My head got dangerously near exploding point today. The big conversation of the moment is all about the new VAT regulations for supply of digital products in EU members states. As I’m thinking about launching some digital products, this will affect me, and I really needed to spend some time understanding the implications and deciding what steps to take to support my business.

It was such an odd experience. As I got more and more into the detail, I felt one side of my body being pulled right down. The other side of my body was trying to pull the “VAT side” back up! I felt all out of balance – and I felt all sorts of anxieties and feelings come up too as I waded through all the regulations.

That’s when the insight came. Right now, some stuff is going on behind the scenes that is quite challenging for me. The VAT stuff just adds to the pile of stuff. But that pile, and those feelings, cause something very brilliant to happen in me.

The pile of stuff I’m talking about is unspeakable stuff. If I were to attach words to that stuff, the words would be so sharp that they’d cut the life out of me on the way out. And when stuff becomes unspeakable for me, something very special happens : a new story gets born.

This was the same for the genesis of The Faerie Thorn : unspeakable stuff got spoken in a way that soothed rather than cut (okay, there was some pretty painful cutting in there – if you remember the bone-ghost scene – but the telling of the tale soothed.)

Today, as I felt one side of me try to pull the other side of me back into line, something inside me moved. It was a new story. I recognised its tickle immediately. And a word came straight to mind : merrow.

A merrow is the Irish word for a mermaid. You can find out about merrows here . I spent my lunchbreak researching merrows and was particularly captivated by the contrast between mermaids and mermen (mermen are not “lookers” at all!) I think my story hook has caught something 😛 .

To help the creative juices flow, I read some short stories from The Kingdom Under The Sea & Other Stories. My body soon came back into line – and I felt completely soothed by the experience.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT