
Notice how many of the Olympic athletes effusively thanked their mothers for their success? “She drove me to my practice at four in the morning,” etc. Writing is not figure skating or skiing. Your mother will not make you a writer. My advice to any young person who wants to write is: leave home.
[W]hen you are growing up you have to pull apart from what your mother wants or needs, you’ve got to go your own way

The metaphorical death of our parents is so essential to growing up it’s the stuff of myth and fairytales. The failure to separate can produce some interesting writing, too.
So what’s all this got to do with my newly published story, Had to Be You? To say much more would spoil it; why not have a read and let me know what you think?