My projects just explode on me, all the freaking time

And by "explode" I mean that they get bigger, and bigger, and bigger...

So I've got this little project on the side, right?

I think "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if there were a PDF that gave writers tools and building blocks to create religions and mythological cycles out of? It could be fifty pages long. Maybe even as long as sixty pages!"

It would do things like tell you that religions with multiple death deities tend to arrange them into a bureaucracy, and when you have a set of divine twins one of them is exceptional in a way that the other is not (is magical, is the progenitor of the race, etc).

Now the only thing that's going to keep it from qualifying as a small textbook on comparative mythology is the lack of footnotes, and it'll also be able to serve as a passable introduction to Jungian psychology and certain varieties of anthropology and archaeology. I have 500 pages of notes to collate and then there's going to be the follow-up research, the collation that will be necessary after that, and then final polishing.

I plan to have this done by the end of January. Here's hoping I can manage it.

It's going to have appendices. Appendices. One of them is going to be so big that I'm going to spin it into its own (hopefully smaller) book.

Here are a couple of sample entries as they stand right now.

Occulting demons are responsible for eclipses, generally by devouring the celestial body in question. This is only temporary, unless it causes the end of the world. There are often two of them, each responsible for either solar or lunar eclipses. Examples include Apep (Egyptian) and Rahu and Ketu (Hindu). Skoll and Hati (Norse) are foretold to be examples when they eat the sun and the moon at Ragnarok. See MISSING SUN.

White horses are significant in mythology. They may be associated with solar chariots or heroes (especially end of time saviors) and/or be related to fertility (regardless of sex). Both white and grey horses may qualify as “white horses” in this context. They often have multiple heads or limbs. They may have bear warning of danger or tragedy. As the hero’s steed it has a ceremonial status and represents triumph over negative forces. It is often born from the sea or other liquid (such as blood or milk), from a lightning bolt, or in some other fantastic manner.