I’m almost caught up with my self-assigned reading. At least, I’m on track to be back on track by the end of the month.

I’ve read:
A Spell in the Wild through April (p260). #alicetarbuck
The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft through p138 (the chapter on developing a filter) #firelyte
Fearless Writing through p130 (the chapter on procrastination) #williamkenower

Currently, I’m catching up on Year of the Witch (I have about 7 passages left to be where I meant to be in May). This week I read a chapter on Shepherding the Land that was edited post-pandemic to account for the way urban dwellers reconnected with the earth during lockdown, and a chapter on Gatekeeping that mostly agreed with the POV of Dabbler’s Guide on the subject.

Best Quote:
Witchcraft is, at its heart, your strength and ability to manifest your desire with what you have right in this very moment(52).
#temperancealden

In Fearless Writing, Kenower talks about writing as a conversation, and while I’ve read this concept before -where you should write like you’re talking to one person, his take is that you should be listening, too. Whether you’re listening for your muse, your subconscious, or your god, this idea certainly makes the process less lonesome. If you don’t have to be responsible for answering all of your questions yourself, it frees you to ask anything and make discoveries.

He’s also the second source this week to talk about “should” as a bad word. Reframing what you should do as what you want to do helps sort out your priorities. Whose expectations are you trying to meet? Why? If something needs to be done, you should want to do it, otherwise, maybe it doesn’t actually need to be done. And if you want to do it, you should approach it with a positive attitude instead of dread, since ultimately you’re getting what you want. This works not just for your own motivation in getting to work, but for finding character motivation as well. Everything comes down to “What do you want?”

Best Quote:
Finding time to write means trusting that simply loving something is enough to finish a book and grow a career (128).