How Writing the Blog is Like...Well, Something

by Elizabeth

So, I just posted the other day, and here I am again. Why, you ask? Like writing a novel, it's complicated, and confusing, and involves a lot more shuffling around than the average reader might expect. And it has multiple characters involved.

The main character is, well, just like for all of us, us. Me, you, that other guy--aren't we all the star of our own lives? That's one really fun part about writing a novel, by the way, in case you haven't undertaken the task--deciding who is going to be the me, whether it's in first person or not. Point of view--I recently said to my daughter, wouldn't it be sad if someone else was the star of the movie of our life?

But I digress. Which would mean hundreds of words struck from a manuscript, and in blog life? Here I am just five days later.

So it started with Julie interviewing Jacqueline Luckett. The interview was so rich and so interesting, she realized it really needed two days to keep it consistent with our usual post length--and also because Julie had such a good time with it, she wanted to give it its due. So she emailed the group to see if someone would be willing to trade up some days (if this were a novel, it would be like shifting chapters around, except in the first draft, you don't consult anyone but yourself).

Since Julie and I are the Wednesday girls--now wait a minute. I'm going to digress yet again. How come Julie and I are "full of woe"? Pamela and Joan get to trade off being "fair of face" on Mondays; Susan and Kim are "loving and giving" (Friday)--but Julie and I get woe? Woe? Who made these assignments, anyway? I'm searching my email archives as soon as I finish this post, I'm tellin' ya...

Oh, yeah. The post. Where was I?

Okay, so Julie and I are Wednesday, and since she wanted to finish up the interview on Monday, the apparently most attractive Women were contacted, and Joan-the-Beautiful jumped in with the offer, but Elizabeth-the-Sad got copied in, and replied in tandem that she could give up her week, and Pamela-the-Gorgeous was probably drinking some herb tea for her fabulous complexion and missed the whole communication until after the fact. (Kim and Susan, in the meantime, were no doubt handing out homemade cookies at a nursing home, then rushing off to rock preemies at the hospital before taking a shift bathing muddy dogs at the animal shelter.) How does this relate to writing? Hello? Did you not just read that I am bereft and everyone else is wonderful? Pretty much every writer I know has moments when they are absolutely certain they are an untalented hack, while everyone else in the world has inherited Shakespeare's gifts.

So I finally ended up posting--I think on Wednesday. My regular Wednesday? I don't even know anymore. (Writers: ever get your characters in a situation and you wonder what the heck it has to do with the plot? What are they doing there? Do they belong there? And is it three in the morning and so you just really don't care?) Anyway, I had a weepy post, Joan had a lovely post, Pamela had a radiant post, and Susan and Kim were busy saving baby seals, natch.

Look, it's Monday. It's a gorgeous day here in Texas. We at What Women Write, whether we are fair of face or full of woe (no one posts on Tuesday, so I guess no one is full of grace. Umm, I will say, I don't think any of us are very balletic), we are all of us Thursday's child, whether we post then or not. Don't remember the old rhyme? Thursday's child has far to go. I read that as in, will go far. Some days, it feels like it means things are a long way off. But today? I'm ditching the woe. We are going places, we Women who write.