Tea Leaf Reading Symbol Dictionary: W Is For What’s Next

Welcome!

As we are getting closer to the end of the series of our April Blogging Challenge “Tea Leaf Reading Symbol Dictionary”, the question of what will be our posting schedule like is on the mind of many who participated. Will you continue to write every day? Or will you take the lessons you have learned from this blogging challenge, and implement them throughout your blogging year?

Here are Avalon Media, I am beginning to formulate a plan for the next few months, one that I had already had in place, but had to be replaced, due to the many occurrences of the last few weeks and month – my Mother’s death being one of them. The tieing up all of the matters associated with such loss, while not being in the same country, heck the same continent has its challenges and takes a toll on our entire family.

So, now it is time to take a moment and ask: What next?

Here is a rough outline of the plans for this blog, books, and courses coming up over the next few months and weeks. While some of the content is the same as I had spoken about earlier, the timeline has completely changed.

1. I will be releasing two books about tea. One I have spoken about “Happy Tea”, has been pushed toward the end of the year, while the book on Tea Leaf Reading, will be pushed forward, with a release date of mid-June.
2. There will be another book in between those two, one which is currently in the developmental stages, about Positive Co-Creation for creative people.
3. I am in the development of a course for Print-On-Demand/Product-On-Demand Designers, specifically, those working with Zazzle and RedBubble. This course will be available sometime after August – I will keep you updated, during the development.
4. This blog will be moved toward WordPress.org within the next two months. I had tried to move it to a platform called Wix earlier this year, and that website builder did not serve my needs. I am working with Wealthy Affiliates to set up hosting there, and once I have learned everything I need  to navigate there, it will be moved. For those who are wondering what Wealthy Affiliate is – I will be writing about them in the near future. (It’s really cool!)

This is as far as I can plan right now. Once everything has settled within our family (which will also include our move to California – which I will share with you here), there will be more to announce, but that is it for now.

What are your plans for the upcoming months for your blog/business?

Now lets, get back to our Tea Leaf Reading Symbols for today:

Letter W:

Wagon: things are about to get better

Wall: There is something blocking your way. Depending on the thickness of the wall, deepens on how much resistance you can expect

Wasp: Not a good sign. Someone’s gossip or words will cut you deeply.

Wedding Cake: A quite literal sign that indicates a quick engagement and a favorable marriage

Wheel: If it is intact, it is a sign of good fortune, if it is broken, then you can expect financial trouble

Windmill: You are hopeful about your situation and endeavor. That is to be encouraged. Good for you

Window: is it open? You are receiving good news and conversation. Is it closed? You are disconnected from others, and you may experience some embarrassment of some kind

Witch on a broom: someone you know disapproves of you getting a reading, or of anything related to magick, divination or new age spirituality. They will be persuaded by good results. ( I spell  Magick with ck in order to distinguish the Craft of Creating Change from the Slight of Hand which would be spelled with a g)

Women: Watch the other symbols with it closely. They add negativity to an overall disappointing reading.

 

I am glad you took the time to spend with me today. I am looking forward to hearing from you – blessings!

Claudia

Grabbing Your Muse By The Throat

 

I began this day, knowing that I wanted to write a blog post. Not like I do not have anything else to write, in fact, I really need to spend a few hours working on the many facets of writing this tea book, which is beginning to take more and more shape, but still I wanted to connect with you.

And then I stared at the blank space in front of me, that white piece of nothing that is waiting to be filled, waiting to embrace something meaningful.

Nothing.

There was nothing, no idea, that resonated, no thought that needed to be expressed, no clever point to be made. Heck, I did not even design anything over the last few days, so there is not much to talk about on that level as well.

Nothing.

How often do we encounter these moments, where we are approaching the blank space, trying to fill the canvas with either words or colors, and there is nothing there? What we do in these times, makes all of the difference. We artists have now a choice: To back away and wait until inspiration strikes, to revel in the despair of not being able to create or to grab our muse by the throat and drag it closer to ourselves, making her work for us.

The difference between an amateur artist and a professional is, that professionals will do the latter.

If you are waiting for the muse to strike or the perfect time to express your art, you are doing it wrong. All of us, every single writer, and every artist has a moment (or more) where inspiration does not flow as much as it does when we are in the zone. Those who work anyway, who believe that the act of working creates inspiration will produce, finish projects, and eventually – if they stick with their subjects and are willing to learn – achieve whatever goal they have put before them. There is no time wasted, no sitting idle, no wallowing in the anxiety of the blank page. There is action – deliberate process of creation, with or without a plan, that matters less, but still – there is action.

Only the act of writing or the act of creating will bring forth more creativity – the act of waiting for the muse to speak to you, does not.

So grab her by the throat, and get to work.

Click here for some books to inspire you to create.

Blessings

Claudia

This post is a part of the following blog hops:

Be Inspired 

Amaze Me Monday

 

Writing Challenges: Why We Love WritingChallenge.org And Why You Should Too

Are you a writer? Then, you – most likely – know how hard it is to carve time away from life to dedicate to your craft. Commitment to your dream conflicts with your responsibilities, and sometimes a little extra motivation could be beneficial to move from wanting to write that book, to actually writing that book.

This is where writingchallenge.org comes in – a Twitter-based accountability group for writers, that asks for a small daily commitment of just 500 words or 1 hour of editing, while providing encouragement and support.

I could tell you the many benefits of joining this wonderful group of people, but I decided it would be more effective to allow them to tell you.

Aura Eadon wrote:

Join a community that creates accountability and a support network through positive influence and total lack of shaming. Zero is as good as 500 and that is as good as 5000

Ryan Macayden stated:

There are lots of people who want to write a book someday but the writers are the ones who actually sit down and do it, one word at a time. It truly is that easy and that hard.

Like the best of characters, we’re all flawed. We don’t always make writing a priority. We might not even write every day. Heck, we sometimes allow life and our own self-doubt to sabotage our creative endeavors but it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s where writing challenges like WritingChallenge.org  can help.

Not writing every day? The challenge pushes participates to write 500 words daily and forces them to make writing a priority. For some, that might seem daunting at first but by the end of the month, most will find the words come faster and faster the more they do it. You might even have developed a writing habit by then!

Self-doubt getting you down? The community surrounding the challenge are made of up writers just like you. Chances are high we’ve been right where you are and can help you get through it. We’re a pretty supportive bunch and want to see you succeed, no matter what. Need a writing sprint? Need to bounce around some ideas? Or just having a hard day? We’re here for you.

Writing might be a solitary endeavor but that doesn’t mean you’re alone. Join us!

Erin Cochran wrote:

I think the strong suit here is accountability and encouragement plus we get bits and pieces of writing advice as we need it.

Andrew McQueen answered:

The idea of this group is to give other writers a chance to tell the story they want to tell. And all genres are welcome.

Harmony Williams wrote:

I love this challenge because it motivates me and keeps me on track. On days I don’t meet my goals, the supportive challengers remind me that my progress is important, however small. The challenge motivates me to meet an achievable minimum but doesn’t bar me from doing more. And I’ve made many invaluable friends!

Christina Patterson Quesada  stated:

No one understands the struggle of being a writer better than a writer. Without this group of writers and their support, I don’t know if I’d be in the editing process right now. The reasons Ryan gave for joining are exactly why I joined the writing challenge

Beverly Lee wanted you to know:

The challenge works because it’s attainable. 500 words isn’t a huge amount. It’s enough to see progress but not enough to be daunting. The same for the hour editing. This can be broken up into little bits if time is an issue too. Gradually you see your dreams unfolding. You get the incredible support of like minded people, who will cheer you on or lift you up on those days when the words all freeze together. Without the challenge I wouldn’t have completed my first novel. Now I’m on my second. That’s why you should join!

_____

As you can see from the participant’s responses, there are many benefits to being a part of WritingChallenge.org .Joining is easy, all you have to do is follow this link, and add your name to the participation log, then jump over to Twitter and connect with us via our monthly hashtag – currently we are using #SeptWritingChallenge for the month of September.

We are looking forward to welcoming you into our group!

Blessings and Happy Writing!

Claudia

P.S. Are you writing an Ebook? Not sure how? Check out this course: “How to Write And Publish An EBook”   today!

Book Review: Kaijin by Devon Henry

Title: Kaijin
Author: Devon Henry
Genre: Short Fiction
Release Date: July 29th, 2014
Rating: 5/5 Stars

Short story collections are tricky for me to read, because I usually find only a few gems in them, having to shuffle through those which I did not connect with, and then lacking the motivation to go on, and read through the rest. This was not the case with Devon Martin’s self-published work Kaijin. Written mostly in first person present tense (with the exception of one story), this collection stays true to its theme of women who do not take things as they are, but overcome, or destroy those in their way. Empowering, fantastical stories that do not take themselves too seriously, are carefully constructed in this collection and are a worthy read, if you are looking for bite size morsels of entertainment.

I am looking forward to seeing this Author evolve from these shorter stories to full length work, and will keep my eye out for any of her future projects. If you like out of the ordinary short stories, from a women’s perspective, read this book.

Kaijin is available in Amazon in Kindle Format, on Kindle Unlimited and as in  Paperback Format.
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(Disclaimer: I did not receive a complementary copy of this book, but I do know the Author – all opinions expressed are solely mine)

Author Devon Henry – The Interview

I am very exited to present to you today an interview with a dear and wonderful fellow Author, Devon Henry. I recently read her book “Kaijin”, – about which I will post an review later this week  – as well as her work on Medium, so I really wanted to share this interesting writer with you. You should really check out her work, but I am going to let her tell you more about herself and her creative endevours.

Devon Henry

 

Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and your current project:

Well thank you very much for this opportunity! I’m from Los Angeles, I have three dogs. I love avocado and Jurassic Park and I hate kale. I have watched all seven seasons of 30 Rock more than anyone probably should.

Currently I am working on my first full-length novel which I hope to have out later this year. It’s science fiction geared towards younger readers and I’ve been working on it since late 2011. I’m very, very excited for people to finally read it.

I am looking forward to it (and I hear you about kale). What brought you to writing? Did you always wanted to be a writer?

I’ve wanted to be a lot of things in my life. As a child I wanted to be a paleontologist and make movies and study different cultures and religions, but there’s always been this caveat that I would write about it too. My profession has always been up in the air but there was never a question about writing.

I really have my parents to thank for that as well. They never questioned it or pushed me into anything else and dutifully marched me to the dollar store two blocks from our house to stock up on Lisa Frank notebooks every Saturday. I’m very grateful for that.

Sounds like a wonderful way to grow up. What are your greatest obstacles to creating your art/finishing a project?

I’m sure most writers will know what I mean when I say there’s that hypercritical part of your brain that gets louder and louder the longer you stare at your work. Then suddenly it’s 3 AM and you’ve spent the better part of the night revising one sentence and you’re over-caffeinated and just thinking, “This is it. This is insanity. Someone take my laptop away.”

How did you or do you overcome these challenges?

I know that a lot of writers work better in seclusion, but I have to say that having a good support system of nosy friends keeps me motivated. It’s very easy, for me at least, to procrastinate and leave a project for ages if I don’t have anyone checking in on me. So to have friends constantly texting and asking to see revisions or making sure I’m sticking to my deadlines really helps.

You are blessed to have such a support system, good for you! What are your future aspirations?

Ultimately I’d really like to carve out a role for myself as a successful comedy writer. It’s my one true passion in life- avocado-based recipes notwithstanding. To be at a point where I could focus solely on that as a career would be amazing.

I think you are on the right track to accomplish this goal. In Kaijin, you chose to use a first person, present tense narrative to express the stories, which I think worked out very well. What made you choose to express the stories in such way?

First of all, thank you! Writing it that way was definitely a risk in terms of storytelling and I’m glad it came across that way.

When I began writing Kaijin, I had a vision of this private slice of Los Angeles full of monsters and demons and banshees and it was important to me to present that vision in a way that would be believable and not read immediately as a run-of-the-mill horror story. So I wrote it all- with the exception of “The Siren and the Immigrant”, in present tense and made a point of never naming the women in my stories. I wanted to make it seem as though the subjects of these stories could be literally anyone.

And you succeeded in that as well. What do you want your readers to know about you, that they might not be aware off?

Let’s see, I am also a trained Improv Performer, Sketch Comedy Writer, Set Designer and I can pick stuff up with my toes. I’m afraid of spiders and elevators. My resume is very impressive, clearly.

That is quite a resume! How can a reader find out more about you? 

Well my first book, “Kaijin”, is available in paperback or for Kindle on Amazon as well as the Createspace Marketplace. I also have a Medium profile that I try to update with new short comedic fiction every week for practice (This is also where you can find my ongoing Jurassic Park/Parks and Rec crossover series “Burt Macklin: Raptor Wrangler”). And, of course, readers can get in touch with me via my twitter- which I also keep updated with any new projects or multi-media works that I do. Come say hi, I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you so much, for spending time with us Devon! I am looking forward to hearing more from you!

—————-

I will post a review of Devon Henry’s book “Kaijin” later during the week, so please stop by again, and most importantly check out Devon’s work via the links below!

Devon’s Amazon Page

Devon’s Twitter

Devon’s Medium Profile

 

 

Express Yourself Meme – Resolutions

Express Yourself is back – well, actually it was never gone, but somehow I did not find the time for the majority of the last few months to post as a part of this blog hop. This year, however, I am a much more organized (cough) blogger – I hope, so I decided this would be a good time to try this again.

This week, we are asked to write about our resolutions. I am going to limit it here to my writing and blogging goals – I blogged about my more personal, and otherwise categorized resolutions on my spiritual blog already.

Here they are:

1. blog more regularily and with purpose. I am building a brand – me – so that means I have to be a more responsible and directed, mission-oriented blogger. This goes for all three of my blogs.

2. balance three blogs, and not neglect any of them. Every one of my blogs covers an area of my life I am very passioned about. Because they really are not related, and putting them into one would be an unorganized mess, I have three. Spirituality, Productivity, and of course, this one about writing/reading.

3. connect – I want to build relationships, and maybe even friendships through these blogs. Writing means not much without an audience, and caring for this audience is a part of this years mission.

I am looking forward to reading all of your different resolutions!

Wishing you all the most wonderful 2015!

Claudia

Goals

Goals

– just another day
I am reaching for the stars
one breath at a time

Claudia H. Blanton 2014

 

Dedicated to all of my fellow NaNoWriMo participants! Let’s reach for the stars, everyone!

Invincible – A Daily Prompt Post

Today, Daily Prompt asked us this question:

At what age did you realize you were not immortal? How did you react to that discovery?

One of the aspects of being the victim of childhood abuse is, that you never have the luxury of thinking that you are invincible or immortal. You know very early on, that there are people more powerful than you, and they can do just about anything they want to with you. Fear becomes your constant companion, and if you are lucky, like I was, your vivid imagination becomes your best friend.
I am grateful for that, grateful that even life was too terrifying, too filled with potential landmines that could set him off, I developed my own stories, my own little life that no one could take away from me, no one but me knew about. A place where there are people who help one another, whom rescue those trapped by fear, and helped them overcome that which seemed too hard to lift on their own.
Aware of my vulnerability, I found immortality and invincibility in my stories.