Confessions of an almost tall girl

by Joelle Charbonneau

They tell me that admitting you have a problem is the first step in solving it.  So here goes.  I’m mostly tall.  Yes, I’ve said it.  At 5’ 10”, I’m a mostly tall person.  Not freakishly tall, but tall enough to make me stand out in a crowd. (Especially with the red hair.)  Not statuesque enough to shop in tall girl store, but too altitudinous to shop in the average section of a store. 

Yep…I have a problem.

All my life being mostly tall has been kind of a mixed bag.  Had I been two inches taller I would have been recruited by basketball scouts or NYC modeling agencies.  Two inches shorter would allow me to wear heels without feeling silly and would have made it easier to get cast in shows.  (Do you know how many average or short actors there are out there?  Trust me, more than you’d think!) 

As a mostly tall person I’ve found that people assume I know what I’m talking about even when I haven’t a clue.  I’ve also discovered that mostly tall women are not allowed to be shy.  Whenever I stand in a corner feeling awkward or intimidated, people think I’m being snobbish.  Weird, right?

Since being tall has been such a strange experience for me, I suppose it shouldn’t come to a surprise to anyone that my heroines Rebecca Robbins (Skating On The Edge) and Paige Marshall (Murder For Choir) are both shorter than me.  They get to wear high heels without dwarfing their dates.  At times they manage to blend into the background and they never have to worry about the inseam of their jeans not fitting. 

People often say that writers should write what they know.  Well, mostly I do.  My mother was a World Champion Artistic Roller Skater so I guess it isn’t a surprise that I have plunked Rebecca Robbins smack in the middle of a roller rink.  And my professional opera and musical theater training comes in very hand as Paige Marshall solves murders while looking for her big break.  But writing also gives an author the chance to explore things they only dreamed of.  And trust me, I’ve dreamed of being all the adjectives that come with being less than mostly tall.

So today I confess: I am a mostly tall person.  And while I might wish that I could be tall enough to dunk a basketball or short enough to blend into the background when I’m feeling particularly shy, I understand that I can’t change what I am.  I’ll just have to content myself with living vicariously through the fictional characters I write.

How about you?  What confessions do you have to share and how do you deal with things about your life that you can’t change?  If this writing thing doesn’t work out for me, I’m going to need all the help I can get!

Joelle Charbonneau has performed in a variety of opera and musical theatre productions across Chicagoland.  She now teaches private voice lessons and uses her stage experience to create compelling characters in her books.  She is the author of two mystery series:  The Rebecca Robbins mysteries (Minotaur Books) and the Glee Club mysteries (Berkley).  Joelle is also the author of The Testing young adult trilogy that will debut with THE TESTING from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s in June of 2013.  Learn more at www.joellecharbonneau.com

 

Comments

[Elaine Viets]

Welcome to the Femmes, Joelle. I think I'm mostly as tall as you. But if you hang around with petite people, you won't be mostly tall -- you'll be truly tall.

[Mary]

Hi, Joelle - Oh what I would give for Mostly Tall. :)

What fun books. And congrats on the new YA series. Does it have paranormal elements? Or Sci-Fi?

[Donna Andrews]

I always wanted to be Really Tall. Five foot twelve, as my friend Tracey used to call herself. Or petite, like my friend Twyla. Alas, I have always had to settle for In Between.

Looking forward to the YA!

[Joelle Charbonneau]

Hi Mary! The YA is a sci-fi series. It is completely different from my other series, which I admit makes me more than a little nervous. I hope people like it.

[Neliza Drew]

You and I are the same height. I have not let that keep me out of heels. You might need a taller posse.
;-)

[Sarah]

After hating my six-foot height for-pretty-much-ever, I read this quote in the Washington Post from 6'1" olympic gold medalist swimmer Missy Franklin: "I am so blessed. I have height, the big feet, the big hands; I think all of that has helped me so much.”

And then I cried a little bit for the teenager I was who never had a reason to like being tall, with big feet. Because it really is a blessing if you find a way to use it :)

[Deb Romano]

I think height is all in the mind. For the first eleven or twelve years of my life I was a good head taller than most of the girls at school and many of the boys. In sixth grade I was 5'5". And that is approximately when I stopped growing. I didn't stop thinking of myself as tall, though, until I was around fifty, even though by then I was down to 5'4", am shorter than most of my friends, and have been buying clothes in the petite department for years! One of my grandmothers was under five feet. She used to make a big deal about us "being almost as tall as I am", so of course we thought we were tall when we surpassed her in height! (I AM getting a little nervous,though, because a couple of friends who are clearly taller than I am tell me that they are 5'4". What does that make ME?I may need to rethink my whole self-image!)

[Kris Neri]

Welcome to the Femmes, Joelle. At 5'5" I guess I'm average, although I often buy petite pants, so maybe I'm shrinking. Many years ago when I first met my in-laws, who were small people, I not only felt tall, I felt as big and bulky as a linebacker by comparison, although looking back, I must have been fairly slender. It's funny, and probably sad, how uncomfortable many of us are with our physical forms. I like to think I've come to feel pretty comfortable in my skin now, but it took a while.

[Skipper Hammond]

Nice introduction to yourself on Femmes Fatales, Joelle. A unique way to reveal something about what makes you tick.
All my life I've had dreams about growing taller in my sleep. If I bump my head against the headboard or kick the footboard, I incorporate that into my dream. Or sometimes I stretch in my sleep and know I'll be taller when I wake.