When I first heard this obviously derogatory reference to women, it was unknown. It was years ago and “damned mob of scribbling women” was penciled into a margin of a long ago journal. At the time it wasn’t familiar, and naturally I was going to lift it out of its obscurity and hold it up for inspection by legions of scribbling women. I would write about it in a blog post and become famous. But I forgot to. Now, of course, every other blog and women’s writing workshop incorporates this phrase into its title.

It comes from Nathaniel Hawthorne in a letter to his publisher, William D. Ticknor, dated January 1855:

"America is now wholly given over to a damned mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash–and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed."

Ouch.

There are days, and you know it’s true, when the only person you want to be around is another woman. If she’s a writer, so much the better. (But if she’s a reader, that works, too.) If you find a whole bunch of women who write and read to hang out with, you’ve hit the jackpot. I am such a fortunate woman. 

Recently, I had one of those days where nothing I attempted succeeded. The to-do list sat unchecked. Each person I spoke to that morning was frustrating and vague. (Yes, I was making calls about health insurance and Internet issues.) All my plans to get other things done were dashed upon the rocks of bureaucracy. I just wanted to cry. But relief was in sight. I belong to a group of women who meet at each others' homes each Friday afternoon from November to April. The hostess of the week serves high tea and presents a paper that she’s researched and written, chosen from a theme decided upon the year before. The rest of us listen with rapt attention and the paper is typically interesting and thought-provoking. That day I sat with my friends and relaxed in the security that only being around women can bring. Although I whined to my carpool driver on the way over to the meeting, once there, I didn’t have to say a word. There’s an acceptance of each other, a welcoming in that brushes away the day’s irritations and allows one to be resuscitated. Sipping tea from a delicate china cup and nibbling on miniature cucumber sandwiches doesn’t hurt, either. It gives new meaning to the phrase, “Thank God It’s Friday.”

If you can’t slip on a skirt and be a member of a 125-year-old women’s literary society, don’t fret. The same sorority is available via technology (if you can get it to work). For example, the community of writers here at She Writes is like that. A place of acceptance and encouragement for women who write. Our numbers are growing; damned mobs of scribbling women are everywhere, and it’s exhilarating.

There are plenty of blogs within the She Writes community that are funny, insightful, practical, and experienced; let me introduce you, though, to a couple of “outsiders.” The following are blogs written by women I know and whose writing I’ve long admired. It is my pleasure to introduce you to them.

Sometimes, being one of a mob of damned scribbling women is welcome company indeed.

From Elizabeth Thomas, poet and educator: Still Writing
From Trudy Swenson, writer and volunteer: Words from the Stair
From Suzanne Wagner, photographer and minister: Orange Daily Photo
And an “actual” Scribbling Woman, May McGoldrick

Do you have a blog to introduce to us? Feel free to add it here.