The last time I was able to carve out time to work on Project Thieves, I was amazed at how well it went. I got thousands of words closer to finishing this draft. Even better: I found a way to write like that at will.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict when exactly I will get to do it again.
I’ve started working on an exciting new project through my business that’s going to take up a lot of my time for the next several weeks. But I don’t want to lose the connection to Project Thieves that I only just rekindled. There had to be something I could do besides keeping the file open on my computer at all times.
Making some new art—or finishing one of the dozens of partial sketches—was tempting, but also hard to make time for. A Pinterest moodboard for the story isn’t interactive enough, but I started one anyway. It’s quick to access on my phone if I have only a sliver of spare time.
Rather than spend hours skimming articles and hoping someone else had an answer, I shuffled the 78 cards in my Herbcrafter’s Tarot deck while my tea steeped and pulled out three cards that skewed to the side as I shuffled. They provided excellent insight into how to think about that connection with my writing. The fourth card offered a suggestion on what to do about it.
First Card: The Tower
In The Herbcrafter’s Tarot, The Tower is represented by mushrooms growing on a decomposing log. The act of decay isn’t shown as a tragic, final death, but rather a detoxification and transformation that leads to nourishment and new life. It is change.
This card appearing first is funny for two reasons. First, that exciting work project I mentioned involves mushrooms. Second, I keep a fungus-related quote in my workspace that I find soothing, inspiring, and unsettling all at once.
I’ve been thinking about the last time I finished a full draft of Project Thieves—how close I thought it was to being publish-ready before I ripped it apart and started over. It’s fair to say a part of me is afraid it will happen again.
Second Card: Curandera of Water
The Curandera cards of this deck correspond with Kings in traditional tarot decks. This card shows an old woman’s hand pouring hot water from a kettle into a bathtub filled with seaweed. It presents a soothing image of a routine activity elevated into a ritual of care and healing.
This seemed to be in alignment with what I was looking for. Of course, in an ideal world, I would be able to write every day. That is the dream routine activity. For now, something smaller and faster, but no less deep, would be easier to achieve.
After over a year of stalling, what did I feel when I finally reconnected to Project Thieves and flew through thousands of words in a week? Excitement. I’d been given time and space to talk about what excited me the most about the story I was writing. Then it was suddenly easy and necessary to write.
Third Card: Seven of Water
The Seven of Water card features birch. An Ogham stave hangs near a window, through which we see the living trees standing tall. Leaves are scattered over carved twigs and a book of tree myths and folklore. There’s a bottle of fresh, clear birch water surrounded by cups.
This card felt like a reminder that divination tools are open to personal interpretation, and even symbolic actions with no tangible, recordable effect can have value. It’s possible that a daily activity to keep me connected to my writing might not involve any actual writing.
It was a riddle I didn’t think I could solve over just one cup of tea, so I pulled one more card.
Fourth Card: Four of Fire
This card is busy with many crafts that use elder. Harvested berries spill out of a bowl. Potion bottles, leaves, and yarn are scattered around the table where a wand is being crafted.
It’s cozy, delightful creative chaos. As soon as I saw this card, I knew I had been leaning in the right direction earlier when I thought about art and moodboards. The answer was to make something. And either the making or the result would maintain the connection to my writing.
The guidebook accompanying this deck had a few specific words that jogged my memory: “Create a safe space to make a little magic… Build a foundation that will sustain your work so you can create the life you desire.” It reminded me of a video I saw a few weeks ago about making an altar space for your writing. Something physical you can walk up to and interact with.
A Writing Altar?
When I first started writing Project Thieves back in college, I always had things taped and pinned to my dorm wall around my desk. Character drawings, lines I wanted to find a place for, doodles by friends who read those earliest drafts.
Not an altar by intention, but by accidental function.
The pegboard by my desk now is mostly empty, aside from a few functional items that need to be outside of a tall toddler’s reach. But it does hold one quote card I made in my freshman year and always kept by my desk. Maybe all it needs are some drawings and doodles I can smile at every day.
Do you have a writing altar, or something like it? What do you keep in your creative space to keep your connection to a project? I’d like to know.
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