The whole idea of having a ‘brand’ has always kind of bothered me. It sounds so self-promotional, and it also feels potentially limiting. If I’m this then I can’t also be all that. Or so it seemed. But I’ve come to see that a true brand is just an accurate reflection of what a person cares about, what they want to offer the world. It, ideally, is who you are.
Weebles were (are) a toy made in the 1970’s, a weighted egg-shaped figure using the laws of physics to wobble but always come back upright, even if turned on their side or upside down.
THIS IS MY BRAND: Finding your way back upright.
This is what I loved about being a therapist, a psychology professor, a mentor. Helping people find their core and gradually weight it enough to be able to return to upright, over and over (because life knocks you sideways over and over).
And this is what I love about being a writer. And a reader.
When I’m reading a novel I will go on the deepest of trauma rides with a Weeble character because I know that character will not just entertain me (they have to do that too), they will bring me through wiser and stronger than ever by the end. Even better if they can do it with some humor along the way.
I have an insatiable appetite for books and series in which the main character is a Weeble (isn’t it the best to find a book you love and then discover it is part of a series??). S/he can live in Victorian times (Veronica Speedwell) or current New Jersey (Stephanie Plum) or 1970’s Laos (Dr. Siri). S/he can be young (Claudia Kincaid) or on the older side (Mrs. Pollifax). She can be a she (Kinsey Milhone) or a he (any Dick Francis main character). The commonality is that I feel like I am in capable hands, that this character may (hopefully will) drag me through the mud but will come upright, probably many times during the book. I want to be entertained while knowing I’m not going to be left stranded.
I have some Weebles in my real life too and it makes all the difference in life to have someone who you know will not let the wheels come off. No matter what. And we’ve been through some stuff with each other. People dying too young, divorces, kids losing their way. You can be a Weeble and then you can have your times where you lean on a Weeble. Sharing the hard stuff with a Weeble doesn’t mean you deny the hard stuff. It actually gives you the freedom to experience it all. You can allow yourself to hit the depths because you know while you are doing it your Weeble (inner or outer) won’t let you stay down there forever.
The world is filled with a thousand ways to numb, to avoid, because some of the emotions are just so hard. We all numb and avoid, to some extent. But like the quote goes, ‘the only way through is to go through’ and if you have a Weeble in your life, you can do it. Like Odysseus strapped to the mast so he could hear the Sirens’ songs. He knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to resist them himself, knew they’d take him down but he wanted the experience, he wanted to feel the feelings, so he gave himself over to his inner Weeble and instructed the crew to put wax in their ears and ignore his cries until they were well past danger.
Reading fiction (and, I would argue, even non-fiction) is first and foremost about being entertained. That is my biggest goal as a writer but I’m finding that the brand of entertainment I want to offer is of the Weeble variety.
A good author gives you the confidence to strap yourself to the mast and experience it all, knowing you’re going to get back to the real world safely. And on the way, gloriously, you got to hear the Sirens.
Postscript: My latest Weeble creation, Izzy Bishop, is in the last stage of editing. Keep an eye out for the first book in my Order Out of Chaos mystery series, in the hopefully not too distant future. If you want to be on the notification list let me know at my email address (or click below): lynn@lynnrankinesquer.com
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