Welcome to The WIP

Sixteen years ago, I started my first blog and called it Blabbermouse. For nearly a decade, I wrote about motherhood, work, wine, men who whistle (at work), good books, bad housekeeping techniques, the perils of long-distance running, the peculiar sadness of school lunches, and my irrational fear of coffins, among (many) other things. That blog helped me land a humor column with a (now shuttered) women's magazine and led, indirectly, to a highly entertaining side hustle as a ghostwriter.

I wrote for fun so I could write for a living. And now that I write for a living, I've started to miss just writing for fun. I thought about bringing Blabbermouse back, but as my husband wisely said,"Blabbermouse was before the war." And he's right. A lot has changed since then. In the world. And in my world. Just for starters, I no longer drink wine or run long distances. And I'm slightly less afraid of coffins, though I personally do not wish to be "laid to rest" in one. It's a coffin! There is literally no way I could rest knowing I'm locked inside a coffin. Toss me in the fire and let me burn. My spirit wants to be free.

Our boys are in high school now. They have jobs. One of them is licensed to operate an automobile. It's madness. The teenage years have been colorful, often crazy, but not nearly the bleak apocalyptic hellscape people warned me about. Of course there's still time.

I understand that blogs do better when they have a theme. I'm supposed to pick a lane, find my audience, and pump out content that is useful and engaging to my niche, so they keep coming back for more. This is what I advise my clients to do, and it's what I've been advising myself to do as I've pondered my re-entry into the blogosphere. On darker days, I thought about calling my blog Mandy Misandry or You're All Fucking Ridiculous. I thought about starting a blog called the Bibliovore, where I just recommend books at you. I thought about framing every post as a rule to live by (Amandatories!). But it all felt a bit too cute and entirely too restrictive. (My! Spirit! Wants! To Be! Free!)

Despite a 25-year career that would suggest otherwise, marketing is not everything, and everything does not have to be marketing. There's nothing wrong with having a personal brand, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that human beings are not products. We aren't just allowed to change--we're supposed to. And we don't have to wait until we're perfectly packaged with all the kinks worked out to put ourselves out there. We can show up with our shirts on inside and out and give each other grace to do the same. That's why I'm calling this blog The WIP, for Work in Progress. It feels snappy and fun to me, but not soft. Like a place that can be silly or serious, depending on the moment. These are not soft times we're living in, but if you're willing to look, it's not hard to find the beauty.