Other People's Tarot

I got a great email from a reader in Des Moines who has been following my Marvel (tm) Tarot (and has also read my books), and she sent a long an awesome link to her sister's Stick Figure Thoth Tarot Parody. These are quite charming. You should check them out.

In the meantime, as I think I reported, my digital camera has decided to freak out so I haven't been able to post my Empress card. Since I've done Iron Man as the Emperor, it's time to start Professor X as the Heirophant.

My other big hold up drawing mor cards is that I've been writing HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD like a squirrel on crack. In the past seven days I've averaged 1,300 words, and in a caffeine induced haze last night at Wyrdsmiths I challenged fellow writer Kelly McCullough to a duel of words. We're each going to try to finish our novels by the end of Feburary. Once we work out the "rules," we're going to post results/updates/etc. over on the Wyrdsmith's blog. So if you're interested to see how competition motivates me, check over there periodically.

It should be noted that as a Scorpio competition is my lifeblood.

Numberology and Years

So, ever since I first discovered Tarot, I've been keeping a journal of the various readings I've done for myself. It was an idea I got from Mary Greer's influencial books TAROT FOR YOURSELF, which I love deeply. One of the things she has students do is some numerology stuff for each year that corresponds to one of the Major Arcana.

This year, my card is: DEATH.

And, I want to be honest: I'm completely freaked out. It's not that I'm expecting to physically die, but there are so many ways to DIE in the publishing industry that I'm on pins and needles.

Not to mention that word... DEADlines. Of which I have two this year (so far.)

Maybe that's it. Maybe this is the year of the DEADlines....

Okay. That's a little less scary and a lot more positive.

I can LIVE with that.

Out of the Broom Closet!

There's no keeping secrets if you have a five year old.

I was waiting for Mason to make sure he had something with him at school today and his teacher pulled me aside to tell me a funny story. Apparently, while they were sharing stories about things people did over the holiday, Mason piped up with, "I went sledding with Barb and Gerriann. Well, actually, I went with Barb. Ima and Gerriann stayed at home because they're practicing to be Witches, but that's another story."

Oh, isn't it just? :-)

Once is Spooky, but Twice...?

Okay, the Universe is really, really trying to make sure that I understand that part of how I practice Witchcraft is through writing because...

So there I am at the keyboard yesterday afternoon writing the bit in HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD where Sebastian explains that, well, see, he's got this stalker who's convinced that he's part of the Illuminati because he's rich (at least that was my original idea, anyway).

Just guess where the historical Illuminati started?

That's right, Bavaria, which at various points of its history mingled with what is now Austria.

Is it just me, or is it magic in here?

Resolved: Write Every Day

That was my blog title over at Something Wicked this morning, and it pretty much sums up everything I really ought to have said on the subject (but, of course, I blathered on for several paragraphs.)

In other news, I finally decided on a character to be my Empress card for my Marvel (tm) tarot. Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans (and mother of Crystal, I believe.) She seemed like a good pick. I drew out the card, but my digital camera has now decided to go on the fritz. Hopefully, I can get it taken care of in a few days. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Medusa, which I cribbed from that Internets all you kids are using.

I need to search for one of those graphic/bar thingies that shows my daily progress on the novel. It might be a good kick in the pants to have to upload my word count every day.

Did I mention I have a lot of writing to do this year??