“Luke. I am your dark side. Hug me.”
Tomorrow is the start of another NaNoWriMo. During National Novel Writing Month people from around the globe commit to writing 50,000 words in a brand-new project, in 30 days.
They don’t have to be 50,000 good words. The idea is to just pull the cork and see what spills out.
McMurphy: I must be crazy to be
in a loony bin like this.
I wasn’t going to participate this year. I’ve been burnt out, exhausted and very near the dreaded writer’s block that I’ve always claimed doesn’t exist. However, this year’s NaNoWriMo event falls during a Mercury retrograde – in Scorpio. Which means that this year, there might be some pretty powerful stuff pouring onto the page.
Here are a few tidbits from Maria Desimone. Read the full essay here.
What are we hiding from our own consciousness? What are we afraid to admit to ourselves? This Mercury retrograde phase promises to ferret it out of us and deliver a chance to reconcile with darkness in our lives that we either truly don’t see or have tried desperately to sweep under the rug.
I’m a classic rug-sweeper, a deny-er, a smoother-over-of-conflict. And dang it all, there’s no great, nail-biting, stay-up-all-night books without it. You see my problem.
Just for balance, someone should add this to all the
happy baby pictures on the maternity ward.
So, what if I use the next few weeks to explore that pulsating darkness within, lance that poisonous mass in a dramatic Alien meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest gesture of literary defiance? (FYI: we in the biz call that previous sentence Purple Prose. Don’t do it.)
Karmically, the universe is screaming at us to open wide and swallow the nasty medicine that will give us a new perspective. The nasty medicine is the uglier part of your life … the part that you might take great pains to hide from others. From yourself.
To up the ante, I’m also at that stage of life where my developmental tasks include taking stock, reviewing and adjusting goals, facing the fact that even coconut oil and psyllium husks can’t turn back time and that yes, that is my ass now. Naturally, I’ve been avoiding this inventory-taking.
Once you call yourself out on it something powerful will happen. You will be unrestricted from the grip that this darkness holds over you in your life.
Best case, I emerge better, stronger, faster. Worse case, I’ve got another lavender-hued pile of schlock on my hard drive.
What the hay. Where do I sign?
Riding the Wave
- At October 28, 2013
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
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Yesterday afternoon, I returned home from my 15th consecutive year at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. A few of those years, including this one, I was there as a presenter, which also meant providing critique services to other writers in the Blue Pencil Cafe appointments.
During these 15 minutes slots, writers bring 3-5 pages of a work-in-progress to an author for an opportunity to get feedback, ask specific questions or simply practice the pitch they’ll be lobbing at an editor later on. Much sweating occurs.
This may have been one of the best years for me yet, and the honor of seeing such excellent work from up-and-coming writers was truly a highlight. (You know who you are. I expect a mention in your awards speech.) I’ll post more about the conference later, once I’ve met my current deadline. But I just had to share the message that popped into my in-box this morning from the Daily OM:
You may feel that you are winning in everything you do today, which could be due to your successes at work or at play. This feeling of being able to accomplish anything might be the result of an increased confidence in your ability to reach your goals. Today would be a good time to use this momentum to continue to set realistic objectives for yourself. You might want to think about what targets you can create for your life that you can easily attain.
So. I’ll be riding that wave for as long as I can. I’ve got my realistic reasonable possibly-remotely-attainable goals in front of me and now it’s time to work.
What secret goals do you have? Is there an important, scary, outrageous task that scares you, but that might just be possible if you try? Why not see if you can catch a bit of this energy and see where it takes you, too? Let me know what happens!
Mercury Retrograde… Stay Calm and Hang On!
- At October 24, 2013
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Life, Roxanne Writes On
- 0
I’m a casual astrologer. Yeah, yeah, I know. But despite growing up believing it was witchcraft, and now being surrounded by people who think it’s a ticket to Crazy Town, I find it a fascinating lens through which to interpret my world. So, whether you want to pray for me, or slap me upside the head, think about this: Is your life currently a crap-sandwich? Is everything difficult? Everyone against you? Well, it’s possible – crack your mind open now – that this isn’t just all about you. Maybe the Universe is sending you a wake-up call.
The following is an excerpt from star astrologer Jeff Jawer, on the current Mercury Retrograde, with occasional pithy remarks by me:
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I hate my computer. Traffic’s a disaster. No one understands me.
The communication planet Mercury turned retrograde on Monday, October 21 and will continue moving in reverse until November 10. (From Roxanne: retrograde planets aren’t actually going backwards, of course; they only appear to do so because of their speed relative to the speed of Earth.) Astrologers describe this event as a period when we tend to make more mistakes. Misunderstood messages, misinterpreted information, technology, and travel troubles are expected more frequently during this period. However, this is an extra special Mercury Retrograde cycle that presents additional problems as well as unique opportunities.
Yay. Extra special mistakes. I can’t wait.
Mercury’s occurrence in mysterious Scorpio can drive minds deep below the surface to uncover hidden fears and desires — which can be painful — but is excellent for gaining psychological insights. It’s vital to work with these uncomfortable truths rather than sweeping them under the rug.
Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I think I’ll go out to the garden and eat worms. (Anyone else remember that song?)
Trust is at a premium in this sometimes suspicious sign, so don’t share your secrets or those of others unless you have complete confidence in the person with whom you’re talking. Discretion is a must, and when in doubt, keep intimate information to yourself until you can express it in complete safety.
As if that’s not enough, Mercury meets stern Saturn, which is in the midst of its two-year stay in Scorpio. This triple transit of mental Mercury and demanding Saturn can force the mind into narrow spaces and manifest itself as depression or doubt. (Thank you very much, Universe.) Yet the focus of these aspects can also filter out distractions and enable us to deepen thinking and master critical details.
Argh! Change?? WHY?
A key quality of any Mercury Retrograde is that it offers second chances to correct errors, reconnect with people, and absorb information that we didn’t get the first time around. Doing this in dense, dark Scorpio requires us to stay calm in what can feel like threatening situations. True, change is inevitable and in many cases it’s scary, yet the constant movement of the planets is a reminder that life is a dynamic process and that there are times like these when standing still is more dangerous than making changes.
Alright, already, Mercury! I’m paying attention! Now, can Windows 8 start making sense?
Mercury in Scorpio represents the mind of a skeptical researcher. It’s about using negative thinking to get positive results. Still, Mercury is a trickster and is especially adept at fooling us when retrograde and in mysterious Scorpio. Therefore, this is a time to learn – or relearn – that thoughts and reality are not the same thing. Our perceptions can mislead us with false clues and erroneous assumptions, which is where the value of a doubting mind comes in. We can and should question facts and conclusions based on what we see and hear.
You know what they say about assumptions. They make an ass out of you.
The truth lies in our emotions. Those feelings that lie below the level of conscious thought are powerful and meaningful forces. Perhaps we can use this Mercury Retrograde period to step back from the obvious to sense, feel, and connect with the unexplainable mysteries in ourselves and the world around us. Since our primary explanations about human existence are either dimmed by religious or limited by scientific analysis it’s time to open new channels of information. Don’t let doubt and fear keep us from discovering the deeper answers that we need to face the challenges of these transformational times.
Enlightened, emotionally aware zombies, vampires and werewolves ahead?
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Go here to read the full article, sans pith and pathos.
And Happy Halloween, everyone!
