Writing or creativity of any kind is a mysterious process, a journey into deep and unchartered waters. What you need is a compass… the Tarot.
Monday Message from the Muse for the week of 10/22/2012. Theme for the week is the Four of Wands. Wands is the suit of creativity, the creativity that is passionate, active, focused, intentional. Four is the number of stability. For me this card is about the importance of commitment. When
Creativity comes with adrenaline and fear. ~ Mary Jo Putney, author At the romance writers conference that I attended last weekend, I sat in on a seminar given by Mary Jo Putney. Putney, a published romance writer of more than 30 books, has made all of the national bestseller lists
Monday Message from the Muse for the week of 10/15/2012, The Theme for this week is the King of Coins. He was the theme several weeks ago and he’s shown up again, so obviously an important energy right now. The theme this week is managing expenditures and income, both monetarily
If you’ve ever been to a taping for a television show like Dancing with the Stars, you know that they have a warm-up comic whose sole job is to keep the audience excited and enthused about the performances during the taping. He works to get you on your feet, yelling
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 10/8/2012. The Theme for this week is the 5 of Cups. Notice how unhappy the woman is and how she sits with her back against the wall. Is this you? Are you letting past disappointments and failures in your creative work
As creatives and creative entrepreneurs, we all want to be celebrities. We want to be recognized for who we are and what we do. For creatives, celebrities act as cultural icons. We love hearing stories like J.K.Rowling’s—you know, the one where she submitted her manuscript hundreds of times, receiving rejection
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 10/1/2012. The Theme for this week is the Eight of Swords. Swords is the suit of Air, having to do with the mind, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. You can see that this woman looks really bound up by her situation. But
I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around… We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible. ~ Sue Grafton Bob’s and I make a fall mecca to our local apple orchard this time of year. It is our way of honoring
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 9/24/2012. The theme for this week is a King, the King of Coins. Think Oprah, Donald Trump, etc. These are people who know how to manage their resources. Oprah, especially, knows how to manage her creative resources. Her creative products and
The year is almost over; only a little over three months before we celebrate a New Year with new goals. What about this year’s goals? Was one of your goals to write that non-fiction book you’ve had rattling around in your brain forever? Did you get it written? Did you
No argument can persuade me to like oysters if I do not like them. In other words, the disturbing thing about matters of taste is that they are not communicable. ~ Hannah Arendt This week, I watched Andrew, my 5-month-old grandson, explore his world with his eyes…and his mouth. Bob
Monday’s Message from the Muse for the week of 9/17/2012. The theme for this week is another Queen, the Queen of Cups, comfortable and confident in her watery realm of feelings, intuitions, dreams and the creativity that arises from love, the heart. Practice your creative work this week with a
Time was a river, not a log to be sawed into lengths. ~ Margaret A. Robinson, author In the past five weeks, Bob and I marked our 39th wedding anniversary, and I marked my 60th birthday. Milestones to be sure. So, obviously, the passage of time has been a dominant
Monday’s Message from the Muse. 9/10/12. The theme for the week is being the Goddess of creative abundance, the source from which beauty and life flows. The Empress card is like last week’s 9 of Coins card amplified a thousand-fold. Be aware this week of the beauty, magic and abundance
Many people are inventive, sometimes cleverly so. But real creativity begins with the drive to work on and on and on. ~ Margueritte Harmon Bro, author “I love this story, and I love when it the writing surprises me, but sitting down to write is such hard work!” I complained
Monday Message from the Muse. 9/3/12. The theme for this week, 9 of Coins, is creating beauty in the world for yourself and others through your creative work–whether you write, paint, sing, coach, heal–you create beauty for others and, through that, for yourself. So focus first on how your own
Change is inevitable. Change allows you to stay ahead of competition and imitators. Change allows your work to grow and evolve as you grow. If you think about it, you can’t create anything without also creating change. Maybe this is one of the reasons that I love being a creative
Tarot Action, 3 of Swords 8/31/12. Today is the time to let go of the past, of whatever didn’t work, or was rejected or panned or criticized. Have a good cry. Then burn those rejection letters and negative reviews. Or write down all the things you heard people say that
Tarot Gift, The Emperor 8/30/12. Look today for someone in your environment who is a get-it-done kind of person, who has expertise and authority in your field of creative work, who can provide advice, support or even that kick in the butt to get you and your work moving into
Tarot Focus, Knight of Wands. 8/29/12. Do you have the creative resources, equipment and tools you need to go out into the world with your creative work? Do you have the passion and energy you need? What about your confidence and determination? Hard to get out there and be of
Tarot Action, The Moon 8/28/12. We have a Blue Moon coming up in three days but you may be feeling the effects of it already. A Blue Moon is a second full moon in the same month. It is a Pisces Full Moon as well, so it is time to
Tarot Focus, Temperance. 8/27/12. How do you connect with your Muse to bring a balance of creative passion and creative dreaming together? How do both passion and dream make your creative work and life stronger?
Tarot Gift, The Lovers. 8/24/12. Look for those moments today, when you become the clear channel for your Muse, for divine inspiration. By both receiving and then acting on those inspirations, you empower you creative work or business. The more you open to your Muse, the more ideas and insights
All of us have seen the news reports on TV and the internet about the warmest driest summer on record that the US has experienced. When rain is in short supply, many species of grass will go dormant, turning brown and looking like it died. In fact, grass survives six
In the 2007 movie, “You Kill Me.” Ben Kingsley stars as a Polish alcoholic hitman from Buffalo whose drinking causes his mob boss to send him to San Francisco to dry out, with interesting consequences for everyone. In the opening scene, it is winter in Buffalo (i.e. snow up to
It never fails. Whether you travel for the pleasure of it or to lead or attend a conference or retreat, you will inevitably encounter the Yes-but. You’ve seen the little beasties. They have very thick hoofs for digging their feet in. Their ears are small and frequently flop down making
What is ROI? Return On Investment. In the broadest sense, for bankers, angel investors and financiers, ROI is the measure of profitability of an investment, and the definition of profitability can vary depending on the goals of the investor. Add Creative to the front of that and you have CROI,
Do You Take Your Creative Work Out for Dinner and a Dance? I witnessed part of an interesting ritual the other night. No, it wasn’t on the History Channel or in the National Geographic. It was in a restaurant near my aunt’s home where I am staying while helping out
Sometimes the biggest challenge to our ability to function creatively and enjoy the process, is the high level of expectations we put on ourselves and the creative project. If you are in the process of birthing and raising a creative project and you’ve set your expectations high: Acknowledge that perfection
If you write only about the things that are safe, about the emotions that are happy and easy, then your story will lack the authenticity and power that readers hunger for. Thursday, I had the privilege and fun of being interviewed by coach, author, colleague and friend, Adela Rubio. I
Here is a great quote for your weekend. If you aren’t a writer, the principle still applies. The Internet has changed publishing. The growing pains are fierce. But they are not your growing pains. Publish however you think best suits you. Don’t rush it. Take your time writing and editing,
Most of us say we want to write and sell the book, or be cast in a film, or perform on stage, or coach a client and even take a few steps toward the dream. But when fear rises, time becomes the scapegoat. We tell ourselves, we just don’t have
Tarot Gift for March 5, 2012. It’s so interesting to have this card in the gift position. The man certainly doesn’t look like he wants to give you anything. But if you are the man on the card…and the Universe wants to give you a gift, a reward for all
Friday night, Bob and I watched the movie, “The King’s Speech.” In spite of several important historical misrepresentations, the movie is a powerful story about King George VI’s struggle to conquer his stammer at a time when the popularity of radio was changing how governments communicated with their populace. One
This past weekend, I sat at lunch with some tarot friends and colleagues, listening to a discussion about the evergreen issue of overwhelm and time management. One woman mentioned that she’s developed a practice of taking one day a week to do nothing, not even get dressed or engage with
Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question. ~ e. e. cummings During a writers retreat that I hosted recently, I was talking about my writing and work, including the People Magazine piece, one of the writers asked me… “Do you want fame or fortune?” For a few
So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it. ~Krishnamurti Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we
When I started talking about the branding and name for my business, Divining the Muse, some people argued against it, suggesting that most people would not recognize what a Muse is. While I agreed that some might not, I also insisted that most people who work in the creative arts