caring for the children with her writer husband and describes the couple's laissez-faire system of housework as ``both of us do as little as possible.... Which means that we live in a fairly chaotic and messy house.'' Rosenberg's interviewees, who include such notables as Rita Dove, Ursula LeGuin, Mary Morris, Rosellen Brown and Trina Schart Hyman, offer a wealth of insights into the creative life and motherhood, as well as no-nonsense advice to women seeking to combine the two. (Sept.)