Evidently I am probably on too many medicines. I ended up in the ER last night because of double vision and tremors. They referred me to neurology, but they think it is my medicines. So now my doctor is pulling me off one of them.
I have been reading A Jury of Her Peers. Fascinating biographies of women writers in America from Anne Bradstreet to present day writers are strung together chronologically. It’s a sharp, lively romp through American feminine literary history.
It’s funny to think how ambition was once such a dirty word for women, and now it is an expected trait. I would prefer ambition not be expected of my sex, but why not have a middle ground? If I do publish my book this year, I might use my real name. There’s nothing wrong with putting your name on your work. I’m not totally decided that my heart is with publishing a book rather than sticking to my blog. If I do publish a book I might be content to have it out there under a pen name. But I’m glad I can put my name on my book without losing my ladylikeness.
What is feminine literature? How does it affect one’s writing to fully embrace and to be absorbed by their femininity? I know that as I’ve dived into femininity, I have become more modest (hence the willingness to use a pen name), but also more experimental and raw. Being safe from the whims of the marketplace because of my provider husband means I can write what I feel called to write. I don’t have to worry about sales or critical reception. This liberates me. My work may or may not be good. That is up to the reader. But it is unabashedly creative and original. What would the genre of housewife literature look like? Would there be a lot of cross genre work? What percentage of novel protagonists would be men? How would nature be approached differently by a female versus a male writer? I have so many questions. I long to create a cadre of conservative, feminine writers and explore how their femininity and traditional lifestyles impact their writing.
Life at Home 