Before Brett Paesel’s book was optioned by HBO for a series, it was turned down by 13 different publishers. Lucky for her she was too distracted to be discouraged. “That would have been a blow,” says Paesel, “except that it happened pretty much at the same time that I had Murphy. I don’t think I really felt it.”
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Murphy is the second of Paesel’s two sons, now two and six. Mommies Who Drink, her raunchy book about parenting, was published by Warner Books in August; an audio version recorded by Paesel came out this month. A collection of short humorous essays, it’s punctuated by set pieces recounting Friday happy-hour get-togethers with a group of girlfriends, four composite characters based on eight of her real-life friends (fellow former Chicagoans Paula Killen and Marsha Wilkie among them). In between riffs on aging eggs, C-sections, and the politics of preschool, there are stories about Paesel’s first exposure to a more traditional mommy group–she’s shocked that no alcohol is on offer–her group’s abortive attempt to plan a girls’ night out with an eightball of coke, and smoking weed with her husband on a Christmas visit to her parents in Ohio.
At first Paesel focused on short stories, but the response to the humor pieces she brought in about becoming a mother got the highest praise from her classmates, who included published authors Mariette Hartley and Adrienne Barbeau and, later, Moon Zappa. “I was having a ball,” she says. “Aside from being well-known, they’re very interesting women with full lives and that was really wonderful to be around.”
That’s when Paesel and Hosier came up with the title Mommies Who Drink and the idea of using Paesel’s happy-hour get-togethers as a thread through the book. When the proposal was sent out again it sold to Warner almost immediately. Of course it didn’t hurt that in the meantime HBO had picked up the project.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Charles Eshelman.
