Image by Denise Krebs via Flickr/Creative Commons

You are a writer. 


You are perhaps also a wife, mother, sister, or career woman. 


You are most likely a daughter, lover, and friend as well. 


Look back over your life. Actually, just look back over this past week. You probably can't find many (if any) examples of instances when you failed or neglected to mother or love or be the best employer, boss or homemaker that you can be. You may not have been perfect this week, but you gave it your all. 


Chances are, however, there are plenty of days when you have failed or neglected to write. You didn't go to that workshop you wanted to attend. You didn't write that poem, story, or essay in your head. You didn't jot down those ideas you had a compelling new character or blog post.


You didn't write because you just didn't have the time, because you were busy being a good mother, lover, wife, sister, daughter, or friend. You were busy being the best employee, boss, entrepreneur or homemaker. You couldn't carve out time to write, you told yourself, because that would be selfish. 


I have news: it's time to be selfish. 


Chances are, you're hesitant to call yourself a writer these days because it's been so long since you've spent hours at your favorite coffee shop writing in your journal or spent a day at your computer working on your novel. Perhaps you've NEVER done things like this. 


But you are a writer. Otherwise, you wouldn't have felt compelled to read this. And the thing that made you read this is the artist inside you, the writer inside you, and she's determined to make her voice, your voice, heard. 


So here is your simple assignment -- write every day. 


Whether that means getting up early or staying up late, write every day. 


Whether that means taking your journal with you to the bathroom, writing during your lunch break or during your kid's nap time, write every day. 


Whether it's for five minutes or two hours, write every day. 


Begin with this. Start here. 


And the longer you continue this practice of writing every day the more you will feel like a writer and soon you'll realize that taking time to write isn't selfish at all. Your writing has the potential to inspire other women to express themselves and live their best lives. Your dedication has the potential to inspire all those around you – your children, colleagues, family, and friends – to pursue their passions.


For a creative woman carving out space and time to practice your craft, to create art, to write, is not selfish; it is essential. It is your water. It is your daily bread. And after you are well-fed, you can then go out and nourish the world.

Image by Mike Licht via Creative Commons

Mariam, Carol, Kate, Tatiana, Traci, and the dozens of women who are a part of See Jane Write. These are some of the people I imagine are peeking over my shoulder each time I sit down to write a post for this blog.

Last month in a post for Independent Fashion Bloggers called Manfluence: A Single Girl’s Guide to Blogging, Taylor Davies called discussed how knowing her new love interest was reading her style blog forced her to improve the quality of her content. She said once her guy revealed that he’d visiting her site she made sure her posts were smart, funny, and well-edited.  

I confess that when I first read this post the feminist in me was ready to rant. And no, not because she was going ga-ga over a guy. We’ve all been there and there’s nothing wrong with trying to impress your man (or woman.) I was upset because it seemed that she was implying that when she thought only women were reading her posts there was no need to add humor, improve her vocabulary, or proofread. But upon second reading I realized I was overreacting.

Her point, as she later states, is that we should all blog to impress someone.

Many of us come to see our blogs as spaces where we are free to be ourselves and let our creative self-expression run wild. And while that’s a good thing on one hand, on the other hand we can be tempted to get too comfortable on our blogs and the quality of the content suffers as a result.

So, again, blog to impress someone. It doesn’t matter if it’s a spouse, a parent, a co-worker, or a crush, but write your blog posts with that person in mind. You may even want to write your posts as if potential literary agents, editors, or publishers are reading.

When people ask me what inspires me, it never takes long for me to answer. I am most inspired by creative women, creative women like the ones I named above. And it is my hope that I can somehow inspire them. And so with each blog post I’m striving to do just that.

Just Call Me C. Jane Wright

In March of 2011 I decided to start a networking group for women writers in Birmingham, Ala. At the time I only knew two women who were interested in such a group, but I felt in my heart that there were many more out there craving a creative writing community. So I gave my idea a name -- See Jane Write -- and browsed blogs, magazines, newspapers, and websites looking for women to stalk, er, contact about being a part of this new group.

Today the See Jane Write mailing list boasts about 200 names and has a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter as well. Through the organization I've hosted six events -- three social events and three educational events on the following topics: how and why writers should use Twitter, the keys to successful blogging, and freelance writing.

This week I was honored to be featured on the website Magic City Made to talk about my work with See Jane Write.

In the interview I share the story behind the name tag you see in the picture above and my love for Birmingham. Click here to check out the article.

Image by Tannematica via Creative Commons

In the wildly popular erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, author E.L. James uses the phrases “my inner goddess” and “my subconscious” about a gajillion times to describe the first person narrator’s sexual, adventurous side and pragmatic, mature side, respectively. Lately, I feel like my inner goddess has been popping so many anti-depressants that she’s gone numb and my subconscious has become an ornery alcoholic – and, no, not because I wasted five days of my life reading Fifty Shades of Grey. In simpler terms, something inside me is just not right.

I suppose I am in the midst of what some would call a quarter-life crisis, but considering I’m 31 I’m a bit late to the pity party. (I’ve always been a late adopter. I still don’t have an iPhone.)

Recently, I came across the following quote:

Your life is the manifestation of your dream; it is an art. And you can change your life anytime if you aren’t enjoying the dream. (Ruiz)

After reading this my inner goddess actually perked up a bit. Then my subconscious threw an empty vodka bottle at her head and yelled, “But you don’t even know what kind of life you want!” I realized the drunk bitch was right.

When I was 15 the vision was clear. After college I was going to head to New York, work my way to the top at my favorite magazine, then after serving as editor-in-chief for a few years, take the leap and start a magazine of my own. Now, 16 years later, I teach English in Birmingham, Alabama. Clearly, things did not go as planned.

Nevertheless, I love my job, most days. However, still I feel unfulfilled and I can’t figure out why.

“What do you want to do?” – that’s the question I need to answer. It’s probably a question you need to answer too. Even super successful folks like my girl crush Erika Napoletano of RedHead Writing are asking themselves this question these days.

In her blog post on the subject Napoletano admitted that her answer to the question “What do you want to do?” was a resounding “I. Don’t. Know.” But then she began to search for her answer by making note of what she did know.

So what do you know you love to do? I know I love writing more than anything, but I also love teaching and I love connecting with people, especially with other creative women, online and IRL (in real life).  

Well, if I take a look around I’m doing all these things. I’m freelancing and blogging. I teach a great group of teens at one of the best public schools in the region. And I’m connecting with other creative women through See Jane Write, a networking group for Birmingham-area women writers that I founded last year. So what’s my damage?! (Word to Heathers.)

I think I just want more. I want to see my byline in more places. I want my blog to reach more readers. I want my students to leave my classroom feeling more inspired. I want See Jane Write to offer more programs to more women. (And I want an iPhone.) 

Chances are you’re battling similar feelings (though you probably already have an iPhone). You want to do more with your writing, but you’re wondering if you can or if you should. Well, here’s your answer: YES!

What you’re doing now with your blog or your fiction or your journalism or your poetry is just the beginning. You are only scratching the surface. It is time to do more!

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Well, that’s great but how the hell am I supposed to do that.” Well, if I knew that my inner goddess wouldn’t be on Zoloft and my subconscious wouldn’t be taking shots of Tequila right now. But I’m determined to figure this out, and figure it out soon. And I hope you’ll come along with me for the ride. Who’s in?

Ten years ago in the newsroom of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky I met a man who wore a tie to work every day (even on Fridays and even though the newsroom was a casual workplace) and insisted that Keith Sweat was the greatest R&B singer to ever live. Needless to say, I thought he was weird. But soon this quirky guy became one of my best friends and eventually the love of my life.

It's quite fitting that my husband Edward and I met at a newspaper. We both have a love for words and so it's pretty poetic that, in a way, words brought us together. And words continue to be an important part of our relationship, not only because we maintain a blog together, but because good communication is what we believe is one of the essentials to building a healthy marriage.

Edward and I had the chance to share this relationship tip and several others in today's edition of The Birmingham News. We're very excited to be featured, even though this puts a lot of pressure of us to make this thing work. I mean, really, do you realize how much it will suck if we were to get a divorce after this?

Check out the article here and let me know what you think.

The Hubster and I at the 2012 Beautiful People Party*

With music, laughter and chatter pulsating through the air, I wander around the room searching for familiar faces and admiring chic outfits. I am surrounded by beautiful people.

Some of the guests at this party would be considered beautiful because of their gorgeous hair, flawless skin, or impeccable sense of style. Some have enviable figures, you know the kind that can get away with wearing those teeny tiny shorts that are so popular this time of the year. But tonight shouldn't be about any of that.

On this night, Thursday, June 7, Birmingham Magazine is hosting its annual Beautiful People Party to celebrate the two dozen residents selected to be featured in its annual Beautiful People issue. I'm here because my husband, Edward Bowser, was one of the people chosen this year.

My husband is the debonair fellow seated to the right. 

As you can see, my hubs is adorable and always dressed to impressed, but those things had little to do with why he was chosen. He and the others in the picture above were picked for their community service. Other people featured were selected for their creativity, entrepreneurship, or their love for the city. In other words, Birmingham Magazine understands the real meaning of beauty. A beautiful person is someone concerned about making the world around them a more beautiful place -- whether that's through art, business, or service.

As a writer all this thinking about how we define beauty led me to think about how we define art. What is real art? So much of the music, movies, and even books that are popular theses days are considered art by some but many would they're simply entertainment.

Does this mean art can't entertain? Of course not. I believe real art can entertain us, but I believe true art doesn't stop there. Just like the "Beautiful People" of Birmingham Magazine, true artists create music, paintings, films, works of literature, etc., that make the world a more beautiful place. And true artists do this by being inspiring. True art changes the people who encounter and understand it.

I want to create real art with my writing. Even here on this blog I want to craft each post so that you will leave this website not only feeling entertained and informed, also transformed, even if it is only in small, small way.

How do you define true beauty? How do you define real art?


*P.S. -- In case you were wondering, I got that awesome dress  for $19.99 from H&M!

GeorgiaMae.com: Keep Moving, Girls!

Happy Saturday, babes! I've decided to start posting some of my best content from my blog GeorgiaMae.com here at The Writeous Babe Project too. Check out this post on race and weight loss. 

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Image via Creative Commons

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that a recent study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that while exercise is a nearly sure way to prevent obesity in white adolescent girls, it does not have the same effect on African American girls.

From the L.A. Times:

The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that among black adolescent girls who moved the most at age 12, obesity at age 14 was nearly as likely as it was for those whose activity rates were far lower.

For white girls, by contrast, regular exercise at 12 appeared a nearly sure way to head off obesity at 14. That finding held, even when the calorie intakes of an African American youngster and her white counterpart were the same.

The article goes on to say that the study falls in line with research that finds black women oxidize fat more slowly in response to exercise, and that their resting metabolic rates are lower than those of white women.

These findings come in the midst of a national effort to fight the obesity epidemic in the United States and many of those efforts focus on black women. Four in five African American women are overweight or obese when measured by the body mass index, or BMI. Even First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign has had a strong focus on encouraging black girls to be more active since experts say the run-up in weight may begin in adolescence.

So with this new research should black women and girls just give up? Should we hang up our sneakers and head to the couch? Of course not!

In fact, Linda Bacon, an associate nutritionist with UC Davis who was interviewed for the L.A. Times article, has been very critical of the focus on things like weight, BMI, and percent body fat. She believes that people should be encouraged to exercise and eat right for the sake of good health, not a number on a scale. 

The focus on weight can discourage people from being active and eating a healthy diet if they’re not shedding pounds and can lead thin people who eat junk food all the time to think that they’re healthy. Bacon does not believe weight alone determines a person’s level of health.

In the March issue of Glamour magazine she was quoted saying that overweight people can lead long, disease-free lives. “If you eat a good diet and exercise” Bacon told Glamour, “you’re likely to be healthy, no matter what the scale says.”

About a year ago I made the decision to get rid of my scale. I had successfully shed some pounds I wanted to lose but along the way I had become obsessed with my weight, so much so that my sense of self-worth had become too tied to my size. So last summer I trashed my scale and decided to focus on overall fitness. 

That’s when I started training for a half-marathon, something I never thought I would do because even though I had always enjoyed things like dance aerobics classes I had always told myself I could never be a runner. But in February of this year I crossed the finish line of the Mercedes Benz Half-Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama donning a Black Girls Run t-shirt and track jacket. 

This summer I’m working to improve my strength, while still doing plenty of running, dancing, and cycling to maintain good cardiovascular health.

And the only time you will see me stepping on a scale is at a doctor’s office.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think that for some women weight loss is crucial. If you’ve been told by a doctor that you need to shed pounds because your weight is putting you at serious risk for life-threatening diseases, then by all means follow your doctor’s orders, but do so by making lifestyle changes, not with a crash diet. And don’t get discouraged from your efforts to exercise and eat right just because you can’t reach a magic number on a chart or wear a certain size dress or jeans.

So to all women, regardless of race, out there hitting the gym to lift weights, work that elliptical or dance at your favorite aerobics class, keep moving! To all women and girls pounding the pavement training for your first 5K, 10K, or half-marathon, keep running. With each step you are making your body healthier and stronger, even if it’s not getting smaller.