Share your story

This is your story. It stays yours. You are letting us share it, and you decide where.

Tell it the way you would tell a friend at the kitchen table. We fix typos. We do not change anything else without asking you. Below, you will choose where your story may appear and whether your name goes with it. You can change any of this later.

Sending it does not publish it. Nothing goes anywhere until you have heard from us. A real person reads every story, and you will hear back within 48 hours.

A title, if you have one (we can suggest one if not)Your story

There is no minimum and no maximum. If it runs long, we will ask whether you would like it in parts. We never cut.

Anything you would like Makenna to know? (optional)

Never required, never published.

Your name

First name only is fine. You choose it.

Your email

So we can write back. It is never published.

Where may your story appear?

Each place is a separate choice, and your answer can be different for each one. Every place starts at “not there” — the blog included — until you tell us otherwise.

The three answers, and what each one means

With my name: the name you give us below. First name only is fine. You choose it.
Anonymously: a short line stands in for your name, like “A mother of two in Ohio”. More on this below.
Not there: your story does not go there. That is the end of it. You can change this later.

On the blog

This is where most stories go, and it is what this form is for. We still ask, because what a form is for is not the same as your yes. A story stays on the blog for as long as you are happy for it to. If you only meant it for the Sunday letter, choose “not there” and we will write back to check what you had in mind.

With my name Anonymously Not there

In The Mama Who Knew

Our one email a week, sent on Sundays to everyone who subscribes. A story here reaches more people than the blog does, and an email cannot be taken back once it has been sent — so we ask separately.

With my name Anonymously Not there

In the printed magazine

A paper magazine, printed and sold. Paper is different. Anyone can buy it, keep it for years, and leave it on a coffee table. It is also something we sell. So this is a yes only if you say so, and we will let you know which issue your story is in before it goes to print.

With my name Anonymously Not there

In social posts

A line or two from your story on our Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, X, Threads or TikTok, always with a link back to the whole thing. Social travels furthest and is hardest to call back. Your words are never used in an ad, never placed inside a sponsor’s post, and never used to sell anything.

With my name Anonymously Not there

If you choose “anonymously”

We do not print “Anonymous”. It reads cold, and your story is not. Instead we use a line that says something true without saying who you are — “A mother of two in Ohio”, “A first-time mom in the north of England”, “A grandmother in Texas”.

You can write that line yourself, or leave it blank and we will suggest one and send it to you before anything is published. It never includes your town, your children’s names or ages, where you work, or a photograph.

If your story has details that would give you away to people who know you — a rare diagnosis, an unusual job, the name of a street — tell us, and we will help you soften them before it goes out.

Anonymous to readers, not to us. We know who sent it, so that we can reply to you and take it down if you ever ask. That is the only reason we keep it.

How should we describe you? (optional)

Is there a photograph?

You do not need one. If you would like to send one, it follows the same rules as your words: it is yours, we use it only where you have said, and you can ask for it back. We never use stock photographs — that is why we ask properly.

Yes, and everyone who can be recognized in it has said it is okay. A child can be recognized in it, and a signed release from a parent or guardian is on file.

Every child who can be recognized needs a signed release from a parent or legal guardian — even when the child is yours, even when the mother is Makenna. Nothing unkind about this. It is the record that says, years from now, what was agreed and by whom.

Photographs are sent by email once we have written back — this form takes the words only. Nothing is published from a photograph until every consent is in hand.

A few honest promises from you

This is my story, in my own words, and it happened to me. I am 18 or over. Anyone else who could be recognized in it — a partner, a friend, another mother, a child who is not mine — has said it is okay, or I have changed enough that they cannot be.

Your own children are yours to write about. If they are old enough to have a view, it is worth asking them.

How we look after what you tell us: our privacy notice.

Your story stays yours

You keep the copyright. Always. Sending us your story gives us permission to publish it in the places you choose, and nothing more. You can post it on your own page, send it to another site, put it in a book — it is yours.

We do not sell it, license it to anyone else, or put it in an ad. We will fix spelling and make small edits for clarity. We will not change what you meant. If it needs more than that, we will ask you first.

If you change your mind

Write to us, or reply to any note we have sent you, and say what you would like: your name off, a detail changed, the story out of one place, or out of everything. You do not need a reason. We will do it within five working days and tell you when it is done.

Write to us using the contact form.

Here is what we can and cannot take back, honestly.

Where it was	What we will do	What is beyond our reach
The blog	Take the page down, or change the byline, within five working days. We ask search engines to drop the page rather than wait for them to notice.	Copies people already made — screenshots, or the page saved by an internet archive. We will ask an archive to remove it where they allow that.
The Mama Who Knew	Never use it again, in any issue.	Emails already sent. They are in people’s inboxes and we cannot reach in and take them back.
Social posts	Delete the post from every account we run.	Shares, screenshots and reposts made by other people. If we spot one, we will ask them to take it down.
The printed magazine	Leave it out of any reprint and any future issue. Update the digital edition, where one exists, so anyone who downloads it after that day does not see it.	Copies already printed and sold. Paper cannot be recalled, and we would rather say so now than surprise you later.

What happens next

Within 48 hours you will hear from Makenna — a real person, not an auto-reply. Usually it is a yes and a date. Sometimes it is a question. Occasionally it is a no, and when it is, we will say why, kindly, and mean it when we ask you to try again.

Nobody keeps score. A no does not count against you, and no one else ever sees it.

If your story is long — more than about 2,000 words — we will ask whether you would like it in parts. We will not cut it. It is yours.

If what you have written tells us you are in a hard place right now, you will hear from us first as a person, before anything about publishing. If you need someone tonight, in the US you can text HOME to 741741, or call or text 988, any hour.