Women's Fiction - Count Me In!

"I hope I don't end up as a professional blogger," I said to my friend, a fellow writer and published author, in a telephone conversation during a recent winter storm watch. My friend assured me that I wouldn't end up blogging at 90. She told me to remain patient, encouraged me to keep writing and querying agents. I promised that I would do all that and before we hung up, we wished each other well on our writing careers.

Actually, I wouldn't mind blogging well past my 90's. I love writing and telling stories. I hope I do just that as it might mean that my brain cells are still active and fruitful! I just pray that I'm not a 90 year old woman blogging about dating. Lord help me. But then again, that might be kinda cool! In my mind's eye, I see my daughter smiling at my future blogs and novels about dating in the retirement home, secretly hoping her young children don't read them and my son is rolling his eyes, thinking, "There she goes sharing again."

Note to Self: Give the kids my blogging password so that they can monitor my blogs in my golden years and beyond.

"Live long enough to be a burden to your children." I don't know who said that, but it always cracks me up. I plan on writing until I'm no longer able to type and that's why I'm saving my old cassette recorder and still buy packs of cassettes. My children won't be able to keep me quiet and I don't plan on going quietly into that good night! I don't know who said that either, but I feel I should know that...

Anyway, I've read that fiction protagonists and antagonists share many of the ideals, dreams and personality traits of the writer as well as the negative parts of their heroines and heroes. We write the story, so that has to be true. My novel has two protagonists, two women. My main character never marries and has no living children. The other woman marries and has three children. These two women really are one woman - me and they also share bits and pieces of women I've known and stories women have told me which to me means that our characters represent all women. I could take that further. I have male characters in my novel, as well. Those characters are composites of men I've known with positive and negative characteristics. So, my story becomes a story of people, but I've chosen no male points of view (POV) for my debut novel-length manuscript.

Why? I didn't start out writing my novel with that in mind. No men. Nope, I had individual chapters written from the POV of my three male characters. The comment I received from my editor and two friends who read the manuscript was the same - the story is stronger without male POV. I had to agree. I removed one such chapter and rewrote others. It was the right thing to do for this story.

I believe my characters, Ana and Serafina, chose me to tell their stories. I chose these characters to tell my story. We've all danced, cried, and dreamed with our girlfriends and my story is no different. It's about the life-long friendship of two strong women and the challenges women faced (individually and collectively) living in the male-driven society of Puerto Rico in the 1900's.

Women's fiction. Count me in.

Peace and love,
Ellie