Today Red Rose Thorns published my essay “How I Became My Own Dudley Do-Right.” The editors were wonderful to work with, and I’m glad that my essay spoke to them.
I hear writers say that if a story keeps hounding you, you need to write about it. And so I kept trying to write this essay, but it took me a long time to get it right. I would start to write it, but when I read it, it always fell flat. Then one day I decided to write my essay as a letter, and it clicked.
Trigger warning: This story is about a guy who pulled my tube top down in public, leaving me exposed in front of our group of friends. It’s also the story of me becoming my own hero!
To read my essay, click here: “How I Became My Own Dudley Do-Right”
Writing Near the Lake 
Look at the face of the face of that wise writer-woman. It is a heroine’s.
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You and I are about the same age and I remember those tube tops. Those boys/men who thought they were so funny yanking down clothing that was easy to remove. They had no idea the marks they left. Well-written piece.
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Yes, and they wouldn’t like it happening to their sister, wife, girlfriend, daugher.
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Very well written.NaomiSent from my iPhone
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Thank you!
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I wonder if his friends told him to get over having orange juice dumped on him. After all, girls will be girls.
Good for you for standing up for yourself.
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Thanks!
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This just burns me. And I’ll bet that Rich guy still has zero clues he did anything wrong. Sadly, toxic masculinity is still alive and well and living in our politics.
xo,
A post-menopausal woman who loves her grandchildren but does a lot more with her life than “babysit” them
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Yeah, didn’t you just love the comment about what post-menopausal women are for. Ugh. I tell my grandkids about my writing and my writing successes and my writing struggles. I don’t harp on it, but I let them know I might be a grandma, but I’m still a person. And when I need to get some writing done, I set the timer in the kitchen and tell them that no one is allowed to interrupt me unless it’s an emergency.
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Congratulations on getting this essay published and so well written. Some topics take a bit longer to figure out, but the desire to do it wins. A meaningful piece. Thank you!
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Thank you, Sally.
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Great story Vickie! Your decision to use a letter format was an excellent one. A topic that as a society we’re still struggling with today. You wonder what has become of that guy, I think he became the president of some country, but I can’t seem to recall which 😉.
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Thanks, Janice.
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