What is *The Art of Waiting* by Belle Boggs about?

*The Art of Waiting* blends memoir and cultural analysis to explore infertility, reproductive choices, and societal expectations around parenthood. Belle Boggs intertwines her personal journey with reflections on nature, literature, and medical ethics, examining themes like adoption, assisted reproduction, and childlessness. The book also critiques how waiting—whether for biological children or societal change—shapes identity and resilience.

Who should read *The Art of Waiting*?

This book resonates with individuals navigating infertility, adoptive or LGBTQ+ parents, and readers interested in reproductive justice. It also appeals to those studying medical ethics, feminist literature, or memoir. Boggs’ compassionate storytelling offers insight for loved ones supporting others through family-making challenges.

Is *The Art of Waiting* worth reading?

Yes—critics praise its lyrical prose, nuanced research, and empathetic perspective. Named a best book of 2016 by *Oprah Magazine* and a PEN Award finalist, it balances personal vulnerability with broader cultural commentary, making it a standout in fertility literature.

What are the main themes in *The Art of Waiting*?

Key themes include: - The emotional and societal weight of infertility. - Ethical dilemmas in reproductive technology. - Redefining family beyond biological norms. - Waiting as an active, transformative process. Boggs uses metaphors like cicada cycles and zoo gorillas to frame waiting as both natural and fraught.

How does Belle Boggs address alternative family-making?

Boggs discusses adoption, surrogacy, and IVF while highlighting systemic barriers like cost and legal complexities. She profiles LGBTQ+ couples and others navigating non-traditional paths, emphasizing resilience amid societal and medical challenges.

What critique exists about *The Art of Waiting*?

Some critics note Boggs avoids direct judgment of others’ reproductive choices, which can blur ethical stances. Others argue her focus on generalized reflections occasionally softens the raw complexity of lived infertility experiences.

How does *The Art of Waiting* use literary references?

Boggs analyzes childlessness in *Macbeth* and *Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*, contrasting societal views of barrenness. She also references the Coen brothers’ *Raising Arizona* to explore desperation and hope in parenting narratives.

What is the significance of the “split self” quote in the book?

Boggs writes, “The person I had hoped to become was torn away, leaving only the person I had always been.” This captures the identity crisis infertility can provoke, mourning lost futures while grappling with self-redefinition.

Art of Waiting

On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood

Belle Boggs

3.76(1420 Reviews)

Overview of Art of Waiting

Belle Boggs' "The Art of Waiting" explores infertility's emotional landscape with raw intimacy. Named a Best Book by Oprah's magazine, this viral sensation transforms clinical struggle into profound wisdom. What makes this meditation on motherhood so universally resonant despite its deeply personal origins?

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Chapter 1

When Waiting Becomes an Art Form

The cicadas return every thirteen years, their mating song filling the air with an urgent, vibrating hum. While nature bursts with reproduction all around me-eaglets, turtle hatchlings, feral cat litters-I sit in my reproductive endocrinologist's office, surrounded by silence. The contrast couldn't be more stark: outside, life multiplies effortlessly; inside, we struggle against our bodies' limitations. Belle Boggs' "The Art of Waiting" has become a cultural touchstone for those navigating the complex terrain of infertility, lauded by The New York Times as "a deeply empathetic exploration of the liminal state between having and not having a child." Since its publication, celebrities from Michelle Obama to Amy Schumer have praised its unflinching honesty about reproductive challenges. The book transcends mere memoir, weaving together biology, literature, psychology, and social commentary to create something universally resonant-a meditation on desire, hope, and the meaning we find in waiting.

Chapter 2

The Biological Imperative: Baby Fever as a Force of Nature

The Coen brothers' film "Raising Arizona" centers on childlessness-Hi and Ed kidnap a wealthy family's baby when her "rocky womb" can't conceive. This fictional desperation mirrors a real phenomenon scientists debate: do humans have an innate desire to reproduce, or does our sexual drive alone explain reproduction? Malcolm Potts notes we can easily find people who want sex without children, but rarely heterosexuals who want children without sex. Our relatively low fertility rates (2.5 children worldwide) and widespread contraceptive use suggest limited reproductive drive. Yet both sexes' behavior changes during ovulation-men find women more attractive, while women dress more provocatively. Studies even show women lap dancers earn twice as much during their fertile period. Mate selection is influenced by expressions of child-friendliness, as demonstrated by our attraction to partners who show caretaking traits. Finnish sociologist Anna Rotkirch studied this phenomenon by collecting accounts from newspaper readers. The 106 women who responded described baby fever as an "inescapable, unbidden, and often inconvenient fact of life"-an "all-encompassing desire" that hits suddenly and feels "totally biological." Many first noticed it in dreams, experiencing physical sensations "starting from my womb and radiating to all parts of my body." When prolonged by infertility or circumstances, sufferers begin avoiding places with babies and children. Joan Didion's memoir "Blue Nights" describes her sudden baby fever while working at Vogue, following carriages and collecting baby pictures. Similarly, Boggs' mother experienced intense baby fever in the 1970s when it was culturally unpopular, collecting tiny blue overalls at a secondhand store and embroidering them with a mouse, moon and stars-a family heirloom passed through generations. The desire for children emerges from a complex interplay of biology and culture. Pronatalism-the idea that parenting is a normalizing rite of passage-works on us through religion, art, family attitudes, and cultural messaging. Even those repelled by pronatal pressure may find themselves unable to recover from baby fever once it strikes, caught between intellectual resistance and biological yearning.

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Chapter 3

The Childless in Literature: Villains, Victims, and the Socially Distorted

Literature offers shockingly little consolation for the infertile or childless by choice. Old prejudices persist-a woman without a child is less feminine, less nurturing, defined by absence. The biblical Sarah's story, barren until ninety before finally bearing Isaac, perpetuates the myth that patient waiting and faith will be rewarded. This narrative infects our literature and thinking, making childless characters seem incomplete or morally suspect. Consider how literature portrays childlessness as having a socially distorting, morally corrosive effect, especially on women. In Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", George and Martha's childlessness makes them dangerous-inappropriate, vitriolic, unfaithful, lewd, alcoholic. Similarly, literary childless figures like Miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth reinforce the idea that childlessness leads to villainy or dysfunction. Female literary characters like Hester Prynne and Miss Havisham are defined by their relationship to children, reinforcing that motherhood is central to female identity. Even neglected children often can't imagine life without parenthood as a milestone. Western culture imagines conception as mysterious and God-given, making those who aren't "chosen" feel biologically or morally broken. Catholic teaching opposes IVF and other assisted reproduction as interfering with natural conception, seen as a divine gift. Pope Benedict XVI likened IVF to "taking the Creator's place." Albee's play portrays George and Martha's imaginary son as both weapon and solace. The destruction of their fantasy child mirrors Virginia Woolf's "Lappin and Lapinova," where the husband similarly destroys the couple's imaginary world. Fantasy children are surprisingly common-Ella Wheeler Wilcox invented a daughter named Winifred, Katherine Mansfield fantasized about a boy named Dicky, and Dr. Seuss and his wife had an imaginary child named Chrysanthemum-Pearl. The imagination can be both transgressive and necessary for survival in a long marriage. But literature rarely explores what happens when someone can't have a child or needs medical intervention to conceive. The patterns that exist often perpetuate stereotypes rather than offering nuanced representations of reproductive challenges.

Chapter 4

The Undignified Reality of Fertility Treatment

The procedures themselves lack dignity-hormone injections, transvaginal ultrasounds, egg retrieval, sperm "samples"-but many things in medicine and marriage are undignified. What's really troubling to critics isn't the procedures but women's unfulfilled desire-their grasping, wanting, circumventing. Better to wait patiently, like biblical women who were eventually rewarded. For most of human history, doctors knew remarkably little about reproduction. The existence of eggs wasn't confirmed until 1827, and it took another sixteen years to discover sperm's role in conception. Early fertility treatments were crude and dangerous-from Marion Sims' "ethereal copulation" in the mid-nineteenth century to Carl Gemzell's risky hormonal treatments in the 1950s using cadaver pituitary glands. Gemzell pioneered gonadotropin to stimulate egg production, nearly abandoning his research after one patient delivered six premature babies who all died. Despite risks of multiple births and later discoveries that some patients contracted Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease from cadaver-sourced hormones, infertile couples willingly gambled with these treatments out of desperation for children. The history of reproductive medicine is marked by incomplete patient understanding. The first artificial insemination by donor was performed on an unconscious woman who never knew the truth. Even Lesley Brown, mother of the first IVF baby, had no idea she was making history-she assumed "hundreds of children" had already been conceived this way. Today's fertility patients turn to each other for support and information. On YouTube, hundreds of women have posted instructional videos demonstrating how to self-administer fertility injections. Despite the ordinary backgrounds, there's a formal quality to their narration-a ritual sharing of this intimate medical process. IVF takes over not just your body but your entire life-your schedule filled with morning appointments, waiting for blood test results, precisely timing injections, and managing medications. Beyond the physical demands, infertility consumes the mind completely. The abundance of treatment options creates a paradox-each failed cycle presents new choices that can lead to paralyzing anxiety rather than acceptance. ART patients often view their bodies as defective, seeing medical intervention as replacement rather than assistance. This perspective is reinforced when doctors claim they'll "take over" cycles. One woman in Marni Rosner's study confessed feeling her body had failed at its natural function, undermining her sense of credibility. We idealize our bodies as "miracles"-a message typically given to pubescent children and pregnant women-but evolutionary biology reveals them as merely "jury-rigged compromises" that are "good enough" rather than perfect.

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Chapter 5

The Hidden Community of the Waiting

The dreaded Two-Week Wait between ovulation and pregnancy testing creates an elaborate support system through online message boards filled with animated GIFs, exuberant punctuation, and custom "tickers" from sites like Lilypie.com. These colorful graphic banners count up or down to significant events, particularly meaningful in the infertility community where conception involves emotionally fraught, unseen events often shared only anonymously online. Before modern technology, pregnancy was confirmed not visually but through "quickening" at 4-5 months. Now, advanced reproductive clinics can record every moment of cell division through time-lapse imaging, creating visual documentation of conception that will inevitably become subject to political debates about personhood at the cellular level. Lesley Brown had felt profoundly isolated by her infertility, avoiding better jobs to escape explaining her blocked fallopian tubes to new coworkers who inevitably asked about children after marriage. Meeting another of Steptoe's patients in the hospital was revelatory-finally someone who understood her experience. They bonded over their shared isolation and made plans for their future children to be friends. Despite worldwide acclaim after Louise Brown's birth, it took Steptoe and Edwards two and a half years to open Bourn Hall, the world's second IVF clinic, in a renovated Jacobean mansion. Edwards envisioned a large-scale center with comprehensive services for the immense waiting list. With its stately brick face and crenellated turrets, Bourn Hall still operates today, looking more like an exclusive university than a medical facility. Louise Brown was called both a miracle and a freak, with neighbors peering into her pram as if expecting a glass baby. Her parents' memoir, "Our Miracle Called Louise," focuses more on their relationship than the clinical details, presenting their daughter not as a scientific breakthrough but as their destiny. Andrew Solomon similarly reflected that parenting makes subjective truth-the feeling that our children are the ones we were meant to have-more real than objective reality. John Brown expressed this simply: "I couldn't be without Louise now." The miracle isn't the technology but the specific child who results.

Chapter 6

The Economics of Hope: Who Gets to Try

The fifteen states requiring infertility coverage have wildly inconsistent mandates. New York only covers "correctable medical conditions" but specifically excludes IVF. Arkansas caps lifetime coverage at $15,000. Maryland requires using only the patient's eggs and spouse's sperm. Rhode Island limits coverage to "presumably healthy married individuals" under forty. Hawaii demands five years of documented infertility before covering a single cycle. These arbitrary restrictions exclude those with complicated diagnoses, older patients, LGBT couples, unmarried partners, and single women. In RESOLVE support groups, money is rarely discussed despite vastly different financial circumstances. Yet persistence-continuing treatment despite failures-ultimately determines success. Those who can afford multiple rounds of treatment eventually become pregnant. The harsh reality is that resources, more than any biological factor, seem to determine outcomes. When clinics relocate to nicer facilities, financial transactions often shift to specialized companies like IntegraMed. Cost-share plans covering multiple IVF cycles essentially function as financial derivatives-patients bet on their own failure while companies bet on their success. These arrangements give patients the confidence to choose single embryo transfers (SET), knowing they have financial protection if it fails. In European countries with mandated IVF coverage, SET is common-70% of procedures in Sweden, resulting in only a 5% twin rate compared to many American clinics' 30%. A 2012 study revealed troubling patterns in fertility clinic marketing-79% featured baby photos on homepages, but only 27% listed pricing. Clinics seem to target educated, white, upper-middle-class women with emotional appeals rather than transparent information. Despite infertility affecting men and women equally and being more prevalent among minorities and those with lower incomes and education, 97% of clinics showed white babies in their marketing, with 62% featuring only white babies. Sociologist Ann V. Bell's research reveals how the medicalization of infertility has made childlessness more deviant while making alternative paths to motherhood seem less desirable. Her interviews with 27 low-income Michigan women uncovered familiar barriers: no insurance coverage, limited time off work, and doctors who seemed disinterested in helping them become mothers. These women developed personal strategies-selling cars, relocating, or turning to folk remedies-but largely without medical support. Organizations like RESOLVE are breaking down barriers through peer-led support groups in 46 states, while online communities provide inclusive spaces for infertile women. Specialized groups like Fertility for Colored Girls and the Broken Brown Egg address infertility awareness in minority communities.

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Chapter 7

"Just Adopt": The Complex Alternative to Biological Parenthood

When people face infertility, they're often told "just adopt"-as though it's a simple solution to childlessness. But adoption, while potentially beautiful, involves trauma for everyone: birth parents, adoptive parents, and the child. Still, it presents a compelling narrative of fate and meaning for those struggling with fertility. Nate and Parul Goetz found the adoption process lacking empathy-"just business" as Parul put it. Nate emphasized that adoption involves three different people (birth mother, child, adoptive parents) and requires tremendous empathy. Human adoption mirrors patterns seen throughout the primate world, where mothers sometimes need help with semi-precocial infants. In the US alone, about 120,000 adoptions occur yearly-double the number of IVF births-with three-quarters of adoptive parents being infertile or subfertile. International adoption gained popularity in the 1990s when fewer American infants became available, with US adoptions from other countries doubling to 20,000 annually by 2000 (though ethical concerns have since halved that number). Mark and Rachel Alexander adopted Dejen from Ethiopia after Rachel had a miscarriage at 39. They were drawn to adoption rather than fertility treatments, and to becoming a multicultural family. When they met him at the orphanage in Addis Ababa, he ran across the courtyard and leaped into their arms. Despite the beautiful beginning, they later discovered complications-Dejen insisted his parents weren't dead, contrary to what they'd been told. The Alexanders eventually hired an Ethiopian investigator, suspecting the "aunt and uncle" they'd met might actually be his parents-a common discovery in Ethiopian adoptions where corruption and translation issues complicated matters. Adoption and IVF are often portrayed as opposing choices-selfless versus selfish-but they share many obstacles, including limited financial support. The federal adoption tax credit of $13,400 barely covers expenses and favors families of means, while most insurance plans cover little of fertility treatment costs. Even adoption doesn't truly abandon genetic links. As one professor explained, genes aren't just blueprints but "trucks pulling up to a loading dock, full of materials and waiting for instructions from lived experience." The adoptive parent becomes part of that genetic lottery through nurture. Joan Didion, who adopted her daughter Quintana Roo, created a "choice narrative" about her adoption, but later realized this story didn't allay her daughter's fears of abandonment. Despite the reassuring narratives we create, "There is no such thing as an uncomplicated adoption... No one just adopts, because no child is ever just adopted."

Chapter 8

Expanding Definitions of Family in the Modern Age

Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges acknowledged marriage's history of "continuity and change," recognizing evolving family structures including same-sex couples who parent through various means. Legal scholars like Douglas NeJaime noted that while same-sex marriage gained acceptance, new conflicts emerged around parenthood. Some conservatives like David Blankenhorn reversed their opposition to same-sex marriage while maintaining that same-sex couples could never combine "biological, social and legal parenthood into one bond." Just a generation ago, many gay men felt traditional family life was unavailable to them. Same-sex marriage, reproductive technology advances, and more liberal adoption laws have opened previously sealed doors. Andrew Solomon writes in "Far From the Tree" that children once made him sad because their absence in gay people's lives was portrayed as his tragedy. For LGBT couples, beginning parenthood remains complicated. Post-Obergefell, adoption became more accessible except in Mississippi, though several states introduced bills allowing agencies to discriminate on religious grounds. Shawn Long and his partner Craig were the first gay men to seek adoption through foster care in Wake County, North Carolina. Initially unable to adopt their son Isaiah together as an unmarried couple, they joined an ACLU lawsuit challenging North Carolina's same-sex marriage ban and won in 2014. For couples like Gabe and Todd to have a genetically related child required surrogacy-expensive and legally complex with laws varying state to state. Gabe, whose father was a Holocaust survivor, felt emotionally compelled to have a genetic connection, though Todd considered it less important. The Baby M case ultimately returned the child to the Sterns while preserving Whitehead's visitation rights, prompting several states to ban compensated surrogacy. Gestational surrogacy, where the surrogate has no genetic link to the child, became standard practice where legal. Martha Ertman argues ethical surrogacy arrangements are possible with proper protections, but international surrogacy raises questions about informed consent and emotional impact on surrogates in developing countries. The global surrogacy market's power imbalance stems not just from financial disparities but from discriminatory legal landscapes in developed countries. Israel has LGBT-friendly laws but conservative rabbinical courts forbid surrogacy for same-sex couples. Ireland recently legalized same-sex marriage but forbids surrogacy. The United States has inconsistent state-by-state surrogacy laws. It's now possible for almost anyone with resources to become a parent through various means-from advanced reproductive technologies like preimplantation genetic screening to adoption or surrogacy arrangements. The expanding definition of parenthood threatens some who emphasize biological parenthood, yet even "biological" has evolved as we understand how parenting affects children down to their DNA expression.

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Chapter 9

Finding Peace in the Waiting

Our last two childless years, Richard and I spent winter holidays far from home. In 2011, we watched Florida sunsets with crowds seeking the "green flash"-an optical phenomenon Jules Verne connected to good luck and insight. The following year, we traveled to Iceland during winter solstice, hoping to see the aurora borealis. It should have been hopeful. I'd been corresponding with Dr. Young about IVF timing, calling myself "the Hamlet of assisted reproduction." Iceland would distract us, we thought. I imagined the northern lights might communicate something profound about beauty and surprise, or bring peace with my situation after five years of childlessness. Meanwhile, I'd been reporting on North Carolina's eugenics program victims-people sterilized by the state between 1933 and the 1970s. Willis Lynch, sterilized at fourteen, had become an advocate for compensation. Though my experience differed vastly from these victims, I recognized the dismissive public response to their reproductive trauma. Dr. Marni Rosner's research shows infertility causes trauma equivalent to living with cancer or HIV, creating "disenfranchised grief" that "cannot be openly acknowledged." Michelle Latiolais, the novelist and professor who never wanted children, reflects that people once reacted to this choice as if she'd said she "enjoyed eating babies for lunch over-easy." As my mentor in graduate school, she transformed ordinary spaces with elegance and precision. "I was working toward other things," she explains, noting she feels even more strongly now that "we have plenty of children in the world" who need care. Cat Warren, after a complex journey that included baby fever in her thirties, artificial insemination attempts, a miscarriage, and breast cancer, ultimately didn't adopt the child she'd been preparing for. Living in a cohousing community with her husband David, she rejects both "childless" and "child-free" labels. Her close relationship with Reginald, an autistic boy whose mother died, and her German shepherds provides meaningful connection, though she admits Sunday melancholy sometimes descends: "I would have liked to be surrounded a little more." During our Iceland trip on winter solstice, hiking across the tundra's featureless expanse, I reached a place of acceptance about our fertility journey. Like my earlier realization about my writing career-that I'd keep going regardless of publication-I finally truly believed we'd be okay, whatever happened. This sense of peace feels like wisdom but might simply be nature: the body and mind letting go, making room for change.

Chapter 10

The Art of Waiting: Finding Meaning in Liminal Spaces

The art of waiting isn't passive-it's active engagement with uncertainty and hope. Well diggers arrive at our house on an unseasonably warm January morning with three large trucks to deepen our insufficient well. This day was inevitable since Richard and I bought this house six years ago, noticing the black tubing that once carried water from our neighbor's property. We'd adapted to our two low-producing wells through careful water management-timing laundry strategically, sometimes running between wells mid-shower, and washing dishes with minimal water. Though constantly afraid of running dry, we postponed the expensive well-drilling with uncertain results-when is it ever a good time for two fine arts graduates to spend thousands on such a project? As the drilling reaches 200 feet with no water, I toggle between monitoring the well progress and calling pharmacies about fertility medications for my first IVF cycle. Both situations share the same uncertainty and financial anxiety. After years of less invasive fertility treatments, at 36, I've finally committed to IVF-a $13,000 gamble with no guarantees. Like our failing wells, my fertility is running out of time. The next morning, Richard stays home to help decide our next steps if no water appears. While I try to work, he watches the drilling operation from the window and notices something changing-more water appearing in the waste stream. Mr. Maness soon confirms we've hit something at 720 feet-not much, but definitely water. The well diggers install a pump and run water through our system while I anxiously watch the pressure gauge climb past our previous maximum. The results are miraculous: 5 gallons per minute, enough for "the whole house" as Mr. Maness reassures us. Richard and I celebrate with high-fives and happy dances, knowing this water would be enough even for a family. This water victory coincides with my first shipment of IVF medication arriving. I unpack the surprisingly light boxes containing Lupron, Follistim, Menopur, syringes, and detailed instructions-more medicine than I've ever taken. My doctor describes IVF as a complete "takeover" of my reproductive cycle, where my body "will not be trusted to perform any of its biological tasks." On transfer day, Dr. Young presented us with a photo of "the prettiest" blastocyst the embryologist had seen all year-a grainy black-and-white image showing a complex hollow sphere beginning to hatch from its zona pellucida. The transfer was strangely formal, with Dr. Young reading my name aloud as he threaded a thin catheter past my cervix. When the embryo appeared as a spark of light on the ultrasound monitor, Richard and I squeezed hands, overwhelmed by this unexpected path to potential parenthood. After everyone left, we sat in reverent silence, considering what we'd done and what might come next. I chronicle my IVF journey from embryo transfer to childbirth, navigating the tenuous space between hope and fear. After one successful cycle yielding seven embryos, I experienced the terror of early bleeding from a subchorionic hematoma, followed by weekly ultrasounds watching our embryo grow while the bruise slowly shrank. Throughout my pregnancy, I moved cautiously through the world, collecting four-leaf clovers as talismans, surviving a kayaking accident, and questioning notions of "normal birth." Despite my resistance to medical interventions, my 26-hour labor ultimately required pitocin and an epidural before our daughter Beatrice arrived-pink, alert, and entirely ours-the culmination of our long-awaited hope. The art of waiting isn't about passively enduring time but about finding meaning in liminal spaces-those in-between moments where transformation occurs. Whether waiting for water, for conception, for adoption, or for acceptance, the waiting itself becomes part of our story. As Mr. Cheek, our contractor, wisely observed, each baby is born not just to parents but to the whole world surrounding them-a reminder that our individual struggles connect us to something larger than ourselves.

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Key Themes in Art of Waiting

infertility experience
assisted reproductive technology
pronatalist cultural pressure
biological clock
childlessness in literature

Quotes from Art of Waiting

Waiting is a kind of work.
Outside, life multiplies effortlessly; inside, we struggle against our bodies' limitations.
Pronatalism-the idea that parenting is a normalizing rite of passage-works on us through religion, art, family attitudes, and cultural messaging.
A woman without a child is less feminine, less nurturing, defined by absence.
What's really troubling to critics isn't the procedures but women's unfulfilled desire-their grasping, wanting, circumventing.

Characters in Art of Waiting

Belle BoggsThe author and narrator navigating infertility
Anna RotkirchFinnish sociologist who studied baby fever
Joan DidionAuthor who described her experience with baby fever
Boggs' motherA woman who experienced intense baby fever in 1970s
Malcolm PottsScientist who noted the nature of human desire

About the Author

Belle Boggs, acclaimed author of The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood, is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow and PEN Award finalist known for her incisive explorations of societal and personal transitions. Her genre-blending work—part memoir, part cultural critique—draws from her own journey through infertility and adoption, interwoven with reporting on medical ethics and environmental themes.

A Virginia native now based in North Carolina, Boggs grounds her narratives in regional landscapes, as seen in her debut story collection Mattaponi Queen, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award, and her novel The Gulf, which examines climate change and community resilience.

Her essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Orion, and O, The Oprah Magazine, establishing her as a vital voice in contemporary literary nonfiction. The Art of Waiting was hailed as a best book of 2016 by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Buzzfeed, its insights resonating with readers navigating healthcare systems and societal expectations. Boggs’ work is taught in creative writing programs nationwide and frequently featured on NPR’s cultural commentary segments.

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@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."

@Moemenn

"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."

@Chloe, Solo founder, LA

117

"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

@Raaaaaachelw

"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

@Matt, YC alum

108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC

254

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore

"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

@Pitiful

4.5K

"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

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Chapter 10

Art of Waiting

OverviewOverview of Art of Waiting

One book. Many ways to hear it.

When Waiting Becomes an Art Form

The Biological Imperative: Baby Fever as a Force of Nature

See every word as you hear it

The Childless in Literature: Villains, Victims, and the Socially Distorted

The Undignified Reality of Fertility Treatment

Get more out of Art of Waiting

The Hidden Community of the Waiting

The Economics of Hope: Who Gets to Try

See every word as you hear it

"Just Adopt": The Complex Alternative to Biological Parenthood

Expanding Definitions of Family in the Modern Age

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Finding Peace in the Waiting

The Art of Waiting: Finding Meaning in Liminal Spaces

You made it to the end of Art of Waiting

Key Themes in Art of Waiting

Quotes from Art of Waiting

Characters in Art of Waiting

About the Author

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1,000,000+ curious minds.

1,000,000+ curious minds.

One book. Many ways to hear it.

When Waiting Becomes an Art Form

The Biological Imperative: Baby Fever as a Force of Nature

See every word as you hear it

The Childless in Literature: Villains, Victims, and the Socially Distorted

The Undignified Reality of Fertility Treatment

Get more out of Art of Waiting

The Hidden Community of the Waiting

The Economics of Hope: Who Gets to Try

See every word as you hear it

"Just Adopt": The Complex Alternative to Biological Parenthood

Expanding Definitions of Family in the Modern Age

Get more out of Art of Waiting

Finding Peace in the Waiting

The Art of Waiting: Finding Meaning in Liminal Spaces

You made it to the end of Art of Waiting

Users also liked

Discover more

Overview of Art of Waiting