10 Things I'd Like My Readers To Know About Me By Isabella Davidson

20 June 2017

Before I became a writer, I worked as a doctor for the NHS. But when my first daughter was born and I returned back to work, I didn’t think I could be the doctor I wanted to be or the mother I wanted to be if I did both, so I quit work and became a full – time mum.

Isabella Davidson

I started a blog, www.nottinghillyummymummy.com, after the birth of my second daughter. It started out as a bit of fun, chronicling the weird and wonderful lives on west London residents. I didn’t realise it would be noticed by The Times and when I wrote a feature for the Saturday Times Magazine, I thought that perhaps my writing was good enough to write a novel.

I have always loved writing, really because I love reading. I’ve always loved reading and the emotions I’ve felt while reading a compelling story have made me want to write. It was always my dream to write a book and now this dream is fulfilled!

My first book, The Beta Mum, Adventures in Alpha Land is out on June 20th. I am celebrating at The Notting Hill Bookshop – yes the one that was featured in the movie – with family and friends. There is even a designer who is lending me one of her creations me for the occasion.

They say to write about what you know and that’s what I did. My book is about a young mother who lives in west London and feels lonely when she faces super mums: super rich, super competitive, and sometimes super bitchy and starts a blog. It’s not about me and the characters are fictional, but some of the events have really happened. It’s full of entertaining and funny moments, or at least I hope readers will think so!

I had a lot of fun writing my book even though it was really hard at times. There were times when I would read over what I wrote and laughed out loud. I hope that it will make people laugh, or that at least they will enjoy it!

Writing a book is so hard. I can’t pretend that it has been easy – there have been a lot of tears along the way - but the feeling of accomplishment is really great. I am so proud of what I’ve done.

I’m still trying to figure out my work life-balance. This year has been incredibly busy, because on top of looking after my children, I started working for a charity on a voluntary basis plus there has been a lot of book promotion, which is so time consuming. It’s been wonderful but overwhelming at times – like the time I was trying to manage a play date, the TV repair man, and an interview with a newspaper all at the same time.

Not all the mums in west London are bitchy and awful. Most of my friends are west London mums and they are amazing, intelligent, kind and generous, but you will come across some bitchy mums. But that’s not only in west London, that’s everywhere.

I wish mothers could be more supportive towards each other. It’s one of the themes of my book. We shouldn’t judge each other too harshly and we should try to be kinder to each other whenever we can.