Writing While Female Or: No Boys Allowed?

Who run the world? Girls (girls)

Who run the world? Girls (girls)

-Beyoncé Knowles

To preface this post, let me tell you a little about my home life: My family is made up of four large men, my husband and my three sons (ages 17, 20, and 23). And I have a boy dog. My apartment is buzzing with male energy and male smells. Boxers fill the laundry baskets and oversized Nikes are all over the floor. The toilet could be cleaner. What I’m saying is that it’s a man’s world over here, and it’s odd at times being the lone female in the household.

Publishing a book has come with many surprises, and one of the most interesting has been that I work with only women. That is a fact. There are no men involved in my professional life as a writer. Here’s my team:

My literary agent: female

My editor/publisher: female

My editor’s assistant: female

The head of Atria: female

My marketing person: female

My publicist: female

My freelance editor: female

My PR person: female

As someone who chose to go to an all-women’s college, I am as happy as can be that my job takes place in a world filled with smart, talented, creative, supportive women. It’s refreshing and certainly unusual. At no other job in my life have I worked exclusively with women. I love it.

My writing world extends beyond these professionals in the industry, of course. There is The Debutante Ball – which is, of course, all women. And I am part of a wonderful writing group that welcomes men, but the core group happens to be all female. And the online bookish community (like Reading with Robin and Great Thoughts, Great Readers) that serves to connect writers with their readers? Run by women, of course!

And I have my WWOWW sessions, which I mentioned in a previous post (read it here.) What is WWOWW? It’s an essential part of my writing life: Wine With Other Women Writers, and it’s important because it’s my support network. To get together with other women writers to talk, share ideas and news, vent, and — best of all — laugh. What would I do without that??

Are boys allowed in my writing world? Sure, if they behave well. I get loads of support from my husband, my sons, and my dad as well. Even my dog supports me. But at this moment in time, I am working in a women’s world and appreciating every part of it.

And yes, I’m a feminist.

Author: Amy Poeppel

Amy Poeppel grew up in Dallas, Texas and left the south to attend Wellesley College. Since then, she has worked as an actor, a high school English teacher, and most recently as the Assistant Director of Admissions at a school in New York City. Her three fabulous boys are all off in Boston attending school, and she and her husband now split their time between New York and Frankfurt, Germany. A theatrical version of SMALL ADMISSIONS was workshopped at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit. She later expanded it into her first novel.