I’m not a jealous writer. I firmly believe that there are some themes and ideas that just bubble up out of some sort of Jungian subconscious pool of humanity, and they happen at the same time to brainpans all over the world. I suppose the metaphysical or psychological exploration of WHY it happens would be interesting if I had that kind of study time, but at the moment I’m pressed a little by multiple projects, punctuated by chemo-driven forced pauses.
Project 1: BANSHEE
The book is progressing slowly but surely. One of the suckiest side effects of the Red Devil (that’d be doxorubicin for you non-breast-cancer-chemo folk) for ME is a weird swelling and pain in hands and feet. For 3-5 days after the chemo is out of my system, I hobble like I’ve been on my feet in ballet flats on concrete for a few 12 hour days in a row. The muscles in my feet scream, and there’s not a damn thing to fix it. Unfortunately, the same ache lives in my right hand, which as it turns out makes typing or handwriting incredibly hard (sadly I’m not ambidextrous, and I’m jealous of all of you who are). So instead of full writing, I’ve moved the book forward by researching fun things like Selkies and scuba diving and Leviathan (as described in the Bible), with short notes editing/adjusting the overall outline. I definitely haven’t been bored: some of those ships on Superior are going to come to an unpleasant end.
Project 2: THE PROPOSAL
I discovered a gap in the market for a non-fiction piece. You know that whole idea that if you can’t find the story you want it’s up to you to write it? It’s applicable in this case, so I’ve started the preliminary work on a book proposal. This is completely new territory for me, so it’s going pretty slow (and again, was hindered some by the bad-hand-typing issue), but it’s going. I have a few weeks left on my disability leave and HOPEFULLY I won’t need to be off during my next 12 weeks of chemo treatments. The Red Devil is over, and supposedly the weekly treatments aren’t nearly as harsh, so once I’m back at work my limited spring free time will be a strict schedule of physical cancer recovery to-dos and writing to-dos. I apologize in advance for my limited availability.
Project 3: THE WRITING PROMPT
This is where the not-jealous writer comes in: I fully support others’ creative writing and am constantly amazed at how a simple prompt can have such varied results. So, today I give you the following question to ponder, as it was asked of me by one of my favorite brainpans: What about werehumans, who turn from their normal lives in animal form to human for the 3 days of the full moon?
If you write something about it, feel free to link back in the comments: I’d love to see which path you took. I am working on a little flash piece for it as well.
No Pithy Phrase 
I believe in shared conscious. So those ideas gain weight when multiple people focus on them!
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