Eyes Wide Open

I think I can safely say that that wee devil, Procrastination, has been kicked out of my house…ah, but the act of speaking those words might have jinxed me and invited him back in. No, I’m not having it. He’s gone. I’m working, dieting, writing and organising…and keeping the flat kind-of tidy, finding homes for stuff that has been camping where it should never have been.

There are two books switching between front and back burners: Learning to Read the Tarot, and Tarot Tales - fact/fantasy/spiritual and definitely fiction…each of them holding at least 20k words, at the moment. I had a burst of inspiration the other night that will help re-shape and structure Learning to Read the Tarot so it could be ready for publication on Amazon by the summer.

Tarot tales is an exploration in using tarot cards to create characters and their stories, some of which will be linked and you will see names and places intertwine, star in each other’s sidelines, backgrounds and gossip. There are other projects underway so I can’t make any estimate about when this one will be finished…the fact that I am at it, tidying files and writing/mashing work together/at all is a constant surprise, but it’s all looking good - even to the state of my blogging!

Reading is a big time-spinner for me; I don’t watch TV but have been kidnapped by audio books and often return to the same old stories again and again - this is a habit that is being shattered as I type, even. This year, I will read more of my paper books, more kindle and close my ears - eyes are the windows to the soul, not the ears.

DAILY CARD DRAW 4

5.12.10

The Queen of Masks

A beautiful woman walking in a cold moonlit cemetery with winter trees behind her and a frosty mist. She’s wearing a long black dress with long pointed lace sleeves, her red hair blowing back from her movements. The arms of two stone crosses part as she walks between them. She’s holding a mask in her right hand and looking down, lost in dreams; her left arm is held out and perhaps swinging as she walks. I feel her melancholy and boredom emanating from this card; wands should be energetic and inspiring but this is deadly cold instead of the warmth I’d expect. This comes as I am snowed-in. I went out today and wished I didn’t have to go… and don’t plan on going anywhere until Monday morning.

She wears a pentacle pendant and her mask is sharp and devilish which seems completely opposite to her character. Perhaps she isn’t happy in her situation and is forced to play the game. So what does that mean to me? That it’s possible to walk through a freezing cemetery in a flimsy dress and not feel it because your mind is elsewhere thinking of warmer times? Is my mind where it ought to be? No – because I’ve found this forum and can’t keep away from it long enough to get back to my WIP (I’m supposed to be researching and delving deeper into tarot) and begin the re-write. This is making me think about my main character and that perhaps she should be more melancholy, in her lesser-manic moments…and maybe I’ll give her a pentacle pendant and a golden devil mask on a stick.

The Queen of Masks is a woman who is spiritually aware, honourable, warm, loving and practical – me in other words. This woman would not rise to her best form in such an environment and so would naturally look back at what she considers her best times. I match this to how I’ve neglected the plans for my new flat (I moved in two years ago!) and live in a dusty stack of books and art materials, sneezing for all I’m worth, with barely a picture on the walls yet. So, if I’m going to be snowed-in this weekend maybe I should make some headway. Hmmm.

Oh, I totally forgot the question I was asking as I shuffled and chose my card – as it happens it was about the WIP. ‘Will it be successful?’ so, even though I forgot I asked the question I ended up thinking about it and working on the character, a little.

- back to the future

No, I haven't finished THAT wip yet...and can't really remember which one it was! Though I leap from one WIP to another, I'm not abandoning them, just laying them away while I play with a new toy - and I don't throw my toys out of the pram and break them. Novels always do better with time for gestation.