Life Without Baby

filling the silence in the motherhood discussion

Hello. I’m Lisa Manterfield, writer, infertility survivor, and curious cat.

LISA rhino picI’m originally from Sheffield in the north of England, but you’d never guess if you heard me speak. After almost 20 years of California-ization, people usually guess my origin as anywhere but the U.K.

I love understanding how stuff works, whether it’s the body, a cool door closing mechanism, or the human psyche. I’m fascinated by people and what makes us tick. I’m also an enthusiastic (if slightly overweight) cheerleader for anyone choosing the road less traveled. Tell me you have a dream and I’ll hound you until you make it happen.

And speaking of dreams, I’m working my way down my own Life List, an ever-growing document of all the things I’d like to experience before I shuffle off this mortal coil. I offer you a brief excerpt here, as it probably tells you more about me than any wordy blah, blah bio.

In the coming years I plan to:

  • Hike to Mt. Everest Base Camp
  • Build a Rube Goldberg-type machine
  • Host a foreign exchange student
  • Have a garden with an avocado tree
  • Take a trapeze class
  • See the Pyramids and The Valley of the Kings
  • Hit the NY Times Bestseller list
  • Own a dog
  • Communicate in the language of every country I visit
  • Play the bagpipes in public
  • Be awarded an OBE by the Queen and make my family call me Dame Lisa
  • See a walrus in the wild
  • Restore an old British sports car

So, how did I end up here at Life Without Baby? Ah, that’s another story altogether.

The Life Without Baby Story

LISA CROSS PHOTOP1010310For five years, I wrote my way through the minefield of infertility, always looking for the humorous and ridiculous and somehow managing to skirt the deeper issues and emotions I was experiencing.

When I finally realized that my future wouldn’t include children, I rewrote my story and this time I told the truth. When I published I’m Taking My Eggs and Going Home: How One Woman Dared to Say No to Motherhood in 2010, I had no idea that it would shape my life the way it has.

Like any author worth her salt, I started a blog to continue the story where the book left off and to find an audience of interested readers. What I discovered was a worldwide community of women struggling with the same issues I was facing.

As more women joined in the conversation about making peace with a life without children, I began to see that there was a shocking lack of resources on this topic. Most of the infertility resources covered treatment, adoption, and psychological welfare, but dried up for people facing a life without children. And for women who hadn’t suffered infertility, but had run out of time or options and made a heartbreaking choice to be childfree, there was something close to silence.

LM 25 square butterfly So, in January 2013, fueled by a desire to change the conversation about childlessness, Life Without Baby 2.0 was born.

My Mission: to provide resources, community, compassion, and support to women facing a life without children.

For more about Lisa, please visit LisaManterfield.com.

 

Meet Kathleen

KGW B-1 photoKathleen Guthrie Woods is a San Francisco–based freelance writer whose column “It Got Me Thinking…” appears weekly on Life Without Baby. In addition to crafting advertising and marketing materials for her clients, she writes feature articles for San Francisco Attorney and has had articles published in Westways, Diablo, and 805 Living magazines.

Kathleen is currently wrapping up her memoir about being a temporary single mommy to her nephew, an extraordinary experience that helped her make peace with her childfree status. She shares her world with her handsome husband and their two delightfully rambunctious dogs.