Q&A with Amber Dusick, aka, the Crappy Pictures Blogger

Amber Dusick’s book, “Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures,” grew out of a blog of the same name which she started because she was going crazy and needed a place to vent. She must have struck a nerve because her blog illustrating the day-to-day things that happen as a parent received over 500,000 views and hundreds of comments within days. “Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures” was named Funniest Mom Blog 2011 by Parents Magazine and the Best Parenting weblog in the 2012 Bloggie Awards. A featured columnist on The Huffington Post, Amber is constantly in touch with readers, fans and other parents throughout the blogosphere. She is a mom with two boys, a husband and two black cats. Her husband is really, really amazing. And her kids are fabulous. The cats are just okay.

What are the best books you’ve read recently?
I just reread “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. Once that one is thrown into the recent mix nothing else is worth mentioning.

What was your favorite book as a child?
It was “Morris Has A Cold” by Bernard Wiseman. I thought it was the funniest book ever and I can still hear the way my mom did the voices when she read it to me. I still have the same tattered copy and I read it to my own kids now. They love it too.

What is the most difficult, or challenging, aspect of being a writer?
The most difficult aspect of being a writer for me is that my ideas strike at the most inconvenient times. Although I’m not exactly sure that is the fault of being a writer. Probably has more to do with being a mother. I can’t just drop everything and write for ten hours straight which is what I’d like to do. Instead, I wait until everyone is asleep and then stay up way too late getting everything down. I wish there was a way to download straight from my brain. Imagine the output I’d have. I told people to invent this but apparently they are still working on it. Coming soon!

What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
This morning we had a box delivered from UPS. As the UPS man turned to leave, my three-year-old yelled out, “Thanks for stopping by! Come again soon!” It was so polite and old-fashioned and completely unexpected coming from him. This is the kid who is going through a grumpy “Go away!” phase. Three-year-olds are unpredictable. That is what is so wonderful and horrible about them.

Did you always want to be a writer?
I didn’t always want to be a writer but I always was a writer. And I don’t mean that in a pretentious way. I just mean I wrote a lot. Since third grade, I’ve kept journals. I have boxes and boxes of journals. Writing was just for me though. Cathartic. It is still cathartic now but the big difference is that I let other people see it. I do get nervous if I think about who is reading or worry about how something will be received so I try to avoid doing that. It is much easier if I can trick myself into believing that these stories are just being tucked away in a box in my closet. Course I’m thankful that they’re not.