Have you ever had an idea for a project sort of snowball on you?  The kind of project that starts out as replacing a fixture in a bathroom and ends up with a complete remodel.

How does it get from simple to complex? What do you do when you’ve already carved a hole out of the wall for a different set of upgrades all together? How do you wrestle your new space and all your ideas into something manageable? It can feel as overwhelming as herding cats.

That’s the sort of story behind this blog. 

The very first idea for the project was simple. I was going to gather up material about a female relative who served in WWII, digitize it – take pictures of old newspaper articles, transcribe letters, etc. – and share with other family members.  The rest is a series of ‘then’s’. 

• Then there was more material available than expected, enough to fill a book (which felt overwhelming).
• Then I ran across a poem written by my mother and stories of other women were brought up.
• Then I thought of all the stories about women who aren’t related to me that could be told – women who inspire, who forge new paths, who lead quiet lives of courage. 
• Then there’s all the fictional stories about women that help shape how our society thinks of women.
• Then, then, then…

So here I am, hoping this blog becomes the manageable.  

My goal is to start with a variety of posts that cover the broad themes I touched on above. The common thread will be that they are about women. So often our narratives are framed by the patriarchal nature of our society, and I’m thankful that has begun to change.  Does the internet need another blog about women’s stories?  I’m not sure about the internet, but I wanted a space to share. 

Looking to the future, my goal for this blog is to continue to share stories about women I find interesting. And, if this space resonates with others, perhaps it could become a place for others to share as well. 

For more on the genesis of this project, please see the tag blog inspirations.