Gals with Gumption

Everyone loves a good heroine. I can tick my favorites off without thinking about it: Elizabeth Bennet, Ella in Ella Enchanted, Becky Jack, Dashti, Eliza DooLittle, Katharina from Taming of the Shrew. There's one thing that ties all these ladies together, and its name is gumption.

If you've ever seen the movie The Holiday, there's a certain scene where Eli Wallach describes his late wife to Kate Winslet. "She has gumption," he says. Later in the film, Kate Winslet bursts out to Rufus Sewell, "I don't know, but I think what I've got is something slightly resembling....GUMPTION!"

That line, that phrase, is just so perfect and tender and lovely. I think people love seeing a heroine (or a hero) with a rumpled, wild, human, daring spirit, because they can see themselves in her. That's me, they think. That could be me. That doesn't mean a female superhero, conquering the world (even though that could be awesome). They love to see a character who's vulnerable and uncertain and real, but who forges her way through her story just because she's got....gumption.

I've got the song 'Gumption' from The Holiday on each playlist I listen to while I write, whether it's for Hearthsinger, TDS or Kaleva. It's a little nudge, a little reminder to me for myself, but also for the character I'm writing.

Because it's really, really fun, to write about a gal with gumption.