Image by Steve Snodgrass via Flickr/Creative Commons

Reset. I entered February with plans of blogging each weekday about regional and national feminist issues. Just one week into the month I've already realized that goal was a bit too lofty. So today I reset and revamp my plans. Beginning Feb. 11 I will post new content each Monday, Wednesday and Friday and my focus will be writing, wellness, and women's empowerment.

Rejoice. At first I felt a bit discouraged when I forced myself to accept that I can't blog as often as I had hoped. But when I began to think about why I can't blog daily, I wanted to do a little happy dance. OK, maybe I did do a little happy dance. I don't have time to blog daily because so many wonderful things are happening right now -- I'm the new race and diversity blogger for my city's NPR station, I'm freelancing for USA Today and several other publications, and See Jane Write is growing like crazy. Furthermore, I want to start guest blogging more to help get the word out about this little site of mine. Thus, my decision to blog less is not one that saddens me because the fact that I need to scale back is just proof that my prayers are being answered and my cup runneth over.

Do you need to change your plans for your blog? What should you be celebrating today?

Image by Stephen Barnett via Flickr/Creative Commons

"I think I'm in love with my radio

Cause it never lets me down

And I fall in love with my stereo

Whenever I hear that sound"

- "Radio" by Beyonce

When I was a teenager I believed no one could love me like my radio.

It was always there for me. I listened to the radio while getting ready for and riding to school each morning. My radio made evening homework sessions go by faster and every night my radio sang me to sleep.

I still have fond memories of calling my favorite DJ to request my favorite song and then waiting by the radio with a blank cassette in the tape deck so I could record the highly anticipated track.

R&B ballads by the likes of Mariah Carey gave me fuel for all the sad, angst-filled love poems I wrote  back then. And the anthems sang by girl groups like TLC stirred within me a sense of self-pride that would eventually blossom into my feminism.

Then one day everything changed. Radio and I grew apart.

I could try to blame it all on mainstream music.  I could say rap music became too sexist and senseless and that pop and R&B became too trite. But, truthfully, I'm the one who changed. My favorite artists became folks like Ani DiFranco, musicians who don't get mainstream radio airplay.  And club bangers started to give me a headache.

So I turned off my radio.

Enter WBHM, Birmingham's NPR station.

I admit that in the past I was never a huge NPR fan because I felt the radio was supposed to be a source of escape and entertainment. As I grew older I started tuning in to NPR for updates on major news events, but was still far from a loyal listener.

But when I moved back to my hometown of Birmingham I decided to give WBHM a chance. I quickly got hooked on station's programming and was impressed by events like Issues & Ales.

Radio and I began to rekindle the flame.

I am a fan of good music for the same reason that I am a writer -- I love stories. And WBHM is always telling me an intriguing tale whether it's about life for children in Palestine or the story of a gay man being reunited with his siblings after being cast out the family by his ultra conservative father. Just yesterday I learned about the evolution of hand dryers and last week I began my day listening to an inspiring interview with Sonia Sotomayor.

I've become one of those people who are almost late for work because they're sitting in the parking lot in their cars enraptured by an NPR feature report. Every weekend I look forward to listening to the word game Says You.

But what about music? Well, if it weren't for WBHM I would have never learned about the artist Kendra Morris, whose album Banshee was one of my favorite releases of 2012.

Now WBHM and I are taking our relationship to a new level. We're really making things official. I've signed on to be a Race & Diversity blogger for the station's website. You can check out my debut post here.

And I leave you with this...

image via

When I came out as a feminist I felt I had an entire city celebrating with me. 

I use the phrase "came out" in an attempt to reflect the gravity of a Christian gal from Birmingham, Alabama identifying as a feminist. Many of the churches I've attended in the Deep South consider feminists to be women whose hobbies include witchcraft, killing babies, and emasculating men. Thus, calling myself a feminist is pretty big deal. 

I kind of cheated. I came out as a feminist in a column I wrote for a paper not in Birmingham, but in Louisville -- a Kentucky city that isn't quite sure if it's Midwestern or Southern. The paper was also mostly read by residents in their 20s and 30s. When the column was published my email inbox was flooded with messages from other women who shared my beliefs. The owner of a local boutique cut out the article, taped it to one of the walls of her store and wrote above it: "We love Javacia." 

The purpose of the article was not only to announce that I was a feminist, but also to dispel the myth that feminism is about emasculating men. But looking back, I wish I could change the headline. It read: "Excuse me, sir, but feminism has nothing to do with you."

And now I know that simply isn't true. 

I was young when I wrote that -- only 25 or 26 years old -- and I had only identified as feminist for a couple of years. So I hadn't read much contemporary feminist writing and thus I hadn't realized how much men are hurt by sexism too.

Gender stereotypes tell men they shouldn't show emotions. Gender stereotypes tell dads they're dumb and that if they decide to stay home with their children they aren't real men. 

And recently a man in Florida was told that he couldn't take his wife's last name, essentially, because men don't do that. 

According to a Reuters news report, Lazaro Sopena opted to change his name after his 2011 marriage to Hanh Dinh to help keep her family's name alive. He obtained a new passport and Social Security card and changed his bank account and credit cards before applying to update his drivers license. Following the same steps required of a woman who take her husband's last name, Dinh presented his marriage certificate to his local DMV and paid a small fee to get a new driver's license. 

But then a year later Dinh received a letter from Florida's DMV last December accusing him of "obtaining a driving license by fraud," and informing him that his license would be suspended at the end of the month. 

Dinh is fighting the DMV on the decision but was told that to change his name legally he has to go to court first and go through a process that takes several months and has a $400 filing fee. 

When he explained he was changing his name due to marriage, he was told "that only works for women." 

Only nine states enable a man to change his name upon marriage: California, New York, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, Iowa, Georgia and North Dakota.

Apparently, it's OK for women to change their names after marriage because they're considered an extension of their husbands. 

Right. 

And the fact that there may be men (and women) reading about this story and thinking that it's absurd for a man to take his wife's name is just more proof that the feminist movement is still needed for both women and men alike.   

Image by Mike Licht via Flickr/Creative Commons

Exactly a year ago today Salon published an article by Autumn Whitefield-Madrano that made me want to leap from the sofa and start clapping. The article is titled "In Defense of Ladyblogs" and is in response to a piece by Molly Fischer that was quite critical of such sites.

A ladyblog is a website that is, obviously, written for women, by women. These sites not only discuss traditional women's issues but give them signature treatment . They're often considered an alternative to (and sometimes even a watchdog of) women's glossy publications as they tackle serious and controversial topics that many mainstream magazines tend to avoid and cover these topics with a distinct voice.

Fischer, in her article, argues that as these ladyblogs become more popular they also become more trite as they make room for too much fluff and lose the focus on the serious content found in other alternative women's media, such as explicitly feminist spaces. She believes many of these sites have gone sort or even absurd over time. Fischer says that essentially ladyblogs have become an adult online slumber party. “The Internet, it turned out, was a place to make people like you: the world’s biggest slumber party, and the best place to trade tokens of slumber party intimacy—makeup tips, girl crushes, endless inside jokes,” Fischer writes. 

But Whitefield-Madrano argues that these virtual sleepovers are a good thing and I completely agree.

Whitefield-Madrano believes that ladyblogs can and often do foster sisterhood and reminds us that oftentimes friendships are forged in the fluff.

Think about your best friend. Sure, you've cried together while talking about your dysfunctional family, your failed relationships, and your broken dreams. Perhaps you've even gone through a serious health crisis together. But you've also shared clothes and makeup tips, confessed crushes to each other, and sat side-by-side while watching ridiculous movies.

Furthermore, some of the explicitly feminist blogs, even those that I love, can feel alienating. As a feminist who is also a woman of faith, I sometimes wonder if my religious beliefs would be ridiculed.  Also, as Whitefield-Madrano says, "if explicitly feminist blogs are the only acceptable online outlet for feminists to inhabit, we’d get exhausted mighty quickly." 

This is partly why I've struggled with the idea of really working to establish myself as a feminist blogger in the first place. The idea of constantly writing about gender equality made feel like I needed a nap. 

I'm not implying that ladyblogs are perfect or above reproach. I've read plenty of articles on the ladyblogs mentioned in Fischer's piece that have caused me to strain my eye-rolling muscles. And in a follow-up piece Fischer brings up a great point about the notion of sisterhood stating that "second-wave sisterhood was always suspect, especially to the many women it ignored: women who weren't white, women who weren't straight, women who weren't comfortably bourgeois."

But this is exactly why I believe (and have even been told by my feminist friends) that I need to continue work on my blog. My goal is to create a blog that is feminist and fun, insightful and inclusive.

So today, on the anniversary of the publication of Whitefield-Madrano's piece, I am here to declare that The Writeous Babe Project is a ladyblog.

This means you can expect plenty of discussions about feminism and gender equality issues. You can also expect posts about writing, not only because I'm a writer, but because I see writing as a feminist act. But sometimes I may also post a picture of what I wore to a party, my workout regimen for the week, or my latest girl crush. And I want you to share the same in the comments, on my Facebook page, and with me via Twitter.

I'm throwing an online slumber party here and you are all invited.

Image by Gary Stevens via Flickr/Creative Commons

I should be a blogging superstar.

I should have enough sponsors and unique monthly visitors to quit my day job if I wanted to. I should be speaking at blogging conferences across the country. I should have a book deal and a monthly column in my favorite magazine.

But I don't.

I'm not saying I should have these things because I think I'm so awesome that everyone in the blogosphere should love me. I'm saying I've been blogging, in some capacity or another, for over five years and I've read every piece of blogging advice I could get my eyes on along the way.

I'm also good at picking out blogs with great potential. For example, I wrote about Julie Zeilinger when she first started  The F-Bomb, a blog and online community created by and for teenage girls who care about women's rights. Her blog is wildly popular and landed her a book deal. Her book about the next generation of feminism,  “A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not A Dirty Word,” was published by Seal Press in the spring of 2012. She's even been a guest on the show of one of my girl crushes Melissa Harris-Perry. Also last year I wrote about Around the Way Curls. They were recently featured Essence magazine and were recognized as one of  the Black Bloggers You Should Know for 2012 by The Root. 

So if I have a wealth of web wisdom stored away in notebooks and an eye for good blogs, why haven't I achieved the success I dream of? That's easy: I don't practice what I preach. Through the years, I haven't been following the very blogging advice I often offer on my own sites.

Here are the top five blogging tips I've failed to follow:

• Find a niche. The biggest blogging mistake I've made in the past is trying to be everything to everybody. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the more focused your blog is the more likely you are to attract a large and loyal following. Thus, being Feb. 1 this blog will be focused on writing, wellness, and women's empowerment. 

• Take risks. Along the same lines of trying to be everything to everybody, I've also wasted a lot of time trying to get people to like me. I've worried about writing things that would offend people or cause people to criticize me. This is stupid. Bill Cosby once said, “I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Amen. Furthermore, I have found that my posts that are the most controversial are the ones that garner the most hits. So I'm putting my big girl panties on and I'm going to strive to really establish myself as a feminist blogger.

• Be consistent. I am bad about going through phases of blogging like crazy and posting every day and then getting busy with life and abandoning my blog for a week or even longer. One of the things I appreciate most about one of my favorite writing blogs is the blogger's consistency. It's also important to be consistent regarding the type of content you publish and your writing voice. Beginning Feb. 1, I'll be posting new content each weekday. If this becomes too tough I'll let you know and begin to post three days a week -- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

• Don't be afraid to self-promote. While I, of course appreciate an occasional "atta-girl" I am utterly embarrassed by any grand gestures of recognition that come my way. Last year when I was recognized as one of the top 10 "Smart Women" of Birmingham for my work with See Jane Write I thought I was going to vomit when I went on stage to accept my award. Don't get me wrong; I certainly appreciated the recognition and it gave me the encouragement I needed to keep growing See Jane Write. But when someone at my school found out about it and emailed an announcement to the entire faculty I nearly peed my pants. But this has to end. The only way I'm going to get the word out about my blog and about See Jane Write is to promote, promote, promote. So in 2013 I plan to be a total media whore. You've been warned.

• Keep pushing. I get bored easily. If I'm working on a project that isn't progressing as quickly as I had hoped, I drop it. The only way to grow a blog is to actually, well, grow it. It takes commitment and hard work and being mature enough not to run off for something shiny and new. It's time for this Writeous Babe to grow up.

Birmingham writers, mark your calendars for Sat., Feb. 2. Next Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the annual Local Authors Expo will be held at the Central branch of the Birmingham Public Library. Up to 100 authors, many from the Birmingham area, will be on site to not only sell and autograph their books, but to discuss their writing process as well.

"One of the main missions of the library is to connect authors and readers and this event does exactly that,” said Jared Millet, the Authors Expo organizer and library department head of acquisitions. “It gives authors an opportunity to promote themselves to the public. If you are a self-published author, it's hard to get into brick and mortar stores. You have to use events like this to get your name out there.'' 

Whether you’re interested in cooking, sports, or fishing, or you’re looking for an inspirational book or just a great novel, the 2013 Authors Expo will have something for you.

As the city commemorates the 50th anniversary of Birmingham's civil rights movement this year, there will also be a special section of civil rights authors. At 1 p.m. Carolyn Maull McKinstry, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing survivor and author of the book While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age During the Civil Rights Movement, will talk about Birmingham's civil rights movement, the bombing and her life.

This event isn’t just for people who like to read a good book, but also for those looking to write one.

"If you are thinking of writing a book, you need to be at the Birmingham Public Library on Feb. 2,'' said Chanda Temple, director of public relations for the Birmingham Public Library.

At 10:30 a.m. Millet, who is also a published author, will hold a workshop on how to breathe life into your writing. Furthermore, writers will have the opportunity to network with other authors and potential fans.

"A lot of times, writers or beginner writers wonder how an author got his or her book published or how they make their story flow in a certain manner. This expo will give writers a chance to talk to authors, many of them self-published, to find out how they did it,” Temple said. “It's all about making connections, gaining inspiration and building support. We hope this expo will spark networking opportunities for everyone and continue to build the literary community.”

For more information about this event visit http://www.bplonline.org/programs/LocalAuthors/.

Cross-posted at the See Jane Write blog.  

If nothing else can motivate me to lose weight and get back in shape, I'm sure money and the threat of public humiliation will.

And so I've signed up for Scale Back Alabama. This annual statewide weight-loss contest is in its seventh year, but this is my first time to participate. Participants are to be in teams of four. If each member of your team has lost at least 10 pounds at the end of the 10-week contest, your team is entered in a drawing to win cash prizes. The top prize is $1,000 per team member!

Show me the money!

On Saturday my team and I weighed in Medical Weight Loss Solutions and then I went for an hour-long jog as soon as I left. I'm determined to shed at least 10 pounds because I don't want to be the jerk who made her teammates miss out on $1,000!

When I posted on Facebook that I had just signed up for Scale Back Alabama my cousin/BFF replied with this comment: "Javacia, you have no weight to lose."

I get this comment a lot when I mention I want to drop pounds. But I know something they don't: the number that stares back at me when I step on the scale. Most people would have a hard time guessing my weight by looking at me. The last time I was weighed at the doctor the nurse in charge looked at the number and exclaimed: "Well, that can't be right! You're so little." My response: "Well, apparently not."

There was a time when I didn't care about my weight or my BMI. In the past I've always been pretty muscular and since I know muscle weighs more than fat, I didn't give the number on the scale a second thought. Plus, I wore a size 4 or 6.

Those days are long gone. Most of that muscle has morphed to fat and I now wear a size 10 or 12.

Now, I'm not all depressed and rocking back and forth in a dark room over this. I know my weight and my dress size don't measure my worth as a woman. And I know my husband doesn't find me any less attractive. (In fact, he seems to be excited that I've gained weight. Southern men like 'em thick.) But my BMI has me on edge because it tells me I'm officially "overweight" which means I could be at risk for more health complications.

This is the part of the post when I do something I've never done before and share my weight with all my readers. I won't even tell my husband how much I weigh when he asks, so this is a big deal.

That's what I weighed yesterday afternoon and thus my BMI is around 29. The scale at the weigh-in center put me at 168 pounds. I doubt I lost half a pound in 24 hours, but just in case I did I'll be going for another hour-log jog today.

And let's hope that in 10 weeks I'll be 10 pounds lighter and $1,000 richer!