Oh wow, these are all great ideas, from the threads with the periodic shoutouts to the chat channel challenges.

Aak, have you tried some more antique treatises on surgery?  I think you're starting to get into a grotesque version of something that an anatomist might have done in days of yore, like putting a window into an animal's stomach or periodically surveying an internal wound heal through an incision.  For all I know, somebody really tried to see what happened to a (possibly four legged) body when a femoral artery or vein was isolated.

Hi, I'm Sihaya.  I haven't written anything professionally since over fifteen years ago when I was a human interest reporter for the local rag.  Then this spring I went to a talk and signing for Changes, and my head cracked open like an egg.  I'm not writing alot right now - the curse of the SAHM.  I hope to change that over the course of the summer.  I'm frightened that I'll suck.  I'm exhilerated that I'm trying (I've gotten to 400 words per day!  Woot!).  I've got this faintly familiar tickle in my lobes.  Can you get an adrenaline rush from sitting in front of a word processor?  Heheheheheh.  Oh God, I'm such a fool.

Thanks to Mister Butcher for turning me into one of the many dribbling idiots who think that they might have a snowball's chance in hell of writing for money.  Jerk.