Women of Success

This entire things about barely being any women writers that we like triggered an interesting conversation on women. PattyZen was saying, what is it? Is it because the give birth to children instead of books? I guess. I mean, partially I think that's the case. And what's with this obsession with gay writers?? (As we're there, let me just sidetrack a second: Alice Munro was abandoned after one and a half short story, unbearable!, while I found a great, great writer in Ann-Marie Mac Donald. I'm reading Fall on your Knees and I'm loving it! Apparently, Ann-Marie is gay. This is getting to be a joke!!)

Anyway, I think it's wrong to use the same meter of judgment with men and women. We consider a man successful when he's got a career, a pile of money, a nice house, nice car, pretty wife and well-behaved children. We consider a woman successful by the same parameters, although they try to sell you the family-only portion of it. Let's try to set some more realistic parameters, okay? I consider a woman successful when she does something she loves. Whatever that is, she does it with passion and dedication, without loosing sight of the things that are really important for her. I don't consider successful a woman who gives up her family to pile a bunch of money, nor if she gives up outside life to make her children the universe. I consider a woman successful when she manages to do both, or either, and she's happy about it. And maybe she's not making a lot of money, and maybe her children could use more discipline, but hell, I consider successful a woman who manages to put HERSELF at the center of the universe. Who has the courage to realize that without making herself happy, she won't be able to make anyone else happy. And if that's through work, passion, volunteering, or even raising children, I don't care. A successful woman is she who finds for herself something she adores to do, and does it for herself and for others.

What defines success in your world? What defines failure? What do you think?