I keep on my bulletin board two newspaper headlines to remind me that I might be a few bubbles off plumb. The Milwaukee Journal (March 30, 1987) boldly states, "15-year study of writers finds high rate of mental illness," while the Toronto Star (August 16, 1986) announces, "Researcher probes ties between insanity and being a mother."
With odds like that, it's a wonder I get anything done without burning down the house or dancing naked in the front yard on a full moon with a colander on my head.
Do I hear voices in my head? Sure I do...it's called writing dialog. Do I get anxious and tear my hair? Sure...it's from having a pair of risk-taking, independent children who insist on doing insane things of their own (for example sailing a 22ft sailboat across the Great Lakes in September and surviving gale force winds in the Straits of Mackinaw or hitching a ride on a shipping boat from Sardinia to Barcelona to surprise a friend.) But hey, books get written, children grow up, and so far nobody has gotten the ax.
Photo: Joan Crawford in Straight Jacket.
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....
