I was expecting the third good news on writing and it happened. My article, “Keeping Fowl Company” was featured in the March 7 issue of www.Laughingtrapezezine.com (click on Elaine’s Refrains, then click on featured-articles-page-1 in the side bar. Website closed. Click on www.maryterzian.com, published articles). It is about a memorable trip from Goma to Leopoldville, in 1965, when I was about to leave my assignment in the Congo for good. I was the only passenger on a DC-3 flight, with vegetable crates, mail bundles and three dozen live chicks, each dozen tied together by their feet. For five hours they screamed their heads off. The experience was so overwhelming, and so funny in retrospect, that it had to be recorded for posterity.   

When an article is accepted euphoria grabs me. I get a high dose of adrenaline that sends creativity bubbles to my head. If I can’t come up with a fresh idea I visit my database for lackluster stories that could be sparked up for publication. My writing urges nail me down to facing the screen, overrule all scheduled tasks and force me to focus on my brainchild. Those lucid flashes of wisdom, not hot flashes, are like pre-natal pains at birth. They have to be attended to, stat!

Since I am naturally disposed to writing, published articles are a good incentive for me, but distractions pull me away. Mudslides in California, earthquakes in Haiti and Christchurch, a triple earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown disaster in Japan, and other global unrest dampen my soaring spirits. Will people survive? Will life ever become normal for them? Will California be next on the queue? When is the next tsunami? Earthquake preparedness crosses my mind, no matter how preoccupied I am. I seek the garage opener instinctively, instead of the keyboard, to check out my earthquake kit. Of course, I would rather be writing but then sound minds dwell in healthy bodies. The preservation of life becomes priority.

Peace, where art thou?