Tag: authors

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 23

Continuing to send all good thoughts to those in Florida recovering from Ian, including an artist I know through social media who can’t get back to her home, in a city where the extent of the destruction isn’t yet known.

It’s been a while since I did a Tarot Thursday because I finished sharing all my various decks. However, you may recall that I have a couple of books from Adam J. Kurtz that I’ve featured on here before.

I knew that in 2018, Adam used a Kickstarter campaign to create a simple, fun Tarot deck using his unique approach to art and illustration, but I was trying NOT to get more decks, so I never ordered it. In September, Penguin reissued the OK Tarot: the Simple Deck for Everyone.

This time, the offer was too good to pass up, and I really like supporting Adam’s creativity. If I ordered from an independent shop, I’d get a scarf/cloth that could be used either to lay out readings or wrap the deck or tie around a dog’s neck, if any of my dogs would put up with such shenanigans. (They won’t.)

I opted to order the deck from Adam’s OWN local store, and by doing so, my box was signed by him. So I got the scarf, extras like a couple of free stickers, and the deck itself.

This is a deck that is, as Adam intended, Brimming with hope and good energy… [and] avoids depictions of race, religion, or gender to help YOU focus your intention, find clarity, and remember that even if things aren’t perfect, they’re still going to be OK.

The cards have simple meanings for the reader to decipher on his or her own terms. Kelsey Anderson provided the card interpretations that are in the accompanying booklet. She’s a spiritual counselor and an advocate of using spiritual tools for self care.

I’d hoped to do a reading so I could feature the deck today, but since I’ve mostly spent this week in bed trying to sleep my way through being ill, maybe another time, like when I have a character who needs direction. Meanwhile, the cards are tucked safely away among the boxes that house all my decks of tarot, oracle, and related cards.

I’m not perfect; but I’ll be okay. Thanks, Adam, for the reminder.

My Saturday


Saturday summed up in a blurry phone photo, left to right:

A coloring page I finished from an online crafter who sends emails full of tips and projects, and most recently, some adult coloring pages related to sewing. So I colored the sewing machine. In front of the coloring page, the colored pencils I drew from are resting on top of my iPad. Though I haven’t been reading this month, I do have two new ebooks (both memoirs) for next month, when I’ll probably be spending lots of time sitting in waiting rooms or in my car. I’m almost finished with that homemade iced coffee. Next project: return to kitchen to mix more. The colored gel pens and markers I used are in front of a couple of dolls who represent characters (Muses!), because on the laptop, I’m seven pages into the chapter I’ve been stalled on, and that’s a good thing.

Back to my alternate universe. Hope you’re having good Saturdays.

Read in August

Books that I read in August:


I read The Book of Life, the third book in Deborah Harkness’s All Souls series. I think Tom and Debby may wind up watching the series made from these books. I have one left to read–the fourth one, first one written after “the trilogy” was completed–but I’ve forbidden myself to do so until September. I’ve really enjoyed this series.


Reading Janet Evanovich’s Fortune and Glory: Tantalizing Twenty-Seven and Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight caught me up with her Stephanie Plum series. I think the next one releases in November. I know some readers say they’re repetitive, but for me, there’s comfort in coming back to these characters, and I laugh so much when I read them.


The biography I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon was written by Zevon’s former wife Crystal Zevon at his wish and under the condition that she tell all the story. He died in 2003 from the effects of mesothelioma. This bio was a lot to process about one of my favorite artists. He had his demons, but some of the best musicians, composers, novelists, journalists, and artist managers of his working decades held his gifts in highest regard. Many of his worst behaviors happened during his blackouts (he was an alcoholic and addict) and he had no memory of them and was horrified and remorseful when made aware. Like many gifted people with his kinds of problems, he could also show extraordinary grace and kindness. To me, Crystal Zevon wrote with honesty and love, which made for a compelling read. I have two additional biographies of him in my TBR pile. I’ve started one of them, but it’s slow going because as I read, I’m doing a deep dive into Zevon’s music as the writer introduces his work from its beginning. I’m hearing songs I’ve never heard before.

Reading slowed down the second half of the month, not just because of my own writing, but because I’ve undertaken several organizing and purging projects. There’s no mystery here. When the world outside presents an abundance of chaos, all out of my control, I try to bring order where I can in the smaller environment of home. If this is something that might work for you, too, I recommend not doing it as I do it. Identify and follow through on one task at a time instead of juggling several at once.

A bright side: I’ve donated good stuff to Goodwill and to the Little Free Libraries around me.

Button Sunday

Remember back in the 1990s when everyone talked about practicing random acts of kindness? It seems like these days, the opposite is true: random acts of meanness. I hope those are just the ones that get the most attention on social media (and in online “news,” I guess, too).


I thought of all of this because I was looking through this new-to-me book. It doesn’t only provide suggestions. It also asks you to commit to something in writing and then asks you to follow up. One of them made me remember this journal I shared on here in 2008 (it was a gift from a woman I worked with in 1997/98).

Whenever I look back through that journal, the things I wrote in there make me so happy. Most are simple.

So here’s one from the 300 Things To Make Me Happy book, should you want to give it a try.

Insomnia

When I first began writing these novels (that I now jokingly call the Neverending Saga, though it will end) as a teenager, and then revised and rewrote them several more times, there were always admittedly several problematic plot points. Each revision, I’d let something go or write my way into a better unfolding and resolving of whichever one wouldn’t leave me alone.

The specters that haunt us are often our secrets.

One thing has remained steadfast. There have always been secrets in my characters’ lives, and I won’t let all of them go. The secrets and how they drive the characters are essential in learning who they are, how they change, and what can never change.

I wrote myself into a corner with one of those secrets. I was willing to leave that corner as it was. Or maybe not. The secret has nagged at me while I’ve been writing (s-l-o-w-l-y), organizing/cataloguing my journals, and updating 2019-to-present additions to my doll collection, while also living (an admittedly abbreviated, compared to everything before 2020) life.

I was working on a post that I didn’t publish before going to bed. My brain wouldn’t be quiet. Then I remembered this Emily Dickinson poem. I realized that twice, my character was suggesting where I might find an answer.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —

All I needed was for the character to put that first line in my busy brain–“tell all the truth, but tell it slant”–and I think I know what secret hides in the dusty corner. I’m…shocked. And intrigued.