I’m happy to report that I’m writing every day and my creativity is on fire! However, that was also the problem… I know some of you would say I was complaining over a blessing and I just might have been. Still, I’m a firm believer that too much of anything can be detrimental to everything. So here’s my dilemma. I’m doing a rewrite of some chapters in my third novel and the ideas of how to in better my story are flowing, but I didn’t plan for these changes. That means if I chose to continue down this particular rabbit hole, I have no idea how much more research and time it could take me to finish. Did I mention I’m already past my projected finish date for this project?

Yeah, thank goodness I kept that date off of my website and social media platforms and stored it only in my head. Umm, how about we all forget I even mentioned a date…

Anyway, I guess the real question I have for myself is: Is it best to keep to the plan or should I just keep writing intuitively?

I had a talk with myself and asked me just that. Don’t worry I didn’t start talking out loud to my inner Tyler Durden or anything, I kept it all in my head. I know that’s only marginally better, but hey, remember we’re in a no judgment zone.

However, maybe my inner Tyler is in need of a conversation or two. I mean, I wouldn't want to be neglectful.

Anywho, I did ask myself what my characters would want and how they would act through my new material. Yes, they were already written in, but I really needed to figure out if this alternate scenario rang true and added to the characters’ organic cores.

My draft read-through was the moment of truth. I had mixed feelings for either outcome. On one hand, if the material didn’t fit, I would have to erase all my hours, okay days, worth of work and figure out how it all went wrong. On the other hand, if the new ideas stuck their landing, I would be coaxed into the unknown without a safety net. Both of those options sucked and would cost me time. However, I didn’t even have to finish reading. I had my answer.

I can honestly say my characters are having a ball, running havoc straight into the unknown. I know I’ll have to reign them in soon enough, but for now they have the floor. I feel they’re opening up and becoming more than I had ever thought possible. My gut feeling is that their growth will enrich my story’s world as a whole. Who cares if this third installment resembles more of a tome than a novel, right?

I’m just joking… Hopefully.

Wow, this blog entry was a little short. You don’t mind if my history nerd girl has a short spin in the writer’s chair, do you? Well, too late, she’s already getting revved up.

Last time I wrote on the Akkadian/Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna. If you missed the post, please scroll down and click on the pictured link or here to read: --->History Nerd Girl's Homage to an Ancient of the Ancients...

Anywho, I just thought I would quickly share a tidbit of what Enheduanna believed her patron goddess Inanna’s attributes were.

The Sumerian goddess, Inanna, was known as one of the most important of deities and the most important goddess in the Mesopotamian pantheon. I have mentioned Inanna in my quiz, History Nerd Girl's Quiz: Who's myth is it anyway? <---Click there to test your knowledge!

Inanna was also one of the most widely recognized deities in the ancient Sumerian pantheon. She was primarily known as the goddess of sexual love but is equally prominent as the goddess of warfare. Inanna’s astral aspect is the planet Venus (considered the morning and the evening star). It showcased the Sumerians belief in Inanna’s duality. Inanna was also a goddess of many names, but most the known variation to her title was held in Akkadian and Babylonian cultures where they called her Ishtar.

Did you know that Inanna literally means "Lady of the heavens"? “Lady” in this usage is the same word they used for Queen. Did you also know that Inanna or a deity spawned in her likeness was written about in the bible? Here are a few examples.

Jeremiah 7:18

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Jeremiah 44:17

But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

Jeremiah 44:18

But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

Jeremiah 44:19

And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

Jeremiah 44:25

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.

Tsk, tsk. Even the Israelites participated in pouring out a little something for the goddess homie. Sorry, bad joke. Anyway, Inanna’s role in the bible was of a worshipped false idol that angered the one true God. However, you would be surprised by how many religious ideas have twisted, turned, and somehow become part of other religions. Yes, even your religion…

Just like another biblical tale that many know of, Noah’s ark. Or should we call it Utnapishtim’s ark since his Sumerian great flood story actually predates the bible, but they have remarkable similarities to each other.