Years ago, I decided to write a book about women living or working in all-female groups. So I wrote a proposal and found an agent, who sold it to a publisher. Then I spent a year researching and spending time with assorted women's groups, including the ladies' pro golf tour, students at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, and some doughty temperance activists in Evanston, Illinois. At the end of that year and after months of negotiation, I received permission to attend basic training with the Women's Army Corps at Fort McClellan, Alabama.