Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has hosted the launch of a book by a Rhyl mother-of-five.
Jess Hymus-Gant has released a book about motherhood, which looks back on her own experience of rearing children.
She first started writing “bits and pieces” for her new book, Moments in Mummydom, many years ago, when she was still a new parent.
She said:
“I was a new parent and at that stage I was trying to navigate looking after two small people, a new-born who did not sleep at all for the first year and a 19-month-old.rren Millar MS at her book launch. (Image: Jess ant)
“As well as exhilarating, it was a lonely place at times, amidst the sheer tiredness and being bombarded with advice from people, books, healthcare professionals.
“Trying to work out who to listen to and whether to trust my own judgement, riding the pendulum of melting moments, when my little ones did something that just grabbed my heart and extreme self-doubt.”
“So I just started to put a few little bits on social media, normally in the middle of the night during night-feeds, as a kind of ‘is there anyone else out there who is having a day like this?’.
“It turned out quite a few people did, and there began the seeds of a book and my blog.”
The book charts her authentic and relatable rollercoaster journey through the highs and lows of parenting five rambunctious children, and offers humour, sadness and solace.
Jess credited a writing course she had attended earlier this year with giving her the push to publish.
She said: “ It is so important that in this day and age of social media, where we are bombarded with airbrushed images of life, we are honest and real with each other.
“In January I did a ‘Write my Book’ course with a number of other writers - we had a fantastic book coach, Matt Bird, and he kept us accountable as we set aside 100 days to write our books.
“Five of us have now had our books published.
“You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll find comfort in knowing you're not the only one.”
Moments in Mummydom, which was published last month, is available on Amazon and Kindle.
Darren, who hosted the launch of Jess’s book, which was attended by up to 70 people, said:
“What Jess has achieved is quite remarkable and I was very happy to host the launch of her book.
“Whilst my two children are now adults, I can still remember how tough it is in the early days of parenthood when you are still trying to figure it all out. There is no manual on how to be a good parent, but advice and shared experiences are extremely helpful and I am sure there are many parents out there who will find Jess’s book a great support.”
