12: Pathfinding… mapping and planning

I am starting the process of mapping and planning the framework that will guide me through to the completion of the book. I have the characters fleshed out – nearly 100 of them – and I am now faced with creating the world in which they will exist and interact. It’s exciting, daunting and supremely creatively exhausting to figure this bit out! It’s also so fantastically rewarding when it’s finished as it makes writing so much easier as you know how you will move forward and laterally when needed.

Have you noticed that stories aren’t singularly focused on one event? Stories are interlacing relationships that happen in interesting places through remarkable scenes that help the reader focus on the main event at hand. They provide all the background colour and noise, texture and possibilities that make the main event credible, plausible and infinitely interesting.

Storytelling is in our blood. It is profoundly human. It is what holds the entire world together. Most of us are ritualistically inclined to look for and expect traumatic drama that demands our attention. We have been conditioned for this through sensationalist propaganda through media outlets. Simple, loving, good news is almost unpalatable because we are so conditioned to the harsh, bloody taste of news that tears us apart and wears us down.

So, how to tell a story that is riveting – a story that lifts the spirits and touches on the reality of a life and continues to find an interesting thread that pulls everything together into a palatable morsel that leaves us wanting more? That is the priceless question that is as elusive as anyone would want it to be.

Today, I have drawn the 8 of Wands – Swiftness once again! I am using the Thoth Tarot illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris.

This card is a fabulous card to draw on any day! I am delighted to have it re-visit me so often. So, what can I take away from this card today? What is it trying to help me see?

It seems that the Universe is offering the support and encouragement I need for this project and I am overjoyed with the prospect of swiftly making my way through this mapping exercise. Whether or not it is absolutely perfect is not an issue today. Like all things, I am cognizant that change does happen and I am certain that amendments to the book, the characters, the plot, the storyline and the final product will take place until I decide to birth this project and let it breathe on its own.

This card offers me the energy to make thought matter. To take my thoughts and assemble them in such a way that the book will actually begin to come to life. This is a card of communication, of dynamic energy, of movement and of blending and mixing in a harmonious manner! This is a card of directed energy and new enterprise, creativity and industry! This is a card of bringing creativity to life! Wow! What a way to start a day. <whew>

Now, as the Universe is calling me to work, I must leave you until tomorrow… Love, light and blessings! How will you use the energy of the day?