Like Ya

Earlier today, I attended an online webinar on Jewish-American writers in a #MeToo era. (Their description. Not mine.) Philip Roth was a hot topic. To be clear: The conversation was not so much focusing on Roth but rather writer Blake Bailey, the author of Roth’s recent biography. On the eve of publication, Bailey’s personal history of allegations of sexual misconduct resulted in a “disappearing” (again, their description) of the biography.

The paragraph above is a long and winding road gateway to wondering about women authors. Are we “disappeared” in a similar fashion? Do our personal lives get in the way of our work? You don’t have to answer. I am just thinking out loud.

An editor once wrote my writing “was like ya Philip Roth.” It took me hours to bask in the glow of this curious “compliment” or what I thought was a compliment. What editor says “like ya”? Sounds like a phrase straight out of an Archie comic book.

And then. Eureka! The lightbulb went off! I was not a “like ya” anything. He meant I was “like Young Adult” (“ya”) Philip Roth.

Oh my g-d. So it was….Goodbye, Columbus and Hello, Capital Letters!

I have no plans to disappear. Ever.

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