In this conversation, recorded on 12 April 2025, Jody Day, the founder of Gateway Women, speaks with Lana Manikowski, life coach and author of So Now What? Create a Life Your Love Without the Children You Always Dreamed Of, published in the US by LM Publishing on April 2nd, 2025, and which debuted at #1 in the ‘New Releases’ section of ‘Fertility & Infertility’ on Amazon.com.
Lana shared with us all the various elements that inspired the cover design, did a short reading from her book, and we then discussed some of the questions sent in by the audience, including:
- Becoming an author;
- Handling the many different faces of grief over a lifetime, including body grief, intimacy issues, friendships and more;
- Tips for managing triggers around ‘family focused’ cultural holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and Passover, the grief of watching other women become mothers and the ‘bingos’ that get thrown our way such as, ‘You’ll never know love if you’re not a mother’;
- How to begin developing a new dream for your life when motherhood was your dream;
- Developing an approach on how to feel truly ‘enough’ and ‘worthwhile’ without a family, partner or children;
- Jody shares a little about the experience of growing older without children or grandchildren, and directs people towards her ‘Gateway Elderwomen‘ project, where this is the focus.
- And more!
Available to order online and in bookstores (and ask your local library to stock it!)
US: Bookshop.org (independent US bookstores online); Amazon.com.
UK: Amazon.co.uk; Blackwells Bookshop UK.
CAN: Amazon.ca; Chapters/Indigo stores/online & Kobo (ebooks).
AUS: Amazon.com.au; Booktopia.
Lana's website: https://lanamanikowski.com/
Lana is a certified life coach based in Chicago, USA, and the host of the ‘So Now What?’ podcast and the creator of ‘The Other’s Day Brunch’, which now takes place each year in Chicago the day before Mother’s Day. You can find all Lana’s links on her website at https://lanamanikowski.com/
I was honoured to be asked to write the Foreword for Lana’s book, from which I’ve shared an extract below ( you can download the full foreword and first chapter free here):
…Whether it’s rebuilding your shattered relationship with your body and dreams after being blindsided by infertility, charting a new course within existing relationships with friends and family while also refreshing your friendship circle, or compassionately discerning the difference between cutting yourself some slack while grieving or avoiding the painful work of healing from the heartbreak of thwarted motherhood, Lana has it covered.
In particular, her sections on dealing with ‘difficult questions’ about our parental status, and reframing how to manage family-focused holidays, including Halloween, Christmas, New Year and Mother’s Day feel innovative, attainable and worth the guided effort she shares, step-by-step. Even though I am many years into my own recovery from unexplained infertility, I found new insights here….
Gateway Women Masterclasses, hosted by Jody Day, are conversations with the leading writers, therapists, activists, healers, community-creators ders and change-makers in the childless community globally. To watch previous GW Masterclasses click here. To sign up to future free GW Masterclasses, click here.
