Week 43: Nine of Mentors - Is this Coincidence or Mystical?

Just yesterday I was mentioning that a manuscript that  I have submitted this year was in fact not quite right. That it needed to be retooled. So today I do what, draw the Nine of Mentors?  Is this some kind of joke?  Coincidence? Maybe it's actually a case of attempted mystical interference in my writing.

The Nine of Mentors asks me to take not of that manuscript or poetry collection that is causing me anxiety and nightmares.  Well I haven't gotten to the nightmares stage yet, but the anxiety has been there and most recently I've tried to lessen it by ignoring it and working on other writing.

Yesterday, I did consider that a part of the problem was that some of the pieces are too loosely connected - making a reading of the total collection at certain points disjointed, I entertained the notion that some of the pieces needed to come out and be replaced by others; poems not yet written.

As I consider this today with the influence of the Nine of Mentors, I am feeling that I've been offered a key or solution to this and I need not leave this work on the side burner; the one that was never turned on.

While I have and number of balls in the air at the same time, I should pull this back on to the fire and and heat things up again. It is after all, closer to complete than the other projects. One more ball in the air to juggle won't kill me.

I could in fact consider that there is not one collection with some extras poems, but  perhaps two legitimate collections with some extras. That both will need additional material but perhaps I have the strong making of two independent themes that are on their way to completion rather than one that is not working.

The nine of mentors is telling me that  I don't need an idle project going nowhere, My To-Do list this week will include reevaluating these poems and what can perhaps be regrouped and remain artistically relevant.

Fantasy and The Birth of Creative Work

Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable. ~ Carl Jung

Dream Big - Believe Large

Week 42: The Nine of Letterpresses - Joy in Artistic Accomplishments

Drawing the Nine of Letterpresses card is a bit like a journey to Fantasy Island (some will be too young to know this television show) where people paid good money to be flown to this island where the props and everything were put together to accommodate the paying guest's grand fantasy.

The Nine of Letterpresses seems to want me to experience that feeling of success that comes with the conclusion of a significant artistic goal.

I've heard of athletes who would before a big game run through their head that swing for the fence or the long TD pass deep into the end-zone to hit their receiver. In one respect it sounds kind of corny but if you think about it we are all thinking about all the roadblocks to our success. Is this not negative fantasizing?  Maybe by doing this (negative stuff) we are reinforcing roadblocks to completing that manuscript Maybe we are thinking about all the reasons we can't possibly win a contest.

I am seeing value in envisioning the completion of a manuscript - even the publication. A release party, readings, Should we not  be as willing to see, feel, taste success as we are to contemplate those reasons to fall flat on our face?

An smaller victories....  publication of individual poems, readings, positive acknowledgements from peers, these all are real reasons to cheer ourselves on.

But we must believe in ourselves. That starts by replacing the bad karma with the good. That requires us to see our self at the culmination of our most significant artistic goals.

Week 41: Dorothy Parker

What I think of when Dorothy Parker comes  to my mind is her wit. An accomplished that seemed very comfortable in her skin. I was not aware how versatile her talents ran. That she wrote across genre and was involved in Hollywood as well and received an academy award nomination.

Dorthy was a collaborator and in this context she sets an example that we can look for ways to work with others. Also, that we need to acknowledge others that have played a role in helping s with our successes.  Learn to count our victories no matter how small. Be thankful for them but do not allow ourselves to get a big head about them.

Ego in art is not especially flattering.  

Week 40: Langston Hughes - Stand for Equality in life and art

Langston Hughes - a notable poet of color is perhaps a most appropriate poet tarot card to draw at this time. The recent news of violence in cities across the country cry out for witness. Hughes tackled racial injustice in America long before the civil rights movement had steam.

I should be reflecting on how I judge the work or lifestyles of fellow artists. How I give witness in my own work.

There is much room for tolerance in this country and do I play a positive role model in this? If Not, How can I do better?

While these time are challenging - equality is a 24-7 job, 7 days a week, 12 months a year. No breaks for holidays or vacation.