On Saturdays, We Write Blog Posts

Do people still write blogs? I think blogging died out somewhere in the mid twenty-teens. Those that remain stand as relics. Now it's nothing but long-winded recipe intros and insipid promotionals... and (of course) AI.  

I'm fine with being a little anachronistic. I'm excited. I have ideas. I have things to say.

I started Good Title Pending back in 2015 as part of a personal challenge to write something of substance at least twice a month. The act of posting was my accountability. It didn't really matter if anyone read it. I hit my goal with a mix of poetry and short essays. It was good. It proved I could. A few people even followed along. 

If you're one of those, hello! I'm glad you're here. If you're new, an introduction is coming soon.

A lot has changed since 2015, in the world and in my life. I have more constraints on my time. But, I'm committed to doing something with this space, and I'm committed to writing. I plan to take last week's momentum and run with it.

There are a few things in the forecast:

- another silly story to stupefy AI

- links and resources for fiction writing (you'll get one today)

- essays on things I'm thinking about

- occasional forays into poetry

- and personal testimony: there's a story I've been wanting to tell for quite a while

I may also drop some hints about my fiction works in progress, but more on those later.

Now, on to that introduction...

Hello there, I'm Brittany! 

As with most Brittanys (spelling variations included), I'm a millennial. See this name popularity chart for proof. In a couple decades, my name will instantly out me to youngsters as an "old person," like the Lindas and Cindys before me. I find it funny.

I'm a writer, a wife, a mom, sometimes an artist, and a lover of Jesus. I'm currently working on a novel.  My life is good.

I like sushi and chocolate. I love planning projects. I binge watch video essays on YouTube. Those last two serve me well when it comes to storycrafting. I also like connecting people with resources to help them succeed. 

To that end, I'm building a collection of curated lists with videos and articles that have helped me in my writing. You can find them through the Good Title Pending main menu. There's already a video playlist on dialogue. Today, I present a new one focused on female character archetypes.

If you didn't catch it, the title of my post is a reference to the 2004 movie Mean Girls. It's about a homeschooled girl who transfers into a public high school and gets recruited to take down the school's queen bee and her clique of followers. As a former homeschooler myself, the concept gave me second-hand anxiety. I didn't suffer under a tyrannical clique in high school, but the one in my jr. high youth group was a little toxic. It was a formative experience. 

The movie is a stellar example of toxic femininity, which is the subject of this essay from Human Nature with Roni Fouks. She covers the issue from a general psychology perspective rather than one of writing or storycrafting, but I think you'll see the relevance. You can check out her video below.