creative prompts & a reading list for mars direct
Happy Friday the 13th AND Mars direct!
It's a dreary, drizzly day here in Brooklyn, but the sky is starting to clear up from last week's hellish mess. Namely, Mars, the planet of action and courage, is officially direct. While it won’t clear its shadow for a while yet, if you're in need of some writerly inspiration for how to channel that energy and start to get your business brain back on track, here are some ideas to jumpstart your weekend.
Aries Rising:
- refresh your in-home selfie studio
- work on your business plan for you, the writer as small business owner
- read: Jia Tolentino's "The Personal Essay Boom is Over" (if only to kickstart your own response!)
Taurus Rising:
- dust off those back burner, behind-the-scenes projects
- schedule some intentional solitude
- read: T Kira Madden's "Against Catharsis: Writing Is Not Therapy"
Gemini Rising:
- refresh and refurbish your presence on your favored social media platform
- reach out to your favorite creative people for a writing accountability FaceTime
- read: in the NYT, "Conversations With Friends (Who Are Also Writers)" (the best way to find a writer's group? start your own!)
Cancer Rising:
- make a list of publications, fellowships, residencies, etc. to pitch in the coming year
- also: think about how your current goals contribute to your short- and long-term career goals; will they get you where you want to be, or are they just on your list because they’re on everybody else’s?
- read: "Who Pays Writers?" founder Manjula Martin's truly excellent Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living (and also this to get you started, "10 Takeaways from Scratch")
Leo Rising:
- free write: what research needs to happen for current projects? what books and articles do you need to brush up on?
- another free write: what perspective are you writing from? how can you interrogate that?
- read: Alexander Chee's "How to Unlearn Everything"
Virgo Rising:
- take inventory of who you're collaborating with, who you want to collab with, and why; also consider how the grief and loss of the year has informed any shifts in where you want to go
- taxes, debts, and money owed you: it’s time to take care of anything outstanding (and hire a bookkeeper or accountant)
- read: Jesmyn Ward's "On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed By a Pandemic"
Libra Rising:
- pitch the agents and editors you've been holding off on reaching out to
- take stock of the people who've really been a part of your career so far, and who you want to really commit to as you move forward
- read: Tony Tulathimutte's "Agent Provocateur: Finding Representation For Your Book"
Scorpio Rising:
- assess how your work schedule is and isn't working for you
- also: assess how you are/are not moving, nourishing, and hydrating your body in ways that support your brain function
- read: Melissa Febos’ "Do You Want to Be Known For Your Writing, or For Your Swift Email Responses?"
Sagittarius Rising:
- make a list (collage, vision board, whatever) of the things that are giving you pleasure in this moment
- find time this coming week (schedule it if you must) to indulge your inner child — no work or monetization opportunities involved
- read: an excerpt from Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic
Capricorn Rising:
- rearrange the space in your home/bedroom in which you do most of your writing; buy yourself fresh flowers, a la Mrs. Dalloway
- free write on how your upbringing informed your opinions about creativity and the writer's life you have thus far aspired to, or shunned
- read: Elissa Gabbert’s advice column "Dear Blunt Instrument: Ethical Advice for Writing About Friends and Family"
Aquarius Rising:
- pick up writing projects that you’ve let slip off the schedule these last few months
- rearrange your schedule so that it works for you — and prioritizes your writing as much as possible
- read: “You Don’t Know Anything.” And Other Writing Advice from Toni Morrison, a roundup of quotes from one of the greatest Aquarian writers
Pisces Rising:
- send any outstanding invoices that you have not yet sent
- do some writing, thinking, and brainstorming about how your relationship to money and value has shifted over the last five months
- read: agent Kate McKean's Agents and Books; agent and co-founder of Neon Literary Anna Sproul-Latimer's Neon Literary
Coming up next: Sunday’s New Moon in Scorpio!