Weekend Visits & Thoughts on the BSC
I spent the weekend with my good friends Tarah and Charlie—it was a wonderful time, whittled away with shopping and Doctor Who and flowers and bees.
And The Baby-sitters Club. Charlie is eight and absolutely nutty about the BSC, as I was around her age.
Charlie and I chatted about our favorite characters. These days, I’m fonder of Claudia—such fabulous style—but back in the day, Mallory was my favorite. She was gawky, like I was, with braces and glasses and big hair, and she wanted to be an author. Hey, I did too!
Charlie’s not so into Mallory, though. It’s not because Mallory is geeky. It’s because she complains. “She thinks she’s so ugly and her life is so horrible!” Yeah, that’s a pretty accurate assessment. But she’s better than Kristy, I said. Kristy’s so bossy.
No, no, Charlie insisted. Kristy’s not bossy. She’s just a really good babysitter who cares about her job.
Hmm.
This conversation resonated perhaps a bit more than discussion of Ann M. Martin books with an eight-year-old should. It’s been an emotionally intense autumn, what with all the highs and lows of the writerly life that I’ve recently gone through. And I have to admit, I’ve sometimes given in to my kvetchier instincts. No, that’s not quite right. I’ve wallowed, even when I had no reason to. I’ve been a Mallory.
When really, my life is really pretty great. I’m just a writer who cares about my job, and I need to let myself enjoy that, too. I need to be a Kristy. A happy, proud, irrepressible girl.
(Okay, maybe I need to be a little bit of a Charlie, too.)
Phoebe
Phoebe is a 20-something writer who lives in New York State with her husband and cat. She is a dork, not a geek or a nerd.
Her debut novel, Starglass, will be released from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers in Summer 2013.
2 comments
Such a sweet post, Phoebe <3
The Young Reader has read it and thinks your post is very true.
<3 Hugs to both of you ladies! And thank you so much for the wonderful visit.