Tag: writing exercise

How To Write Better Dialogue Using This Easy Tarot Prompt

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Do you need some inspiration? 

Are you in a writing slump or maybe coming out of writer’s block? 

Or are you just in between projects and want something fun, something that’s easy, something that involves tarot cards? 

Great! Then let me show you my easy and fun tarot dialogue writing prompt. 

And if you’d rather watch me go through the exercise, then you can click here!!

Grab Your Favorite Tarot Deck

I find it most helpful to take out any cards that don’t have people, or have too many people, but you might also find that you’re just not in the mood to write as kids or the devil, and that’s okay. Once you take out all the cards that won’t work for you, shuffle the rest of the stack and pull two cards.

Note, once you get the hang of this exercise you can totally pull more than two cards.

 

Create Your Characters

For each card, take a few minutes and come up with your characters:

    • Who are these people?
    • What do they do for a living?
    • Where do they live?
    • What things do they like?

These don’t have to be too in depth – in fact, it might be helpful to set a timer so you can do this quickly.

Once you have your characters, think of a setting that might work for both of them. A bus stop, school or work, and a party are all good places to start, but think about your favorite genre and what might make the most sense for your cards and characters.

And finally, think about what each character wants in this scene. For my example in my video one character wanted to flirt with the other and the other character wanted to be left alone.  Instant conflict!! 

 

Write Your Scene

Now it’s time to grab your journal or open a document online and start writing.  You can write out the scene as if it were a chapter in a novel with scene setting and description or you can just concentrate on the dialogue and write like this was a play.

 

CHAD: So, what are you reading?

ELEANOR: Psych 101, doing some studying.

 

Ways You Can Use This Prompt

Yes, this prompt is super fun as a general writing exercise for when you’re in between projects or to even help brainstorm a new project, but it’s also really great when you’re stuck in your novel.

Grab the tarot cards you used to create your characters, or choose them now, and do this same exercise – but I would put them in some wacky setting not used in your book. So if you’re writing YA contemporary and most of your scenes are set in school, put them somewhere really wild. Maybe they all went on a scavenger hunt or they’re trapped in an escape room and see how they all react. It can give you some really amazing insights and will hopefully unlock some things for your book.

If you like these kinds of tarot writing prompts, join my newsletter for even more and receive my free training, Novel Narrator, all about creating characters using tarot cards immediately. 

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How To Make The Book Writing Process More Fun

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Has writing your novel lost its luster?

You started writing with all kinds of ideas and energy and excitement, but now that you’re in the muddy middle, it all just feels a little blah, a little hard. Sitting down and forcing yourself to write feels about as much fun as riding the New York City subway without air conditioning in the middle of August – icky.

Let me share three reasons you might be finding the writing process less than enjoyable and a few ways to fix that.

Your characters are feeling dull


Now, one reason for this might just be that you need a break, because you are so involved in your characters and their lives, it all becomes repetitive, but if you don’t feel like you know your characters very well or you’re not writing them in an exciting way, that’s when you need to take a step back and talk to your characters.

I suggest interviewing them, asking them some questions like:

  • What do you need me to know today?

  • What do you need me to know about your story?

  • What can you tell me about “other character names here”?

  • Why aren’t you doing what I want you to do?


Or, you can do one of my favorite things – journal as if you were them! You can do this in a physical journal and hand write or you can do this in a word document. Basically just pretend you are your character and pick a day, either from your book or from before your book started, and write the journal entry as if you are them. It tells you a lot about their quirks, their habits, how they speak to themselves, what they share when no one else is around. It can be very, very insightful. 

Another fun thing I like to do, especially when things are feeling stagnant, is throw all the characters into one scene and throw something big at them.  Even if this is not something that’s going to be in your book later, it can still be a lot of fun and give you some insights into how your characters interact with each other and handle the pressure of a new situation.  An example would be having them all at one party, now this works for me because I write young adult books, but you can also have them all at a bar or the office, and then I might decide that police show up to shut the party down.  How do each of my main characters react to that? And write as if you’re going to hit all of your characters, write from their point of view – again, even if this isn’t how your book is set up, it gives you time in each of their heads to find out more about them and their quirks, their habits, their issues.

 

Your plots feels a little flat


Again, you might just be tired of writing and need a break – and that’s cool, or it might mean that you need to add a few things into your plot, some new ideas to add tension or conflict.  I like to brainstorm by using Tarot cards, and you can watch the video above to see a real-world example, but you can also just start writing down new thoughts, ideas, and come up with something to add to your plot now that you are further along that you maybe didn’t think of back when you were first starting out writing or working on your outline.

Maybe it’s not so much the plot itself, but the next few chapters you need to write aren’t exciting you but a chapter or scene a few bullet points down is.  Give yourself permission to write out of order. I don’t always do this, but something you are just too jazzed about an upcoming scene and writing that will do two things. One, you’ll keep up the momentum and excitement you were feeling at the beginning on a project. And two, it will show you that you might need to punch up the chapters or scenes you skipped to make them more exciting.

The words are just feeling super weird when you write them


If the words sound weird, and this is what’s causing the writing process to now seem fun, add in something new to your writing ritual.  I like to have special things that I do before, during, and after I write.  For me, I like to pull a Tarot card, light a candle and play a pump up playlist to get me super hyped for writing.  During my session I’ll have a vision board, Tarot card, or my Big Why somewhere close by to remind me of why I’m telling this story and I usually also play music while I write.  Afterwards I reward myself with chocolate, a fancy coffee, some downtime, or time with my family. Creating a writing ritual like this makes the whole process more fun, more magical and makes you happier. 

You can also create a reward system so with every five writing sessions, you get a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts coffee. Of if you write every day for two weeks straight, you get three days off, whatever works for you, but figure out a little reward system.  It doesn’t have to be anything huge or expensive, if buying a Starbucks is too much, maybe make yourself a yummy beverage that you only make when you’re done writing or have a run of writing sessions. 

I also like to make it a game. I love to use timers and I try to see how many words I can write in 25 minutes. (Note, I’ve been doing this awhile and 25 minutes works for me, but I would start with 10 if you’re new to timers and writing).  I set the timer and see how many words I can write within that time frame. Write the number down.  The next time I sit down to write, I see if I can “beat” my own number.  Let’s say in one session you write 100 words, can you do 110 the next day? 120 the day after that?  If this starts to stress you out, please just put this option away and go back to the reward system instead – I don’t want anyone being more flustered and frustrated with their writing, okay?  Cool!

The other thing I want you to remember is that our writing feels weird to us, especially in first draft land. We are trying to tell the story that’s in our head and putting it down on paper, and that is a funky process. Just know the words are not always going to feel right. You can’t always be subjective with your own writing and that’s okay. That’s what revisions and beta readers and editors are for, down the road. It’s okay if the words sound a little funky to yourself.  Remind yourself that you can always fix things later.

First drafts are messy and that’s okay!

Now that you know the three reasons why sitting down to write may feel hard, which one is hitting you the most right now? And what are you planning on doing this week to make writing more fun? I would love to know in the comments below. 

And if you found this helpful, I would love for you to check out my Muddy Middle to Manuscript coaching package where I will walk you through a process of getting very clear on your Big Why, becoming friends with your characters, and we will fix your outline so you can type The End all with a smile on your face.  

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Kickstart Your Creativity Using Multiple Tarot Cards

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Let’s say you’ve been dabbling with using Tarot cards for your writing and you’ve been pulling one card at a time – great!!  Looking at one card can help you gain insight, get you out of your own head, and spark ideas but by adding a second (or even third) card, you can take your writing from pretty awesome to freaking amazing! 

 

Look at each card individually first

Grab your favorite Tarot deck, shuffle and pull one card at random.  Spend some time looking at that card and see what comes up for you.  Look at the background, foreground, what the “character” of the card is doing, colors, animals, etc. Note or write down everything you can think of.

Now, pull the next card and do the same thing.  Spend some time and note all the things about this card as it stands without thinking about the first card.  Again, look at the background, the foreground, and the character.  Write it all down. 

Watch the video below to see real world examples using one of my favorite Tarot decks for creative writing.

Look at the cards together

Here’s where the magic comes in.  Put the two cards together and start looking at what’s the same about each card.  Do they both have water elements? Are there similar colors? Does each card have animals? Are they both in the same suit? Is the character facing the same direction? Anything and everything that’s the same gets noticed first.

Then take note of what’s different.  Is one card more warm tones while the 2nd card is more cool tones? Does one have lots of animals while the other is pretty barren? You can notice anything that catches your eye that’s different about the cards.

You can then assign meaning to those things based on your writing style or genre or just what strikes your fancy.  If you’re trying to get help writing a scene, let that guide you to what’s more important.  Like I tell people, there is no wrong answer – there is just YOUR answer.  So write everything down and start connecting the dots.

 

Have fun

Here’s where the fun comes in – start writing by putting them into a scene together.  They can be attending the same party, waiting for the bus, be co-workers, sitting at a bar – seriously the sky’s the limit here.  Pick something that works for your genre or a setting you like and start from there.  You can type all of this, handwrite, or turn on your phone and record yourself and then get it transcribed or type it up later.

OR another fun writing activity is to start the action on one card and finish it on the other.  For example, let’s say you pulled a Queen and a King card.  You could start with whatever’s happening  

 

Try adding more cards

This is something you can do with multiple cards as well.  Just follow the same steps – look at each card individually, then look at them together – what’s the same, what’s different, and then group them together and start writing! 

 

Things to think about

If you pull a card that doesn’t have a person or character on it, can you still use the card?  Sure, just use elements from the card to either create a character or add to the scene – you can combine the elements of both cards to create one perfect setting, one weird character, or one conflict that you can then use.  

It’s usually helpful, before you start, to decide if you want to write a scene, create a character, or if you just need some inspiration to get around writer’s block.  It’s helpful, but not needed if you just want to have some fun and see what comes up for you – again, there is no wrong answer, there is only YOUR answer and your answer is beautiful – and so are you!

Did you find this helpful? You might enjoy my signature course, Turn on the Tap, happening this June – so join the waitlist by clicking here to find out more ways to use Tarot with your writing, especially for ways to deal with and get unstuck if you are dealing with writer’s block.

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4 Things I Do To Defeat Writer’s Block

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Suffering from writer’s block can call one to feel guilty, shameful, and depressed.  I have four simple things that I do before, during and after my writing sessions that help me defeat writer’s block. 

 

Have a writing ritual

The beautiful thing about writing rituals is they can be pretty much anything you want! The key is to find a few things that help you get into the mood for writing and do them consistently.  I use Tarot cards, candles or essential oil diffusers, and music as my writing ritual.  These help me slow down and break away from my day, gives me a chance to journal or do some prewriting to help prime the well, and ground me into the scene I’m going to write. 

 

Having a ritual that you do every single time you sit down to write helps tell your body that it’s time to settle down, settle in, and start creating.  And even if the writing ritual is the only thing you get done that day, if you are consistent, eventually your brain and body will connect and words will start to flow. 

 

Keep your Big Why in mind

Before I start writing any book, I like to think about my Big Whys – both the specific book project and how it fits into my overall writing goals.  I like to keep this where I can see it so I can review if I start feeling disconnected or if writer’s block starts to creep in.  Reading it at least once a week might be helpful or re-writing it every so often might work better – try both and see what feels most helpful for you. Just make sure you are thinking about why you wanted to write this story in the first place to keep your motivation high and writer’s block at bay.

 

 

Befriend your Inner Editor

This is going to sound a little nutty, but I have befriended my inner editor.  We all have that negative voice, that inner critic that tells us – this doesn’t sound good OR no one is going to want to read this – which can affect our ability to sit down and write new words.  I don’t believe this voice can ever truly go away, but I do think if we work on making that voice a bit more friendly we can work with it rather than have it work against us. 

 

By becoming friends with my Inner Editor, I can give it jobs to do so it feels important and like it’s part of the writing team and therefore will leave me alone more often than not while I’m writing my drafts and editing. Now, I’ve chosen a Tarot Card that personifies my Inner Editor and then started a conversation with them in a journal – and yes, I wrote out both parts … Again, it sounds nutty but it works!

* If you think this is a cool idea, wait a few weeks as I have a whole blog post just about this concept coming up!  

 

Track your data

Every week I like to write down what worked this week, what didn’t work this week and what needs to be adjusted for the following week.  You can also do this every time you write as well, especially if you are testing writing times or rituals, by jotting down when you wrote, where you wrote, what rituals you performed and any other notes that will be helpful. 

 

If you track data you can catch problems before they become huge issues. For example, every time you sit down to write at 10am the words flow out of you with no issues but 2pm feels super hard to even write a sentence, let alone pages of words.  The trick here is to leave emotions out of it – yes, we want to note how you felt during your writing sessions, but I don’t want you to judge the amount you wrote.  It’s a fine balance but if you can take the judgement out and just look at the data you can see that 10am just works better for you – that’s good information, useful information that can help you plan out the next week’s writing schedule. 

 

Catching things early keeps us moving forward, rather than getting off the rails and then writer’s block just comes in and causes guilt, shame and depression all over again. 

 

I would love to know which of these four tips was the most helpful? Which one are you just itching to implement? 

 

And if these ideas got you excited to get back to writing, then I invite you to sign up for the waitlist for my signature course – Turn on the Tap – to get early intel and a discount the day before the cart officially opens in early February!!

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Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Be Ashamed If You Are Suffering From Writer’s Block

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
Shouldn't be ashamed if you are suffering from writer's block

Feeling stuck or suffering from Writer’s Block is not fun, but it’s nothing to feel ashamed of. You know what I’m talking about. Someone asks how the book writing is going and you say things are good even though you haven’t technically sat down in days (or months) and actually written or edited anything.  You feel terrible, guilty, and some shame but you don’t have to.

What exactly is Writer’s Block anyways?  

Maybe you’re not writing at all and totally avoiding sitting down at your computer at all costs – your kitchen has never been more clean and organized though.

Maybe you are writing some, but you hate every minute of it and you’re starting to want to avoid that computer, the bathroom mold is calling your name. 

Maybe you’re feeling a bit icky about the words you are producing as nothing sounds right, nothing feels right, and you’d rather spend your precious writing time researching one tiny detail in your novel, make another mood board or playlist, and reading that new book that might help you write yours. Yes, all of those things are fun and very much needed (at least to me) but there’s a fine line between research and procrastination.

Creative Fatigue

We are all feeling wiped out – Pandemic, lockdowns, online school for our kids, Zoom meetings all day, no coffee shops to write at, no aimlessly wandering Target listening to other people’s conversations – it’s been hard and we are all feeling dry and burnt out so luckily, you are not alone.

Why do I say luckily? Because when we’re having writer’s block and we starting feel ashamed we think we alone are suffering, but the truth is we are all feeling degrees of this pandemic pickle (a phrase I coined because I hate pickles but love alliteration – and pickles are sour and that’s the feeling I sometimes get when blocks rear their ugly head) but we can do some things to help.

Change Your Routine

You probably can’t go to Starbucks or other coffee houses to write, but you can go to a different location in your house.  You can try hand writing a few pages if you’re used to typing (or vice versa) or go totally nuts and use the voice memo on your smartphone to speak aloud a passage, scene, or whole chapter.  Or use the voice memo feature to talk through issues you are having with your novel like a talk therapy session.

Journal

Like I mentioned a few blog posts back you can journal as if you are one of all of your characters which does help unlock some fun dialogue and patterns of speech for each of them, but you can also just journal about your book. What do you like about your story? What are you not liking right now? What do you love about your main character? What do you hate about them? What do you love about your antagonist? What makes them the perfect villain? Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day to day grind of writing that we forget why we started writing our current WIP in the first place. Why do you love your story? What was the inspiration? 

Talk It Out

Do you have another writing friend? Ask them how they’re feeling and let them know what you’re feeling and see if you can help each other out.  If none of your friends are writers, turn to Facebook or another group online (Discord has quite a few) to share what you’re feeling and let others offer advice.  Being honest and authentic with others allows them to be open and honest back and to let them see that they are not alone either.  

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

It’s hard right now. Writer’s Block is always hard (even without being in lockdown) but please don’t beat yourself up that won’t help anything and will only make you feel worse. Instead, give yourself some grace.  Talk to yourself the way you would your child or your best friend if they were having this issue.  Make your favorite hot beverage and tell that beautiful writer in the mirror that tomorrow will be better. 

Do Something

Write something…even if it’s one sentence.  Edit something…even if it’s one paragraph.  In fact, it’s better to restart slowly.  Make a plan to write for 1 minute and then stop. Do that for a few days and see if you’re itching to get back to it. If not, great – keep up with the one minute a day until you do feel better.  One minute a day is better than not writing at all for months on end. I know it seems silly, but trust me it will keep you connected to your novel, your story and your characters without driving yourself crazy.  It really is a win-win.

Celebrate

Look back at how far you’ve come.  Did you write one chapter before writer’s block? Great! Did you get through a whole draft but editing is causing you problems? Awesome!  Celebrate what you’ve done and see that you can and will write again.  Celebrate that you are aware of your problem and you are taking steps to fix them. Smile at that beautiful writer in the mirror and celebrate that you are a Writer – own it, claim it, call it, shout it out loud and proud. You are a beautiful writer and I never want you to forget it!

Which one of these tips and tricks are you going to try first? I would love to know.

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3 Things To Remember When You Are Feeling Stuck

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
Things to Remember when you are stuck

You used my tips from my last blog post and your characters are talking to you again, the words are flowing, and you are feeling on top of the world…until you aren’t. You just can’t get into the groove, words sound stilted, your dialogue sounds like a kindergartener wrote them, you are just feeling stuck. 

Why? What’s happening?

You have the dreaded writer’s block, even though you can’t seem to admit that to anyone – not even yourself – you know you are avoiding your laptop, or that Scrivener file – and it’s starting to affect your mental health.  You are letting your past issues affect your present and it sucks.

You Are Awesome

First, don’t lose sight of how amazing you are.  Just because you are stuck right now and you’ve had some issues sitting down and getting quality words down on paper – and you’re probably starting to feel crappy – remember that you are awesome.  You have had days and months of writing amazing things, quickly and in total flow which means you can get back there again.  

You Are Magic

Secondly, remember that everything you need is inside of you – right now and always! You just might need some help.  Another person to talk things out with (like a Tarot Reader who specializes in helping writers perhaps?) or just a day or two where you don’t stress about the words.  Journal, interview your characters, try something else, build a playlist, dance, draw, do anything else to get out of your own way.

You Are Going To Be Okay

And finally, realize that things might look different.  You might have planned and made a detailed outline and then your main character did something to screw everything up, but after you looked at it – it’s actually pretty brilliant. Or maybe you don’t outline but you had some ideas and nothing is panning out the way you thought…but what you are writing is actually funny so go with that.  OR maybe you wanted to write fantasy but aliens keep popping up – okay, take a step back and see if you really, deep down want to write Science Fiction?  It’s all OKAY, trust me.  Go back to step two and remember that you are magic!

How are you feeling now? Can you take a deep breath, remember how magical and awesome you are, and try again?  Let me know how it goes below.

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4 Tips To Get Your Characters Talking To You Again

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
Getting characters to talk to you

Has this ever happened to you? You are writing your draft, words are flowing and then one day your characters just stop talking to you?  You know what I’m talking about – words stop, dialogue sounds wrong, characters are doing things that are not in your outline.  What is going on?

We all know that characters have a mind of their own sometimes and that can mean they stop talking to us which can cause us to stop writing all together which is not great for getting that draft finished is it?  In fact, it’s downright frustrating!

I have a few things that might work…try a few and see what works best for you.

Visualize Your Characters

I like to grab my favorite Tarot deck and either grab the card I used to create my character in the first place or choose one that I think represents them now. OR if you’d rather have a real picture, head to Pinterest and find an image that looks like the character you have in your head.  Now you have something to look at, something to talk to, someone you can keep in your mind while you are writing.

Journal

Another helpful exercise I like to do when I’m feeling blah with my characters is journal as if I am them. Would your character type or handwrite their diary entry? Purple pen or blue ink? Flowery language and doodles or bullet journal style? This can get you back into the mind of your characters pretty fast.  If you are stuck on a particular scene, then use that to fuel what you journal about.  If you’re just kind of stuck in general, then start having your character talk about another character in the book and then flip flop and do the same thing with the other character. Very eye opening and will help unlock lots of stuff you might not have thought about originally.

Interview Them

Very similar to the journal exercise, think of some questions you could ask your characters and then interview them.  This is where I love to have to have an image to look up so I’m talking to someone or some representation of them.  You can do this via writing, you can record yourself on your phone using voice memo or video yourself and use different voices for your characters – this might just be the ex-actor in me – but it can be fun to “play” as if you are them for a while.

Role Play

Adding on to the interview – act out a scene from your book being all the characters.  Like a crazy one man play – run around your living room acting out a scene or chapter – either one you’ve already written or the one you are stuck on. Keep a notebook close so you can take notes or film yourself and watch it back later so you can write down what you said. It can be silly, fun, and get your creative juices flowing quickly.

Which one are you thinking of trying first?  Let me know how it goes.

And if you need some help creating characters, download my free training Novel Narrator: Easily Create Your Book’s Characters in 30 Minutes using Tarot here or by signing up below.

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5 Tips for Choosing a Tarot Deck to Use for Creative Writing

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Choosing a Tarot deck is a very personal decision because you need to feel connected to the imagery used, the colors and overall feel of the deck, but I do have some tips for helping you choose a good deck to use for your writing or other creative projects.

People

I like a deck with people. Now, if you write children’s books and deal with animal characters then by all means look for a fun deck with animals. OR if you connect with animals and use those types of characteristics in writing your novels then, again, look for a deck that includes animals.  I like people, preferably diverse people featuring both genders.  And I like those people to be doing things in my Tarot decks, either engaging with each other or their environments.  

Backgrounds

Personally this is the biggest factor for me – there has to be interesting things going on in the background of the images.  Mountain ranges, cities, rivers, the sun or the moon, animal friends, other people, ships, different light sources, volcanoes, different places, different seasons, etc.  Elements in the background are huge for me when developing characters, plots, and helping with various other issues that I turn to my cards for.

Foregrounds

This is an odd concept, but go with me.  So the backgrounds are the elements behind the people. Then you have the people. Foregrounds are things happening either in front of the people or next to the people.  

For example, look at this version of the Five of Wands from the Gilded Tarot Royale deck. 

In the background you have a sunrise or sunset and possibly a storm brewing.  The people are all fighting each other with magical wands.  In the foreground you have this gnarled branch that has fallen with thorns and flowers growing on it.  And even more in front is some tall grasses that are sticking up in the air.   

Side note – this is one of my favorite decks because it has so much going on.

Color

I need bright, bold, beautiful, rich colors.  In life and in Tarot.  Again, look at that example card image above.  There are yellows, greens, pinks, purples, and even some red.  So many colors!!  I use color to help me get a feel for the scene, more info about a character and even help me describe certain things within my writing.  Let’s say you need to talk about a sunset, I could pull a card or flip through my deck until I get to the card above and now I have some beautiful imagery to draw from.

Ease of Use

Can you read Roman numerals? Or would you rather not?  Do the wands and swords look different enough in the deck or will you always be wondering which is which? Before you buy a deck, see if you can look at some of the cards online to make sure you like the deck.  It’s even better if you fall in love and can’t wait to use your deck, but I’ll take like for now.  If you’d rather not spend money on a physical deck until you do feel the love, then download a few apps onto your phone and use those first.  Bonus, they are cheaper and then you’ll always have a deck with you!

Are you ready to grab a deck?

Here are a few that I recommend you look at – all of them have beautiful imagery, people, fun colors, and I think they are easy to use – but you should check them out and make sure you agree!

Rider Waite Smith

Modern Witch Tarot

Gilded Tarot Royale

The Light Seers Tarot

The Steampunk Tarot

Modern Spellcaster’s Tarot

What deck is calling to you?  Let me know below!

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How Asking the Right Type of Questions During a Tarot Reading Puts You In The Driver’s Seat

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Have you ever had a Tarot reading done? How about a reading specifically for your writing career? 

I am so happy to announce that I’m now offering two options for Tarot Readings for Writers!!  30 minute written readings and 60 minute live Zoom readings. To check these out, click here and book an appointment.  I can’t wait to meet you!!

Now that you’ve booked an appointment with me, let’s talk about asking the right type of questions.

What would be a bad question?

Well, for starters…anything that can be answered with a simple Yes or No.  They can work but if you’re going to pay me, let’s get some juicy stuff going. Save those easy, quick type questions for your own personal deck and your morning coffee time. 

Also, I can read on your love life, but I’d really rather concentrate on you, your book projects, and any fears or mindset shifts that YOU need to take to further your career.  

What makes a good question?

Something open-ended, that concentrates on YOU and what you can control. For example, don’t ask – Will “amazing agent” sign me as a client this month?  That’s totally out of your control, unfortunately.  But you could instead ask – What can I do to attract the right agent?  It’s a subtle shift, but one that puts the control back on YOU, which is really what tarot is best at – giving you the answers to help you create the life you want. 

Here are some other ways to start really good, juicy, in depth tarot question starters – just fill in the rest with your main problem or issue and reword it to make sense.  Also note, if we’re doing a live Zoom reading, I can totally help you decide how to word your question for the most effective Tarot answer.

Tarot Question Starter Prompts

What is coming into my consciousness about…

How can I discover…

What do I need to know to decide…

How am I presently living in alignment with…

How am I presently living out of alignment with…

What’s blocking me from…

What will bring me closer to…

What do I need to focus on for X to happen?

Let’s Try an Example

Ok, you want to know which idea or book project you should focus on next. 

You could ask – What do I need to know to decide between my Sci Fi idea and my Fantasy idea.  

Now, I might ask you a little bit about each project as I shuffle the cards, and then lay out 1-3 cards per idea or choice to help you make the most informed decision about which idea is best for right now.  

Asking this open ended type question gets you a much deeper, richer reading than just asking –  Which book project should I focus on next? This is asking the cards to make the choice for you, but what you really need is more information so you can make the decision with a clear head, open heart, and alignment with the universe.  Juicy stuff!

The BIG thing about asking the right type of questions for a Tarot reading is making sure it empowers you to take action. That’s why I like open-ended questions that focus on YOU and what you need to know. It gives you next steps and things to work on or think about so you can be in the driver’s seat of your own destiny.

If you ask when will that agent call or sign me? Well, to be honest, I have no idea because I don’t know what you’re doing to help the universe offer you that agent’s call. But if you ask what’s blocking me from getting an agent right now? I can ask the cards for guideposts to help offer you things that you can do.  Things that you can work on and fix so you are in a better position for the universe to offer you the agent. See the difference?

Have you ever had a Tarot Reading done?

If you’re interested, you can click here and book one with me.  I’m offering 30 minute written readings and 60 minute live Zoom calls.  If you have any questions, drop them below and I’ll be sure to answer them. 

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Let’s Meet The Rest Of Our Cast

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

So originally I wanted week 3 to be actually writing the beginning of our story, but after the simple outline was finished I knew I needed to spend a tiny bit more time with the characters.  Again, instead of a formal tarot spread, I just pulled 1-2 cards for each person.

If you’d like to catch up – here’s the article for Week 1 and Week 2

PAIGE

Okay, let’s jump right in with our main character, Paige. I pulled a card for her inner strength and her inner demon so I could get into her brain and find out what she wants in this world and what’s holding her back.

Inner Strength/Wants – Strength

I see this card showing us that she has great confidence and self-esteem, she knows what she wants in life – something to do with animals, possibly a veterinarian or someone who rescues animals.  She has great inner determination and knows exactly how her life is going to go.  Optimistic even.

Inner Demons/Issues – Temperance

BUT I also see that with that determination comes some self-absorption or selfishness, she feels the world should revolve around her. She’s a bit insensitive at times, even tactless and I’m curious about her spirituality.  I get from this card that she might have lost faith OR that she really wants some kind of connection to a higher power and can’t seem to get there.

FATHER 

Side note, I’m going to be doing some polls over on my Instagram this weekend to figure out names for the other two characters so join in, please!!!

I just pulled one card to get an idea about who this guy is and got the 5 of Wands.  Very interesting. This card’s “book” meaning is all about conflict but I’m reading it more like they are building something together.

I think her father works for an eco-friendly construction company (remember it’s California) as either the CEO/founder or one of the higher up VPs.  He was an old hippie who had to grow up.  Why am I seeing Alex P. Keaton’s father for this?  I see that he’s passionate and willing to fight for what he thinks matters.

LOVE INTEREST

Instagram this past weekend chose a female FBI agent for our love interest with the twist that she was on the team who arrested Paige’s Mom for attempted murder. What?! This is getting really good. I pulled two cards just because one card didn’t feel like enough information.

I pulled the Moon card first and I see that there’s some repressed emotion and inner confusion – maybe around falling for a newly adult woman – and some fear or anxiety.  As an FBI agent I assume you might fear for your wellbeing or life while on duty.  I didn’t feel like I had a full handle on this woman so I pulled the Hierophant and immediately I saw inner conflict – someone who loves the sold institutions (the FBI) and is very conservetive, but had to challenge the status quo to be considered an equal as a woman in a mostly male-dominated field.  Interesting inner life we’ve got now.

Next week I’ll finally be ready to start actually writing!! I also have a fun Beginning of Your Story tarot spread too…and don’t forget, I’ll be sharing the full edited story as a PDF to my newsletter subscribers only, so join today! Not only will I be sharing the spreads I’ve used for this short story, but I know there will be some bonuses and goodies too!

What do you think of our little cast of characters?  Do you think 3 characters is the right amount for such a short story?  Let me know in the comments below.

Check out Week 4 – Once Upon a Time HERE

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