Betsy Cornwell saw a gap — artist residencies she qualified for but couldn’t access as a single parent — and instead of waiting for someone else to fill it, she built something herself. She crowdfunded the purchase of a historic 1906 knitting factory on the west coast of Ireland, turned it into a residency and retreat space for other single parent artists, and then wrote a memoir about how all of it happened.

In this conversation, Ashley and Betsy talk about coming out of an abusive marriage, what it means to write honestly about hard things as a mother, the gap between the writing life you imagine and the one you actually have, and why the accomplishment Betsy is most proud of isn’t her New York Times bestseller or her university teaching post — it’s being a single mom.

In This Episode

1. How Betsy became a single parent and why she found herself proud to be one almost immediately
2. The gap she identified — artist residencies she qualified for but couldn’t access because of caretaking logistics and finances
3. The castle that didn’t work out, the pivot to the knitting factory, and why this place ended up being a better fit
4. What crowdfunding a house actually looked like — including the 2am moment when everything came down to the wire
5. Why she gives residency recipients a cash childcare stipend rather than on-site childcare — and what that trust means
6. The Smith College Friday Tea tradition and the online community that supported her through the most isolated stretch of her life
7. Writing about emotional abuse — “he never hit me” — and why that makes some readers deeply uncomfortable
8. The ethics of writing a memoir as a parent: how she handled writing about her son and his father
9. Why mother’s silence is not the solution to the complexity of women telling their stories
10. Writing Ring of Salt on the edge of a bathtub — and what that says about the art you can make in the life you have
11. Raising her son in an Irish-speaking region of Ireland — and what she’s observed about life in Ireland versus the US
12. The “keep it alive” approach to creative practice for caregivers
13. What she hopes happens when someone comes to the Old Knitting Factory and gets to breathe for the first time

Quotes From This Episode

“The accomplishment I’m most proud of is being a single mom. And I think that will always be true.”

— Betsy Cornwell

“I don’t think the brunt of all that complexity should be borne through the simple solution of mother’s silence. That is not right to me.”

— Betsy Cornwell

“The book that I could write is the book that I could write in the life that I have.”

— Betsy Cornwell

“Have you kept your art practice alive today? It’s just about keeping it alive.”

— Betsy Cornwell

“We’re kicking the bar down the road and wondering why our toe hurts.”

— Ashley Blackington

Resources & Links

1. Ring of Salt (memoir): available at any bookstore or via oldknittingfactory.com
2. Old Knitting Factory: oldknittingfactory.com
3. Support the residency on Patreon
4. All books including YA novels: betsycornwell.com
5. Friday Tea on Substack: find Betsy on Substack

Connect with Ashley:

Website: https://www.ashleyblackington.com

Podcast website: https://www.andbothpodcast.com/

Dovetail® App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dovetail-app/id6744341822

Instagram: @mydovetail.app

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyblackington/