Name it?
My editor called me this week about my new VITAL Source blog. She wanted to know two things. The first: “Are you going to have your first blog entry in on time?”I stammered. “Um. Define ‘on time.’”
“Very funny. The new website goes live at midnight on Wednesday, November 1. On time would be before that.”
Oh. My. Okay – time to blog. “Yes, I’ll have it to you.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off. In addition to mothering three school-age children and being a homebirth midwife, I returned to school full time this fall to finish that English degree I started back in 1991. I had projects and papers due, and just wasn’t sure when I would get it done.
Unfortunately, I didn’t fare much better on her second question. “What are you going to call it?”
“Call what?” I asked innocently.
“Your VITAL blog.”
“Call it? Like a name?”
“Yes, like a name. For your blog. For the new website. Do you read your emails?”
I didn’t really need to answer that question since I was clearly perplexed by this entire conversation. “I assumed it would have the same name as my column?” This last sentence sounded more like a question which, in honesty, is what it was.
She waited on the other end of the phone while I figured out that I needed to come up with a title for my blog. “Okay, I’ll come up with something during Sociology and call you back.”
As I got off the phone, I was filled with dread. I’m not good at naming things. My cat’s name is Kitty because I just couldn’t come up with anything better. I kept thinking that I’d give her a real name eventually, but seeing as how she’s 13 years old now, it seems unlikely. It took days to name each of my children, though I had been preparing for it for nine months each time. I sank into my seat in class and started thinking.
I was just getting in my car to leave Alverno and pull the three o’clock, white-knuckle, Hail-Mary drive back to Tosa to pick my kids up from school when my cell rang again.
“Got a title for me?”
My editor is good because she’s persistent.
“Yes! I do! I have one.”
“Give it to me.”
“Oh Mama! A slightly crunchy blog.”
She waited for a minute to see if I was joking. I waited a little long to indicate that I wasn’t.
“Okay then.” I could hear her writing it down. I think I could also hear her shaking her head in disbelief at my decided lack of ability in naming anything. But maybe I’m projecting.
“I told you I wasn’t good at this…”
She assured me that it was fine and we talked about a few other things before we ended the call.
Despite the fact that I was obviously unprepared for the launch of the new site and our new blogs, I am very excited about all of it. At this point, I plan to write about my kids and family, midwifery and other birth stuff, the trials and tribulations of being a college student again, and lots of activism stuff. Some of the entries may be short, just a few lines. Others, no doubt, will be so long that you all will get eye-strain trying to finish one up before bed.
Thanks for checking in with for this first entry. Looking forward to blogging again. Soon!
Posted by ltomaszek on 11/02 at 07:17 AM