Welcome to thoughty Thursday, your opportunity to kick your brain into gear n time for the weekend. What are you waiting for? Get your mental corn popping!
Welcome to week ten of 2023! Yes, I’m going to keep counting them. I hope you’re enjoying these #actuallyautistic, paganish author-in-progress check-ins.
This week, I drew The World card from the tarot. This card represents realization, triumph, closure, attainment, reward, and fulfillment. Seems an odd card to be pulling now, when I’m consciously uncoupling from my writing to focus on other things.
Maybe that’s the realization. That this pause/retreat/whatever is necessary, and that I will return with renewed fervour when the time comes. I can always hope.
In the Celtic oracle, I pulled The Lord of the Underworld. That’s Arawn. The card represents unpredictability, the cyclical ceding of power, and transformation.
Again, from the Mabinogion, Pwyll enters into an agreement with Arawn to exchange places for a year and fight Arawn’s enemy Hafgan (lord of another underworld kingdom). This battle can be thematically tied to the battle between the Holly and Oak kings at the solstices when they each cede to the other protection of the world for the coming six months.
Arawn, with his antlers and red-eared hounds, is also associated with the Wild Hunt and Herne the Hunter/Cerunos.
So, again, if I’m not misinterpreting, I’m ceding my power (writing) for a season (the 8-12 weeks it will take Phil to heal), and it will be transformative. Gonna try to channel that wild power and see where it takes me.
This week also saw the full worm moon, or the moon of the crusted snow (and boy, is it ever crusted!) in Virgo. Still struggling with sleep hygiene, though I’m generally getting to be by midnight, and I’ve managed 11:30, which is my goal bedtime once or twice. Yay, me! I added to that continued goal the gentle release of my guilt for not writing.
The week in writing
While the only tracked writing I did was on this blog, I did get a couple of projects organized.
I started working on my presentation for SF Canada and Canadian Authors on being The #ActuallyAutistic Author. It won’t be scheduled until sometime in June or July, so I have time. Not much progress yet, but the PowerPoint is started. I have a rough outline that I’m working from. This is something I can do in dribs and drabs.
I also grabbed a bunch of old blog posts and combined them in one document. I’ve been mulling a creative non-fiction/hybrid project (including some poetry) re-envisioning my creative life through the lens of my autism diagnosis. So far, it’s only been copy and paste (copypasta) work, but soon, I might shape it into something a little more robust.
I blogged 1,543 words for the week, and 2,660 words for the month so far.
Filling the well
TWUC held its monthly Ontario open mic night on Tuesday. I didn’t read, but I enjoyed the work of those who did. I may read at a future TWUC open mic. I need to start getting out there again. My debut poetry collection is just over a year from publication (April 2024!).
On Wednesday, SF Canada held its special general meeting (again). This time, we got quorum, and a fifth member of the board was acclaimed. W00t!
I signed up for a Susan DeFreitas webinar, “The Heart of Story,” through Jane Friedman and watched the replay. Excellent, as ever.
On Saturday, I attended a webinar on grant writing with Lindsay Zier-Vogel sponsored by The FOLD Academy. It was awesome. I’m going to be diving into the grant app trenches again shortly.
What I’m watching and reading
My brain is a sieve. Forgot that I’d watched The Shape of Water (Amazon) Saturday last week. It was lovely, every inch of it. I’ve been wanting to watch it for years.
This week, I watched a documentary. Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (Apple +). She’s lived a fascinating life. Beiber, leukemia (twice), and mental health struggles. It was inspiring to see that she addressed her issues with connection and good works.
I also finished the first season of The Winchesters (network). An interesting look at the origins of John and Mary Winchester and their hunting lives. Love Carlos and Lathika. The big bad of this alternate reality of the Supernatural universe was overpowered, though, and the finale was a little Dean x machina 🙂 but it was enjoyable.
I listened to a fun paranormal romance, Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper (Audible Originals). Light and tropey and a little explicit (for those who might object to such content). The audiobook is a relaxing listen, but it’s not well written …. For example, “I heard the squeak as the ghost silently loosened the screws on the chandelier.” Or the guy hit in the head by said chandelier, blood pooling as he bleeds out, having the wherewithal to speak coherently and throw an important piece of paper into a lit fireplace. I mean, have you ever tried tossing a bit of paper, even folded up, from a prone position? Physics will frustrate the effort. Despite that, it was about the speed of my brain this week, and I enjoyed it.
And that was the week in this writer’s life.
Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
Greetings, folks! Welcome to March and week nine of 2023 🙂
In the tarot, I drew the six of swords. This card represents journeys, experiences, forgiveness, and optimism. Well, I’m certainly on a journey and hoping for a better place to land in the future.
In the Celtic oracle, I drew the Son. This card represents Mabon. You may remember a few weeks ago, when I drew the Eagle, that Culhwch was tasked with finding Mabon and consulted the eagle on his journey.
Mabon is the eternal child and may mean recapturing my youthful joy and playfulness. It’s something I’ve said I want to do. Can I actually do it?
Something I’ve neglected to mention in past NCW posts was that I’ve been reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (finally). Healing and reconnecting with the artist within, who is a child, plays a big role in TAW.
The week in writing
Once again, it was a “catch as catch can” kind of week. And all I managed this week was blogging.
So, 1,550 words for the week, 6,815 total for February, and 1,117 for March.
I’m settling into the fact that this enforced break could be a good thing for me and my projects. I probably need some time and distance before I dive back in. Yes, I managed to cut a chunk of words a couple days last week, but if I keep exploiting opportunities like this, I may be courting burnout.
It’s one thing to write (or revise) at every opportunity when your life is otherwise uncomplicated. It’s another when you have full time job and caregiver responsibilities at home. I’m going to give myself a break and, hopefully dive back in with energy when the time comes.
It’s not that I’m not thinking about my projects or making notes or dreaming of other things I’d like to do. So, part of me is still very much dwelling in writerland 🙂
Filling the well
While I had nothing scheduled for the week, I finally watched the TWUC tax webinar replay. It will be more useful to me when I have a book (next year … it’s coming …).
And then, on a whim, I signed up for a webinar on writing Native American characters.
Other than that, I was focused on balancing work, caregiving, and self-care. My mother-in-law delivered about a week’s worth of meals from Smith’s. Phil and I enjoyed the fajitas Saturday evening.
I’ve decided that I’m going to stop being stubborn and proud and accept the help people are offering. It will make life easier in the coming weeks.
What I’m watching and reading
I watched the first season of Mayfair Witches (AMC). Honestly, I’m disappointed.
I missed the latest iteration of Interview with a Vampire and was kind of kicking myself, because I’d heard good things about it from various sources. Unfortunately, AMC now has its own streaming service and I’m not subscribing to anything else, nor am I prepared to binge anything (at this point) during a free trial period. So, I didn’t want to miss this next entry into the Immortal Universe storytelling world.
The story wasn’t bad, but Rowan always felt off to me. I’m not sure whether it was the actress or the script, but I just didn’t care about her. On reflection, it may be that the book had a lot of key interiority that the writers couldn’t figure out how to show in a visual format. There’s only so much you can put into dialogue and flashback and otherworldly visions. The rest has to be carried by the actress. Rowan looked continually frightened. Until she wasn’t. And then, I got whiplash from the uncharacteristic changes in the last couple of episodes.
In reading, I finished reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. And yes, I am doing morning pages … just not necessarily in the morning. It depends on the day and what I have to do. I find that I’m already doing or have done a lot of what she recommends.
I also finished Jordan Ifueko’s Raybearer. A girl, raised in isolation, is sent to become one of the crown prince’s council of eleven. But she is bound by her mother’s wish to kill the prince when he anoints her as one of his chosen. Early on, I’ll admit to being irritated with Tarisai, but the story held me long enough for the character to mature and for the story events to carry me through.
Finally, I read Charles Dickens’ The Signalman. It’s a short story (novelette?) and I’ve read it before. I just didn’t remember until I started reading it again 🙂 A solid ghost story about a spectral visitor who foretells train-related deaths.
And that was the week in this writer’s life.
Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
Greetings, my writerly friends, and welcome to week eight of 2023 🙂
This week, I again had a repeat pick, this time from the tarot: the king of wands. Just a reminder, then, that this card represents inspiration, charisma, and natural leadership. I chose to focus on the inspiration aspect of the card last time, largely because I don’t think I’m that charismatic, nor do I exhibit natural leadership.
This time around, I think I’ll focus on the imagery in the card, rather than the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck images that I’ve been sharing. The tarot deck I’m using is the Somnia Tarot by Nicholas Bruno. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful deck and I’d rather you check out his work for yourselves.
The card shows a figure draped in white cloth sitting in profile on an austere throne in the dark. The cloth flows out from the figure to cover the floor where a candelabrum, a fallen chandelier, and several candlesticks are lit. There are two more candles at the top of the throne and a sconce extends from the king’s covered face. In the king’s hands is a book and they read by their own light. Haunting image.
It speaks to me, though. I’m in a place where, though my mind is still brimming with ideas and I have the sincere desire to write, life circumstances leave no room for creative pursuits.
I’ll have to keep my candles lit until Phil’s recovered.
cock-eyed again …
The Celtic oracle card I drew was the Boar. Boars are fearsome beasts and Celtic legend is filled hunts for magical boars, and people being killed by boars (I believe Robert Baratheon’s death by boar in GoT was inspired by this tradition).
The sow is associated with the goddess Cerridwen, the Welsh goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration. Her cauldron, Awen, is one of poetic inspiration. She consumed her servant, Gwion Bach, and later birthed him as Taliesin. From the Mabinogion is Hen Wen, the oracular pig, who ate the beech nuts of the tree of wisdom.
Either way, the boar/sow represents power, something I’m in need of, right now.
Monday was the new rowan moon in Pisces. I spent some time on my intentions for the coming weeks. I want to focus on supporting Phil in his recovery and not stress about not being able to write. But … if the opportunity to write presents itself, I want to run with it.
The week in writing
As you might guess, not a lot of writing or revision happened this week. But I did manage to fit some in (!)
I received a kind rejection of one of my stories. Once again, feedback says it reads like the beginning of a longer story. It’s not, though. So, I’ll have to figure out how to tweak it into story shape. I has some ideas 🙂
Here’s how the week went.
On the 22nd and 23rd, I worked on Reality Bomb. I cut another 721 words, bringing the monthly total to -1,049, and the total to date to -1,681. It’s still a far cry from the 24k words I want to cut, but if I keep up in this vein, I should be able to make it 🙂
I also, on the 22nd, finished my freewritten outline for the remainder of Alice in Thunderland. Now I just have to go back and add in the bits and pieces the last four chapters plus epilogue require in my revision notes, and I should be good to go for the writing. If I can make the time.
I had thought that I’d already be writing the last part of Alice by now, but it wasn’t to be, so I eliminated my February writing goal for this project. We’ll see what March brings.
On the blog, I wrote 1,649 words for the week and 6,382 words for the month to date, exceeding my goal of 6,000 words. And there’s still one more tipsday before the month ends.
Filling the well
I didn’t have any writerly events to attend and tried to focus on reinforcing my reserves of energy, creative and otherwise.
I still haven’t watched the replay of the TWUC tax strategies webinar.
I’m just trying to take it easy and keep up with the household chores and errands.
What I’m watching and reading
In the viewing department, I finally finished The Rings of Power (Amazon). I see the criticisms levied against it (harfoots abandoning their people on the road, ill-timed cavalry charges, too obvious Gandalf tease), but I enjoyed it.
Then Phil and I finished season one of Lockwood and Co. (Netflix). An interesting and light YA horror series. A mysterious event in the past has turned the world (or at least the UK) into ghost central and only young people have the gifts to fight them. Most companies are headed by adults, but Lockwood and Co. is an independent, and Lucy, their newest recruit is a star who’s afraid to shine.
Then, I watched The Woman King (Crave). A-MA-zing! Viola Davis was robbed.
Moving on to the week in reading, I read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Loved! The human race (being the human race) is on the decline. Earth is uninhabitable and off-planet settlements are struggling. In a last-ditch effort to save humanity, several teams travel to candidate planets to terraform them to support the dwindling human race. One ambitious project is seeding new life in the form of chimps (they’re only called monkeys) and a nanovirus intended to bioengineer them into a better version of humans. Only something goes wrong, and the monkeys die, but the nanovirus makes it to the planet and finds the next most intelligent creatures it can. Spiders.
Don’t let that put you off. Tchaikovsky (brilliantly) makes spiders empathetic (!) even though he writes them in omniscient.
And that was the week in this writer’s life.
Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
It is time, once again, to get your mental corn popping (i.e., make weird mental connections that give you all kinds of great ideas for creative works)!
Always Looking Up 