Some of you may have read Anna Clark's fascinating piece in Bitch's last issue on women writers and ambition: "The Ambition Condition: Women, Writing, and the Problem of Success." In it, she looks at the broad and historical landscape of women writing, right up to our present struggles with blog visibility, the gap in op-ed bylines etc. Clark writes:

There's no simple gender indicator for the weird fusion of insecurity and ambition, of the feigned nonchalance and quiet competitiveness that's common in writers of all sorts. But these traits are complicated by the cultural caricatures of ambitious women and the uneven historical patterns that have dictated whose talent is rewarded and whose isn't.

Well, Clark's article had an impact on one wonderful young writer I know; Ms. Martha Polk, decided to out her blog on film in response to the feelings engendered by reading the piece. Martha writes:

For all of her young life, What Is This Light has been a secret blog or at least a semi-secret blog. A couple days ago I read Anna Clark's Bitch Magazine article, "The Ambition Condition: Women, Writing, and the Problem of Success" and it proved at once cathartic and terrifying. Clark says things I already know much too well but couldn't quite articulate...And so, I'm going public. I don't expect much to change around here, but I've mustered enough gumption to really take on this mental paradigm shift.

Check out her newly out and proud blog, What Is This Light, here. And give her some love so she stays in the light.

Thanks to Anna for inspiring women to cure their own ambition conditions.