being a woman

2022 (a review)

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dear imaginary readers of this blog, another year. i moved into my own house this year and it’s been busy getting settled, but it feels good, you know? it’s peaceful. anyway, my office is cosy and i’ve got a serious shelving shortage to attend to in the new year, but that’s definitely fixable. and i’m … Read more

2022 is a fucking mess

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this year, for a variety of reasons, i’ve limped along rewriting my MS, and i’ve taken to writing out prompts. recently, i wrote a good one and i share it with you here, my imaginary readers of this blog, because it was fun. i’m currently writing it out into a short story, also fun. god … Read more

forgotten girls

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i’m 55 years old, and a writer, and my teenage years have been over for a long time. it’s hard to remember. i sit in front of my computer and stare through my words, and watch Val sink into the mud of a shotgun wedding, and Brenda step into a locked stairwell in a psychiatric … Read more

kirby vacuum

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1. my MIL bought the Kirby at a yard sale for $50. it was in its original case, mint condition. 3. i was wary of the Kirby at first glance; I didn’t think something so old would be useful. 4. my MIL had to talk me into the Kirby when she offered it to me. i think my … Read more

(let’s) burn this motherfucking system to the ground

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it’s been a week. i’m not fond of November because it’s dark. the news is fucking unrelenting. and then there’s this year-long realization of conditions in the misogynistic literary landscape. i had hopes. i did. the evidence isn’t supporting my hopes. then this article came along ‘on pandering’ and it’s got me thinking: where am … Read more

bullshit

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“I’ve been accused of vulgarity. I say that’s bullshit.” Mel Brooks

weeping woman

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  Weeping Woman (Dora Maar) by Grace Nichols   14. Picasso, I want my face back the unbroken photography of it   once, I lived to be stroked by the fingers of your brushes   Now I see I was more an accomplice to my own uprooting   Watching the pundits gaze open-mouthed at your … Read more

a marked grave

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writer Mavis Gallant rests in a marked grave in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. in 2015 it was difficult to locate without knowledge that she resides, temporarily, in her friend’s family crypt, because Mavis died almost penniless. when faced with fragile, failing health and dwindling finances, she stated, unequivocally, “i have chosen to be a writer, … Read more