Now that I’m finished with my NaNoWriMo novel this year, I’ve been itching for a change in pace; a small project to get me back into short form writing. So, I spent 4 hours today writing another pagan essay.
When “Pop Culture Grimoire” came out and I saw my name in print there, I wanted more opportunities to write for the pagan community. I dream that one day I’ll have a whole book on tarot out in the stores. A few months ago, my friend Lupa put out a call for submissions on totem essays. It’s for an anthology Megalithica Press plans on releasing sometime next year. I briefly considered the idea but figured that I didn’t know much about what she wanted. She had read my tale (and excitement) about having been published and prompted me to go ahead and contribute something.
At first, I had no idea what to write about. Sure, I’ve worked a little bit with totems and have my own personal beliefs about who mine are and what lessons I need to learn. But writing about totems felt like a completely different thing. I thought about the idea, and fretted a lot, I even made an appointment to see if she and I could generate some ideas. And then the idea came to me. Ember came over a few weekends ago and asked me to help her create a portable totem alter.
That’s when the light came on in my head and I got VERY EXCITED. I pitched the idea to Lupa, and she green light it. And with NaNoWriMo season complete, and some time on my hands. I figured I’d put my creativity and talent to use and sit down to finish the essay.
I had some troubles researching exactly when pocket shrine art first came to be popular. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of info online about pocket shrine history; although there are tons of photo galleries out there. So I wrote the draft with what I knew and what research I have. Three thousand words later I have, I think, a pretty good first draft. It’s now in her inbox for review. I do have a few more things to add and a bio to complete but I hope it’ll be accepted for the anthology. With luck, next year will see a second article offering some new ways to work with totems.
