We Need to Talk

By Kathleen Bradean

In the entire history of humans, when has that comment ever been followed by good news? It makes your stomach sink and your mind scurry to awful, uncomfortable places such as inexplicable guiltland and panic-attackatania.

And yet, when Lisabet mentioned that we needed to talk about the future of Oh Get A Grip and pointed out what she saw as some of the problems, I think the rest of us sighed with relief that someone finally said something. It's not as if we chat a lot behind the scenes on a regular basis. Most of us are busy writing, some of us edit, and all of have these real lives that can get a bit needy from time to time, so I think we let things slide in the hope that things would improve magically on their own. We could all see the issues, but no one wanted to be the one who said We Need to Talk.

But like most conversations that should happen, this one turned out great. We came together and hashed it out fairly quickly and now we'll see how the changes work.

My favorite part has to be the topics we tossed into the hat for random draws in the future. No more panicking Saturday night as I realize I haven't posted a topic. We're going to know well in advance. I like the discipline of sitting down each week and having to write (because lord knows some months this post is all I manage to write, but at least it's something) but twice a month is much easier on my schedule especially now that I've been lured back into that massive time-suck we writers like to call 'the first draft of a novel.'

As I've mentioned many times before, my father was in the military. I went to seven schools in eleven years (not counting the four universities I attended) and by the time I was thirty-four years old I'd lived at twenty-two different addresses. (twenty-three was the charm. I've been here forever). So change doesn't scare me much. Sometimes a fresh start is the perfect cure for what ails your spirit. And if you don't have to pack your entire life into boxes or find out what's lurking under your clothes washer to do it, all the better! But my real hope is that these changes make life easier for some of the other Grippers who have had unwelcome news recently or are under attack by real life, because I'd really miss reading their contributions.