The Cinderella motif has been a constant, enduring favorite throughout human history, and nearly every culture has it’s indigenous version of it.

That’s hardly a surprise –

Who hasn’t at one time or another felt singled out for punishment or cruelty for its own sake? Who hasn’t, at least once, craved the ultimate make-over and a chance to show the whole of the world how mistaken it had been about them?

Sherry Thomas gave a guest review at Dear Author of Bettie Sharpe’s Ember [which I have read and might comment -- most favorably -- upon later], a wickedly delightful take on ‘Cinderella’, to which Laura Vivanco of Teach Me Tonight then referenced in her post Beyond the Fairytale, wherein she’d included a link to an essay by Eloisa James,…

… all which reminded me that some years back I’d begun [and abandoned in the pursuit of other more pressing activities] my own retelling of ‘Cinderella‘.

Thus prompted, I’ve dug it out and read over my long-hand scrawlings [on ruled notebook paper, ragged edges of ripped out pages all grabbing at each other like velcro]. The layout of the story is pretty solid — after all, it’s another Cinderella. And I can readily see — now – how I’d resorted to embedding a lot of visual symbolism,… but then, I’m a Jungian at heart.

It’ll be a massive challenge to make my ‘Cinderella’ significantly different and memorable from all the others [yikes! how's that for a metaphor?], to keep it from screaming out like another poorly rendered Mary-Sue,…

My Muse is now nudging me to complete it — like I don’t already have enough irons in the fire. Sheesh.