Do you think it would be fun to be a celebrity? Think again!
NaTasha Shastan Bertrand tells it like it is in
"The Price of Celebrity"

OUTRAGEOUS!

Art by Jim Lee copyright 1999
Color by Laura Depuy
Courtesy Sequential Tart Magazine -- comics, anime, manga and more; all from a women's point of view, but for ALL fans!

We are the women who are always in trouble. We have been in trouble all our lives, and we always will be in trouble because we are unable or unwilling to conform.

We stay in hot water precisely because of our best qualities: intelligence, original thinking, willingness to take risks, scepticism, rebelliousness, independence, and creativity. We have trouble with authority of any kind. We fail the expectations of parents, schools, spouses, children, and the society. Much of the trouble we get into is because we can't help pointing out that the emperor is naked. (If you are not familiar with this story by Hans Christian Anderson, you can read it here. When you finish reading the story, simple close the window to come back here.

If we are lucky enough to have the right parents and/or mentors, we become artists, activists, writers, stunt pilots, actors, entrepreneurs, musicians, and adventurers. If we have lousy parents and we are unlucky in our experiences, we believe the feedback we get about ourselves from people who are threatened by our originality, and we become outcasts, alcoholics, street hookers, addicts, or tight-assed tyrants.

But that can be changed. And one of the purposes of this Web site is for those of us who have been lucky to give support and encouragement to those of us who have not been lucky. It's also a place to have fun and make new friends -- friends who share common experiences and who can understand your misfit self!

If you would like to be notified as features are added, send us an e-mail with "updates" in subject line. You don't have to write a message (unless you want to). That's all there is to it. You will receive an e-mail every time this page changes. See below for how to address an email to us.

Coming! The Misfit Women Discussion Group -- anything you want to talk about, any time of day or night.

This web site is the brainchild of me, Toni McConnel, quintessential misfit. I was hitch-hiking and riding freights at the age of 15, couldn't hold a job, and eventually ended up in prison. It was a long rough ride from there to becoming the winner of two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the author (as Patricia McConnel) of two books, with many short stories in literary anthologies. (You can read my bio on this site.)

Now, at 74, I am still at War With The World, but mostly on my own terms, and I am comfortable with - and even proud of - my nonconformity, since I don't think much of a great many of commonly accepted ideas. But it took a long long time to reach a place where I didn't feel uneasy with who I am, mainly because I had virtually no support or encouragement during the roughest periods of my life. That's why I started this Web site -- to offer a place where women who are always in trouble for the very things that may be their best qualities can find the support and encouragement I didn't get.

Welcome.
New! If you read only one novel this year, it should be Small Rocks Rising by Susan Lang. Its heroine is the quintessential misfit woman. Click on title to read a review by Toni McConnel.

 

 

You are invited to help make this site whatever you want it to be.

In addition to the features listed above, here's what we have planned:

  • A message board where members can exchange experiences and ideas.
  • Membership privileges that will include use of "MisfitWomen.org" as your e-mail address. Your mail sent here will be redirected to your regular e-mail address.
  • Links to pages of interest to our members.
  • Not sure if you're a "misfit"? Take a Misfit Qualification Test (just for fun).

Revised Guidelines for Submissions:

Send us your ideas and query us about what you would like to contribute. Be sure to read all the following guidelines before submitting. An important thing to bear in mind is that a principle purpose of this site is to present positive images of misfit women and provide support and inspiration for finding constructive solutions.

The most important guideline is this: Your best chance of getting published here is if you read everything on the site so that you have a good idea of what we are looking for and then write a piece specifically for us. Before you do a lot of work, however, send us a query that describes your idea in detail.

Sorry, we can't pay anything because we don't make any money off this site. We hope you'll think it's worth it just to help define the site, have fun, and make new friends. You will retain all rights to publish your work elsewhere, including on the Web. Previously published material is OK too, if it fits our theme.

This is an anything-goes site -- don't hesitate to send us a wild idea. We may turn it down if it doesn't fit the philosophy of the Misfit Women site, but we won't turn it down because it's wild. Write to us.

Here's how to send us an email. Copy the following line to the address line in your email:

Submissions MisfitWomen.org

Then insert the @ symbol after Whoever and be sure to delete the space. Why do it this way? Because spam bots harvest email addresses from web pages by looking for the @ symbol.