MAJOR ARCANA : The Fool's Journey... I'm Writing A Novel & This Time I Mean Business!!!
Wanna see what I look like when I'm totally uncomfortable & hyper-self-conscious?
Alrighty then... take a look at my very first Youtube video!
Yikes! How funny is that?
It also comes with a Part 2, but I actually bored myself silly watching it back just now and figured that Part 1 was enough to give you the gist of WHY I am willing to share this embarrassing bit of footage here.
And- make no mistake- it iS embarrassing, and I DiD hesitate in sharing it with you.
I even thought about removing it from Youtube all together, but something in me said, "NO!!! No Jo... this is an important part of your journey and a testament to how far you've come. It stays."
I started that channel and the 100 Day Challenge I mentioned in that first video, because I wanted to get back to writing the novel that I had, at that point, worked obsessively on for a year & a half before, as I say in the video, "something not so nice" happened.
Something not so nice? Ha! That's one way to put it.
Another way is to say that I got the most horrifying shock of my life and a nasty case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to go with it.
Which is another reason why this video makes me squirm... I am so underweight & uncharacteristically soft-spoken here.
Sure- my hair looks nice, and that is a really pretty dress, but what I see when I watch this video is a deeply wounded, frightened little girl.
I also see a fighter.
The angel of a therapist who helped me through those early months of recovery repeatedly told me that I was a strong woman. I probably laughed at her the first time she said that. I just didn't see it. Strong? I felt anything but strong.
I felt weak & used.
But now- when I look back on this video- I think how could I NOT see it???
Look at me there- carrying on with my hopes & dreams and making every effort to get back in the game...
That is strong!
I am strong. I know this now.
I did not share my PTSD recovery on that channel. In fact, no one knew what I was going through then except for my family and a couple of close friends.
But what did happen was that healing took place, and that is largely due to the incredible witchy community I found myself drawn to online...
I initially started making videos in order to track my progress at CCOR but soon found myself engaged with the wonderful witches of Youtube. It was there, interacting & sharing with that magickal community, that I felt myself coming back to life.
I thrived on those interactions and, as my confidence grew, found that I was actually pretty good at making videos & had something of value to share.
People started writing in to ask me questions about the Law Of Attraction, my high raw diet, and my secret for staying so positive & upbeat all the time. It was then that I realized I had found my sweet spot.
I was doing what I loved, and other people were benefiting from that. Ding! Ding! Ding!
And- just like that, KiCKASS WiTCH was born...
Staring an online biz, even one as fun & engaging as KiCKASS WiTCH, is hard work. And no- it's not quite as easy as "do what you love, and the money will follow."
It took me a long couple of years before the money really started to follow, but- I will say that it is the doing-what-you-love bit that allows you to put up with the many challenges of starting your own biz online and whatever poverty that entails.
At least- that's the way it worked for me.
I really do LOVE inspiring you to "create the kickass life of your dreams", and have so much fun thinking up new ways to do that.
KiCKASS WiTCH is the dream I did not know I had, and it lights me up in a way that gets me bounding out of bed every morning, eager to start a new day...
But- it is NOT the only dream in my heart, and, if I am going to carry on telling you to follow your bliss, THiNK BiG & all that good shit... I've got to walk my talk.
I've got to finish that novel.
You may remember from this CRAFTY WiTCH hangout I hosted last year that I am BiG on collage journaling...
I so am! And- I always have to christen a new day planner with mini vision boards for what it is I intend to create in the year ahead.
This year, I am working with Danielle Laporte's Desire Map Day Planner, which is in & of itself mega awesome, but I am the kind of person who really needs to make something like this my own before it will sing.
And so- this is what it looks like now...
See that yellow kitchen timer there? It's an integral part of my new writing schedule, which looks a lil' something like this...
★ Write 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.
★ Break those 2 hours of writing into 20 minute chunks with 10 minute breaks for moving my butt in between (thus- the kitchen timer).
★ This is the absolute bare minimum of writing I am requiring myself to do. Of course, I can always write more...
★ These 2 hours of writing a day are ONLY for moving forward, word after after. That means- no editing, no reading what I just wrote, no researching, no navel-gazing, no nuttin' but type-type-typing, go-go-going... onward & upward until this thing is done!
I have decided that, since I tend to throw up all kinds of clown-like resistance to anything even resembling a deadline, I will NOT set a deadline for this project. I will instead commit to the writing, and that is what I'm doing here now.
I, Joanna DeVoe, kooky creatrix of all things KiCKASS WiTCH, hereby hold myself publicly accountable. I will be updating you on my novel-writing progress every other Monday here on this blog, and... what do ya know- another new series is born!
That means that BOOK NERD WEEKLY is going bi-weekly, as I will be splitting my Mondays between that & this.
Got any fun ideas for what to rename that series, since it won't be weekly anymore & BOOK NERD Bi-WEEKLY doesn't quite have the same charm?
I am calling this new series MAJOR ARCANA for the same reason I named my original Youtube channel that.
Major Arcana means "Big Secret"... and that's how I feel about my novel.
I want to share it with you. I can't wait to share it with you!!! But- until it's done, it's contents & title shall remain a secret. Shshshshhh...
You may also know that "Major Arcana" is the title given to the suit of 22 cards that make up the infamous "Fool's Journey" in tarot...
Since I am a tarot enthusiast & know that writing a novel with the intention of getting a traditional publishing deal is considered an extremely foolish thing to do, the name seems all the more fitting.
So yeah- traditional publishing deals don't happen all that often any more. And yeah- spending weeks, months, years writing a novel that may never see the light of day is a crazy thing to do with my limited free time.
But- what the hell! I'm cuhraaaazy like that, and HAPPY to take you along for what I hope will be the ride of a life time...
This is MY dream.
This is me creating the kickass life of MY dreams, and I hope that, in sharing it here, I will inspire you to take a foolish Fool's Journey of your own! -xo
Alrighty then... take a look at my very first Youtube video!
(CCOR = "Co-Creating Our Reality", an online community.)
Yikes! How funny is that?
It also comes with a Part 2, but I actually bored myself silly watching it back just now and figured that Part 1 was enough to give you the gist of WHY I am willing to share this embarrassing bit of footage here.
And- make no mistake- it iS embarrassing, and I DiD hesitate in sharing it with you.
I even thought about removing it from Youtube all together, but something in me said, "NO!!! No Jo... this is an important part of your journey and a testament to how far you've come. It stays."
I started that channel and the 100 Day Challenge I mentioned in that first video, because I wanted to get back to writing the novel that I had, at that point, worked obsessively on for a year & a half before, as I say in the video, "something not so nice" happened.
Something not so nice? Ha! That's one way to put it.
Another way is to say that I got the most horrifying shock of my life and a nasty case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to go with it.
Which is another reason why this video makes me squirm... I am so underweight & uncharacteristically soft-spoken here.
Sure- my hair looks nice, and that is a really pretty dress, but what I see when I watch this video is a deeply wounded, frightened little girl.
I also see a fighter.
The angel of a therapist who helped me through those early months of recovery repeatedly told me that I was a strong woman. I probably laughed at her the first time she said that. I just didn't see it. Strong? I felt anything but strong.
I felt weak & used.
But now- when I look back on this video- I think how could I NOT see it???
Look at me there- carrying on with my hopes & dreams and making every effort to get back in the game...
That is strong!
I am strong. I know this now.
I did not share my PTSD recovery on that channel. In fact, no one knew what I was going through then except for my family and a couple of close friends.
But what did happen was that healing took place, and that is largely due to the incredible witchy community I found myself drawn to online...
I initially started making videos in order to track my progress at CCOR but soon found myself engaged with the wonderful witches of Youtube. It was there, interacting & sharing with that magickal community, that I felt myself coming back to life.
I thrived on those interactions and, as my confidence grew, found that I was actually pretty good at making videos & had something of value to share.
People started writing in to ask me questions about the Law Of Attraction, my high raw diet, and my secret for staying so positive & upbeat all the time. It was then that I realized I had found my sweet spot.
I was doing what I loved, and other people were benefiting from that. Ding! Ding! Ding!
And- just like that, KiCKASS WiTCH was born...
"Do what you love and the money will follow."
- Marsha Sinetar
Staring an online biz, even one as fun & engaging as KiCKASS WiTCH, is hard work. And no- it's not quite as easy as "do what you love, and the money will follow."
It took me a long couple of years before the money really started to follow, but- I will say that it is the doing-what-you-love bit that allows you to put up with the many challenges of starting your own biz online and whatever poverty that entails.
At least- that's the way it worked for me.
I really do LOVE inspiring you to "create the kickass life of your dreams", and have so much fun thinking up new ways to do that.
KiCKASS WiTCH is the dream I did not know I had, and it lights me up in a way that gets me bounding out of bed every morning, eager to start a new day...
But- it is NOT the only dream in my heart, and, if I am going to carry on telling you to follow your bliss, THiNK BiG & all that good shit... I've got to walk my talk.
I've got to finish that novel.
"You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips."
-Oliver Goldsmith
You may remember from this CRAFTY WiTCH hangout I hosted last year that I am BiG on collage journaling...
I so am! And- I always have to christen a new day planner with mini vision boards for what it is I intend to create in the year ahead.
This year, I am working with Danielle Laporte's Desire Map Day Planner, which is in & of itself mega awesome, but I am the kind of person who really needs to make something like this my own before it will sing.
And so- this is what it looks like now...
See that yellow kitchen timer there? It's an integral part of my new writing schedule, which looks a lil' something like this...
★ Write 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.
★ Break those 2 hours of writing into 20 minute chunks with 10 minute breaks for moving my butt in between (thus- the kitchen timer).
★ This is the absolute bare minimum of writing I am requiring myself to do. Of course, I can always write more...
★ These 2 hours of writing a day are ONLY for moving forward, word after after. That means- no editing, no reading what I just wrote, no researching, no navel-gazing, no nuttin' but type-type-typing, go-go-going... onward & upward until this thing is done!
I have decided that, since I tend to throw up all kinds of clown-like resistance to anything even resembling a deadline, I will NOT set a deadline for this project. I will instead commit to the writing, and that is what I'm doing here now.
I, Joanna DeVoe, kooky creatrix of all things KiCKASS WiTCH, hereby hold myself publicly accountable. I will be updating you on my novel-writing progress every other Monday here on this blog, and... what do ya know- another new series is born!
That means that BOOK NERD WEEKLY is going bi-weekly, as I will be splitting my Mondays between that & this.
Got any fun ideas for what to rename that series, since it won't be weekly anymore & BOOK NERD Bi-WEEKLY doesn't quite have the same charm?
I am calling this new series MAJOR ARCANA for the same reason I named my original Youtube channel that.
Major Arcana means "Big Secret"... and that's how I feel about my novel.
I want to share it with you. I can't wait to share it with you!!! But- until it's done, it's contents & title shall remain a secret. Shshshshhh...
You may also know that "Major Arcana" is the title given to the suit of 22 cards that make up the infamous "Fool's Journey" in tarot...
Since I am a tarot enthusiast & know that writing a novel with the intention of getting a traditional publishing deal is considered an extremely foolish thing to do, the name seems all the more fitting.
So yeah- traditional publishing deals don't happen all that often any more. And yeah- spending weeks, months, years writing a novel that may never see the light of day is a crazy thing to do with my limited free time.
But- what the hell! I'm cuhraaaazy like that, and HAPPY to take you along for what I hope will be the ride of a life time...
This is MY dream.
This is me creating the kickass life of MY dreams, and I hope that, in sharing it here, I will inspire you to take a foolish Fool's Journey of your own! -xo