A Writer and a Mother. I Must Be Crazy

 
I keep on my bulletin board two newspaper headlines to remind me that I just 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."

Wow...with odds like that, it's a wonder that 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 gail 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.