Kayte Murphy is bubbling with excitement. We are at the Sydney offices of her publisher Allan and Unwin and there is a definite buzz in the air. It may be cold outside, but the crowd gathering to celebrate the launch of the much-anticipated Primary School Confidential is radiating warmth.
Here among her peers, friends and family she is the ‘real life’ Kayte; hilarious, loyal, generous and engaging. But to her 50,000 fans she is the super blogger Mrs Woog.
In her online domain Woogsworld, Murphy says that she writes about “the mundane”, but as comedian and writer Wendy Harmer points out, Murphy’s casual observations about life are anything but.
Like many bloggers who write in the parenting space, Murphy began Woogsworld when she found herself “stuck” at home with small children. Having given up her publishing career after the birth of her second son, she began to feel lonely.
“I started talking to myself a lot, I was listening to talk back radio and calling into Allen. I had to do something,” she recalls.
Then, after watching the Meryl Streep movie Julie & Julia, Katye was inspired to write a blog post every day for a year. “It just became a habit,” she says.
“It was like brushing my teeth. I don’t put a lot of thought into what I’m doing, I just get up and write a little story. It makes me feel better about everything,”
Mrs Woog with blogging friends Nikki Parkinson and Beth MacDonald
Since pressing publish on her first blog post six years ago, Murphy has grown her blog from an occasional hobby to a thriving business.
In 2012 she became one of the first bloggers to work with the Remarkables group, who pioneered the idea of a talent agency for bloggers. She has since worked with major brands including Garnier, Toyota, Bupa and Qantas.
But while she has became a successful career blogger, Murphy is not just in it for the money.
“When it comes to the crunch, I love what I do. The day I stop loving it is the day I shut [Woogsworld] down,” she says.
Now, with the launch of her first book Murphy has embarked on a new chapter; Mrs Woog the author.
In Primary School Confidential, Murphy takes the reader on a “no-holds-barred” journey through primary school. A place she describes as “both sweet and feral”:
“[Primary school is a] special place where little kids turn into big kids, where letters turn into words, numbers turn into more confusing numbers and lunchboxes turn into bacterial breeding grounds,” she writes.
First, Murphy reminisces about her own school days in suburban Sydney during the “smurf, Swatch and Strawberry Shortcake era.”
Murphy tells me that she had to “dig deep,” but that when she started writing her early school days came flooding back to her. “It was a typical Australian childhood,” she says.
The vivid descriptions of Murphy’s school days will resonate with readers. “We all had a lot more freedom in those days, it was very different from the experience our kids are having,” she says.
Murphy then goes on to talk about her perspective as a primary school teacher in a “tough as nails South London school” and a “back-of-woop-woop county school”.
“Even now, 20 years later those kids are still with me,” she says.
As the mother of two school age children (Harry 12 and Jack 10) Murphy had plenty of material for the book. Perhaps one of her most notable observations is her glossary of different types of school mums.
Readers will no doubt enjoy identifying the ‘sanctimonious mum,’ the ‘slacker mum,’ the ‘gets-shit-done mum,’ and of course, the ‘perfect mum.’
Among the giggles, Murphy has an important message though; “THE PERFECT MUM DOES NOT EXIST.”
While Murphy notes that Primary School Confidential isn’t a classic work of literature (her husband, Mr Woog told her that she “wasn’t exactly Bryce Courtney”) she hopes that her mixture of confession and observation will be entertaining for readers.
It is bound to be a hit with the Australian blogging community where Murphy has reluctantly become a bit of a celebrity.
“I don’t see myself that way. I get a bit anxious sometimes; I want to hide my head under someone’s arm.
“I called myself Mrs Woog because I wanted to remain anonymous – that’s worked out well,” she jokes.
Of course, she does have her critics. In fact, there is an entire thread devoted to Woogsworld on petulant snark site Get off My Internets (GOMI). “I don’t read it. Why would I?” asks Murphy.
“I’m happy with myself, so I don’t let everything get to me.”
Occasionally Murphy will get an abusive email or stir things up in the Woogsworld Facebook comments. She has a unique way of dealing with this sort of trolling:
“When people behave appallingly on-line they get sent to ‘spankytown’” she explains.
In other words they are blocked and deleted.
But if “spankytown” is the place where her trolls are exhiled then the crowd at Allen and Unwin surely represents the polar opposite – ‘schnuggleville’ perhaps.
And everyone is welcome.
Primary school confidential is on sale now
