This is the card I pulled when Hard Knox was about to come out. And this week, I have Gunn’s Mission releasing on Tuesday. What I thought the card meant the last time was exactly how my week went. Of all the cards to pull! 🙁

The card isn’t “The Devil.” It’s Pan, the half-goat/half-man, playing his reed flute while holding the chains of two humans (with horns, why?) who are dancing to his music. It also appears that they are inside a deep dark cave, which, to me, indicates Pan is trying to hide something—or maybe that he’s playing for them while he draws them into the deep abyss. When I look at this card, I think it’s telling me I’ll be captured by a mood or temptations that will keep me doing things I shouldn’t.

And yes, the last time, I was tempted to F-around. Temptations came from everywhere—and I allowed myself to follow the many things (family, pleasure) pulling me away from what I needed to accomplish. Can I fight destiny this time around? Do I even want to try? Hmm…

Open Contests

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2. Saturday Puzzle Contest — Cuddly Stuffie on a Rock — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Word Search: Types of Handbags for Handbag Day (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: It’s beginning to look a lot like…Halloween! — Win an Amazon gift card!

So, it’s Wednesday. Tomorrow, I have to load a book I have to finish today. I have to have my art ready to cart to the festival that begins on Friday. I’m a bit overwhelmed this morning and on my second cup of coffee. Think I’ll make it?

Oh, and do you like the bookmarks? I have a huge stack of them ready, almost as huge a stack of postcards, plus art in plastic ready to be framed and some framed pieces. I’ll take pictures when we’re set up on Friday to share. So nervous!

That picture’s not me. My desk doesn’t look that good!

I’m just popping in to journal, I guess. Yes, my blog is just sometimes my place to put my thoughts on a page. I think better with my fingers clacking on a keyboard. Put a pen in my hand, and my brain goes blank. I’ve told friends and family that I never have a clue what I’m going to write until my fingers start moving. I couldn’t tell you where the letters are on the keyboard, but somehow my fingers find them. I’ve had fortune tellers tell me I have three muses/angels who hover over my shoulders, so I think they’re pretty much responsible for what ends up on the page—and I know that makes me sound nuttier than squirrel turds.

Anyway, I’m facing my keyboard right now. I have new edits to begin (I finished a set last night! Whew!), and I have a book to finish, but I got a really late start today. I slept in. Something I don’t like doing because morning is my most productive time. I can’t look to the right because the L of my desk, which is the flat, working area of my desk, is completely covered with tchotchkes and toys, a plant that needs watering, a laptop I have open but haven’t used in days, and stacks of paperwork. If I looked right to see it, I’d have an anxiety attack. I’m not the “dig in and get it gone” girl; I’m the avoider. If I don’t see it, it’s not a problem. But I do know there are some bills under there. A calendar that needs updating. Story notes that I should read, although the story I’m writing is far different than what I thought it would be.

So, here’s to another day of letting the piles get higher while I keep my gaze focused on the white screen in front of me.

How’s your day going so far? Do you keep a neat or messy desk? Any ideas for how an “avoider” can stop avoiding? 

UPDATE: The winner is…Colleen C!
*~*~*

September

Work-related:

1. I completed work on Book #2 of We Are Dead Horse, MT — Hard Knox — and released it!
2. I wrote over a third of my upcoming book, Gunn’s Mission! (Have you pre-ordered your copy?!)
3. I revised and published an erotic/menage short story that was originally published by Harlequin Spice years ago—Eye of the Storm.
4. I completed 6 editing projects for other authors in September.

Health-related:

1. Swimming ended for me after my trip to my sister’s place in North Arkansas because I came home to a green pool.
2. Through medicines and some diet tweaking, I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 130-150. I haven’t had a bad spike in a while.

Happiness-related: 

1. I have been working on and making more great progress organizing my art room, getting ready for the next push for art shows and reopening my Etsy store. I have accumulated the supplies I need to begin painting in encaustic wax BUT HAVEN’T DONE IT YET because I’ve been buried in work.
2. As for making new art, again, work has kept me too busy to do much. I attended the monthly art guild meeting, and as a group, we worked on sketching cats. The only piece of art I completed this month was this cat, which I watercolored yesterday because I wanted SOMETHING to share…

October

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete writing Gunn’s Mission, a Brotherhood Protectors story,  which releases on October 17th!
2. To begin & hopefully complete work on a standalone story I’ve been dying to write for years and years, called Little Green Dreams. We’ll see.
3. To complete 5 editing projects in October!

For health related, I plan:

1. To not make promises about counting points for my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s that time of year and I know I’d be setting myself up for failure. However, I will try to make healthier choices!
2. To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas).
3. To acquire and begin using a treadmill.
4. To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To work on art and jewelry-making to get ready for the Art Festival this month!

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in October…
Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

Many of us remember exactly where we were when the Twin Towers were hit, followed by the strike against the Pentagon, and then the plane falling out of the sky in Pennsylvania. I was at work, passing by a break room and noting a crowd surrounding the TV high on the wall. The first plane had struck, and then as I watched, the second plane hit. As one, we realized it wasn’t an accident, and we found seats to watch the newscast because we couldn’t not watch.

The aftermath—the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq… The horrible loss lives on that day and the years that followed… Our world changed. So, on this day, the anniversary of 9-11, let’s think about the lives lost on those planes and in those buildings, and the sacrifices of the many first responders.

A Poll

One more poll, and I’ll leave you alone for today.

While I have books in the bounty hunters and Dead Horse series coming (I’ll be putting up the pre-orders soon), I have some space in my calendar for some more stories. Vote on things you’d like to read. I might pay attention to what you have to say. (My muses have the ultimate say. 🙂 )

Choose two options, please. Then tell me which you really, really want, or if there’s something you’d like me to write that I don’t mention here for a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC.

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UPDATE: The winner is…Sandy Pennese!
*~*~*

August

Work-related:

1. I began work on Book #2 of We Are Dead Horse, MT — Hard Knox!
2. I completed 4 editing projects for other authors in August.

Health-related:

1. I’ve been swimming almost every day. Sometimes, twice a day.
2. Through medicines and some diet tweaking, I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 130-150. There’s been an occasional spike, but it’s so much better.
3. My appointment with my heart doctor went so well I don’t have to see him again for 6 months!

Happiness-related: 

1. I helped get the kids ready for the school year, including the 19-year-old who began college this month! In fact, she made the Pom Squad!
2. I have been working on and making more great progress organizing my art room, getting ready for the next push for art shows and reopening my Etsy store. I have accumulated the supplies I need to begin painting in encaustic wax.
3. I finished the Inchie Challenge! These are tiny 2×2-inch paintings. Here are a few examples…

September

 

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete writing Hard Knox, the next in my We Are Dead Horse, MT series which releases on September 12th!
2. To release my short story from Silver Soldiers—“Ripples”—in a special giveaway the first weekend of September!
3. To complete (taking a deep breath) 6 editing projects in September! I’ll be a complete zombie by the end of the month!

For health related, I plan:

1. To swim at least once a day—as long as the pool remains warm enough!
2. To restart counting points for my Weight Watchers diet and hopefully shed at least 5 pounds, remembering, as always: Slow is good!
3. To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas).
4. To begin walking and counting my steps (once the weather cools).
5. To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To spend quality time with the family—movie nights, swim-time, making fun meals together!
2. To visit my sister in North Arkansas for a “writers’ retreat.”
3. To work on art and jewelry-making to get ready for the Art Festival in October!

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier. Tell me what you plan to read in September…
Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Welp. This card isn’t helping me decide how my week will go, or am I wrong?

First, just looking at the card, what does it represent? This is the goddess Aphrodite. Her origin story is kind of grisly. Cronus castrated his father Uranus and tossed his testicles into the sea. The foam that erupted produced Aphrodite. You can see her stepping out of the foam. The goddess of Love is the embodiment of feminine beauty, but also the embodiment of all those stereotypical “female flaws” like jealousy, laziness, vanity, and deceit. Lovely, right? What does that have to do with me? Aphrodite is holding one golden chalice—the Ace of Cups. The Ace of anything represents the powerful “first” raw meaning of a suit. So, before I check the book, I think this means I may be looking at an emotional week. One filled with love, or the “eruption” of love, and one filled with events that will have me demonstrating all those feminine flaws. I have the kids heading to school this week, so I’ll lovingly push them out the door with their backpacks prepared and their lunch bags filled. I’ll feel regret that I don’t have them under my roof. I have a ton of work in front of me, and I may wallow a bit in my feelings while I try to tackle the stacked-to-the-ceiling tasks I have in front of me. So, I think that’s what this card means for me. I don’t like it, but I will embrace the positive meaning and hope I can tamp down my “weak” feminine faults to slog through the work.

Now, to the book. It boils it down, saying, it “heralds an outpouring of feeling” although “not yet differentiated” and can often be “overwhelming.” *sigh*

Why do I start my Sunday mornings with a tarot card? I guess I could just dive into my calendar, calibrate how many pages I have to write and how many I have to edit to get to The End, but I like adding an element of the divine to my day, whether drawing a card or placing my hand into my bowl of crystals and gemstones and pulling out whatever my hand finds compelling. The mystical and the pragmatic can reside in the same heart.

Open Contests

1. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Flea Market Finds — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Ava Cuvay: The End of an Era (Contest & Excerpt) — Win a FREE book!
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4. Flashback: Strokes, Vol. 2 (Contest–Two Winners!) — Win a FREE book!
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