My connector flight from Denver - after the fantastic first class - tried to give me an aneurism from the air pressure.
Not pleasant.
Note to self: ask Dad if air pressure is different in first class.
Thursday was devoted to recuperating.
Friday saw the completion of this week's homework and the true start of some terrifying writing projects.
The last time a writing project scared me while I worked on it, the final product cause a grown man to cry twice:
- when he was reading it; and,
- when he talked to me about it more than a month later.
- The Chanticleer of Civitas, the narrative voice in this story is so stylized and particular I just about pee myself whenever I work on it; and,
- The Stories We Tell, inspired by the Visitation stories of the Blessed Virgin (including those not included in the Bible) and the various retellings of what happened to great-great-grandmother who immigrated here from Poland.
I really want to use my family's real name because it's beautiful and the book is just as much about our name as it is the Virgin Mother and my great-great-grandmother.
Plus, I'm not sticking to one story as fact.
I don't know the facts.
The truth is that God wanted a baby born and got it done.
The facts can never be known.
We do not need facts except to acknowledge that at some point they played a part and the important ones became part of the story.
Russian folktales may also play a part since my family appears to be from the part of Poland that was under Russian control during the Partitions of 1798-1915 when Poland no longer technically existed.
I'm hoping this book will make more accessible the impact of the Virgin Birth at the time it happened.
Today, unwed mothers are not such a big deal and - thanks to technology - nobody has to "settle" for adopting.
These two facts annoy me and have intrigued me for a long time.
Spoiler alert: the various forms of motherhood create an underlying, if not overt, theme connecting all my writing.
I'll let you know how it goes.
To start, being Polish is awesome.
Like Gonzo, I have a name to rival any cheese.