When All the Divinatory Practices Agree
Never one to trust a single source of information, each year I gather predictions from an Inner Wheel tarot reading, the Western calendar zodiac horoscope, and the Chinese calendar horoscope. I read the Inner Wheel on Samhain, which is New Year’s Eve for witches. It told me to put all my energy into romance/social relationships and business. Like, it yelled at me to do this. And since my writing business is romance in both novels and poetry, it made total sense. In late December, my Aries 2026 forecast came out and said it’s going to be a year of amazing business connections and reaching ever-higher levels in personal and professional relationships. Chinese New Year in February brought my Dog horoscope for the year from my scarily accurate YouTube lady, and she said my year is all about people: allies, networks, collaborations, and huge upward social mobility, as long as I put myself out there.
So that’s three for three. I had to start being social.
I started going to The Cozy Book Nook in Dayton, where they’re focused on indie authors and have monthly poetry meet-ups. I went to poetry readings and made poet and writer friends. I made friends with people who weren’t writers at all and still found people to support me in so many ways. Look, I just went out and made friends. If this sounds daunting to you, like it did to me five months ago, I’ll tell you the secret: fake confidence, show an interest in what people are interested in, ask questions, and be available. Then, later, remember what they said and follow up. Boom, actual friends.
In the past few weeks, my charisma has apparently been off the charts. I’ve been asked to review people’s work, collaborate on projects, and start a business with someone. I’ve gotten so many people’s emails and phone numbers, given them my own, and have been propositioned at least twice (lol there’s some overlap, I’m charming now and I’m talking about romance all the time, it was bound to happen).
Reader, I have said yes to too many things. Of course I have. I am in demand, which I have rarely been before, and could not see that it was high demand. Too high demand. I have cut myself off from saying yes for now, since agreeing to do developmental edits on a 120K-word YA sci-fi/fantasy manuscript for a friend.
It’s a new problem to have, and an exciting one, but overwhelming so quickly that at least I was able to set boundaries. Now they just have to harden before anybody else tests them.
If you want to see me in May, I’ll be at Mulberry St Books in Lebanon on May 9 from 4 to 7pm for their author meet-up, and I’m a vendor at Gem City Queer Fest (a little music festival) at Yellow Cab Tavern in Dayton on May 23 from 7 to midnight-ish and the ticket cost benefits Have A Gay Day.