Photograph byJolka Igolka

A Landscape of Women's Stories



Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Positive Stories

Tamara and I want to remind all writers how varied the female experience is. We laugh and we cry. We dance for joy and we shiver with fear. Mapping Me aims to share the totality of the female experience. That means we are eagerly waiting to read the positive stories that make up our individual lives. Sometimes it seems we focus to easily on the hardships and those things that make us suffer but the female experience is much more than that. Mapping Me isn't a grim book. It's about women making choices - good and bad - about survival and moments of happiness, laughter and humour.


The biggest criticism of anthologies of this nature has been the depressingly grim and bleak realities of many women. Yet for every day of darkness, there is also a moment of light. What are they? If we deny those moments, deny that they exist, then we deny the complexities of our lives and our humanity. We want to inspire women, show them at their finest happiest moments so when they are at their lowest, their spirit can never be broken.

1 comment:

  1. Looking back at my life I only realize now that I grew up (like a weed) in a very dysfunctional family---that "functioned". Life was quite grim and bleak for many of the women, but laughter, many cups of tea and good tales told around the fire pulled them through.

    Thank you, Orchid. Sometimes the most raucous laughter can overcome the worst of situations.

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