Writing a Woman's Life

I'm starting to read a new book today, Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn G. Heilbrun. She writes that "Feminist ideology is another word for trying to understand in the life of a woman, the life of the mind [emphasis mine]" (p. 16).

Reading that sentence reminded me of a scene in A. S. Byatt's novel Still Life. Stephanie, Frederica's older sister who gave up a promising academic career to get married to an unconventional vicar, goes to the library to try to write. She spends the first half hour or so just trying to still the chaos in her head. She has to turn away from thoughts of chores, grocery lists, her children, etc. so that she may analyze a poem she was writing about before her life changed so drastically. She's just reached the point where she can begin to work when she realizes that her time is up. She only booked a babysitter for a couple of hours.