Author Archives: Geradine Simkins

At the MANA Board meeting (held at Abby Kinne’s home near Columbus, Ohio) we had a book signing night with the four contributing authors who were present. One of our board members, Adrian Feldhusen, prepared some chocolate covered strawberries that were both gorgeous and luscious, and we drank Champagne and other adult beverages. It wasContinue reading “Let the fun begin!”

Right after we received my book from the printer’s I left for Ohio and the MANA Board of Directors meeting. What I really wanted to do—after four years of writing, editing, revising and production—was to sit on the couch and read the whole thing through, cover to cover. But that was not possible. Three ofContinue reading “Showing Off My Baby”

The day finally came, as I knew it would, when this baby I have been nurturing for four years would get born into the world. And it is fitting that it happened in the season of the Spring Equinox – a time of new beginnings and new doors opening, when life begins to stir inContinue reading “My book has arrived!!!”

We kicked off the book tour last weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the CIMS (Coalition for Improving Maternity Services) annual meeting. I presented a session called “What Matters to Women, Matters to Midwives – 13 Essentials,” which was very well received. I was moved to tears when I received a standing ovation, initiatedContinue reading “2011 Book Tour Kicked Off in North Carolina!”

I wanted you to know that my book has been uploaded to the printers with a publishing date of April 2011. Today we received a sample of the cover that was so beautiful I almost cried. This book is not only going to be a powerful treatise on the power, profit and politics that driveContinue reading “News Flash!”

February 17, 2011 The act of putting paper, pen and the past together opens a melodic doorway to the soul from which tumbles all the disparate pieces of a person’s life. The puzzle of writing a memoir is to slowly and carefully untangle the strands of warp and weft until the patterns of the tapestry—yourContinue reading “Weaving the Story of Your Life”

February 14, 2011 So, after I finalized my participant roster, talked with each woman, and set up some processes for the project, I began the meticulous work of collecting, organizing and editing the narratives. The skills I had honed in my consulting business—qualitative research, interviewing, report and grant writing, authorship and oral presentations, curriculum development—allContinue reading “The Long Gestation of Into These Hands, Wisdom From Midwives”

February 10, 2011 MIDWIVES are notorious do-it-yourselfers. The midwives in this book emerged from the cultural revolution of the Sixties and Seventies, the Civil Rights Movement, the back to the land impetus, and a variety of other intersecting movements of the time. We have been labeled rebels and revolutionaries, and for good reasons. We haveContinue reading “Every Writer Needs a Literary Midwife”

February 7, 2011 So once the brilliant, urging, insistent spark of an idea was kindled, I scrambled to figure out how to begin this big project of creating a comprehensive anthology of midwife memoirs. It is lucky that I was naïve enough not to know just how huge of a project I was taking on.Continue reading “From the Bliss of Conception to the Panic of Reality”

February 2, 2011 On New Year’s Day of 2007 I woke up from the dream world and asked myself the same question I ask at each New Year: What is it that I am to do with my life this year? Without even a moment’s hesitation the voice from the Spirit realm said quite loudly:Continue reading “The Conception of Into These Hands, Wisdom From Midwives”