Currently working on: Hot draft of new story
Mood: Borne & buffeted

Sometime in January, I like to pull my Tarot cards for a start-of-the-year spread, to see where I’m at. This year, so far, I’ve been too busy to take a quiet night to get into the right space to think about things. But with the month almost over (and how did THAT happen?!) I figured I better get at least ONE card done so I’d have something to contemplate on my dog walks.

I pulled the Page of Swords. I use the Mythic Tarot deck by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene, illustrated by Tricia Newell. This deck features Greek mythology which I loved as a kid, so I relate to the stories.

The Page of the Swords is represented by Zephyrus, the Greek god of the West Wind. His card is ambivalent — as the Swords tend to be cards that poke at your complacency — since he and his brother the North Wind started out as malicious little shits, prone to starting storms just to knock things over. Eventually Zephyrus married Isis of the rainbow, which mellowed him out. But still, having him start my year gives me lots to think about.

The positive aspects of Zephyrus as the Page of Swords are curiosity, enthusiasm and the emergency of new ideas. The downsides are irritability and petty quarrels that blow up into battles. As I move forward with some new story ideas, I guess I better practice my patience. That’s usually on my list of New Years Resolutions, so I suppose that’s okay. Sigh.

I like this picture of Zephyrus because he is puffing up all these great clouds leading into a blue sky… but the way he is holding the sword makes me think he is about to burst his own bubble. He had better be careful which bubbles he bursts, since some of them are holding him aloft. I better make sure I’m puffing up the right dreams. Not there’s anything wrong with walking sometimes. Ask my dog.

If you play with tarot cards, did you get any thoughtful readings for the new year? Or if you want me to pull a card for you, just let me know in comments and I’ll see which Greek myth might be right for you.

We only get a couple of snows a year — if that — in Portland proper, so every inch is a treasure. At 1 a.m. we were out playing. Good thing too, because it was gone by morning. All that was left were some leaves suspended in the slush.

Authors write books. Reviewers sometimes review those books. They are sorta like strangers who come together for a night of passion and now are unwed parents, sharing this one thing — the story — in common. Hopefully it’s a thing they both love, and they work together to introduce it to the world.** But sometimes the relationship isn’t so smooth. And then the best you can hope for is no unnecessary screaming.***

So in the interest of promoting less screaming, here are my thoughts:

1. You don’t have the right to be a dick. That’s true for authors and reviewers. Nobody can stop you from being a dick, of course, but it’s not a right. It’s wrong. How about just don’t be a dick?

I realize the problem here might be in the interpretation. One man’s dick is another man’s… Uh, well, that analogy is sort of falling apart, but you know what I mean. I have to think, though, most people can identify a dick when they see one (we’re romance readers after all) so just don’t be that guy.

2. Everybody DOES have the right to free speech. That is an actual inalienable right spelled out across the real world (not just teh interwebz) in various bills, constitutions, declarations, international covenants, etc. I get annoyed when some people say some other people have the right to speak freely and yet other people don’t. You can stand on either side of the author/reviewer equation and find a few saying the other side shouldn’t speak. Sorry, it’s my right, and yours too.

The corollary, of course, is that speech has consequences. Again, that’s true of both sides, authors and reviewers. A good rule to go with the right is “Think before you speak/send.” If you have the strength of your convictions and you’re willing to live with the consequences of your speech, then yay you.

3…. No, there is no number 3. Don’t be a dick. Speak freely. That’s it, I think.

* In case you missed it (which I’m slightly ashamed to admit I had) fabulous author Jess Haines has a convenient roundup of links along with her take on the kerfuffling.

** Some people object to anthropomorphizing stories as babies, but this is my analogy. Go get your own.

*** I’m sorry that in this analogy the reviewer is the dead-beat dad, but I think we all know that the burden usually falls on the mother, and of course the story is the primary responsibility of the author.

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