#wip herbalism tarot

[untethereddreams]

Revisiting my Herbal/Herbalism Tarot project and last night had the thought that I should turn it into a Herbiary Tarot instead. Like a bestiary for herbs in that the info would skew toward the esoteric and fantastical rather than the strictly scientific, which would cut my research period in half and let me be more whimsical with the actual writing. Especially because it divorces me from the need to be too objective and lets me get all creative with it a la my own interpretations of plants and what they stand for.

This reframing is actually reinvigorating my interest in this project since I can treat each card/plant as its own little critter. I’m still wondering if I should stick with existing research/our world or if I should go hog wild and create my own little world for these cards. Which brings me to a question:

Would y’all be more interested in a mostly reality-anchored Herbiary Tarot deck or would a completely fantastical Herbiary set in a different world (but still with our own plant lore as a jumping-off point) be more in your wheelhouse?

Let me know what you think!

[mermaidgirl30]

Enchant Me Upcoming Short Series✨

A/N: I really didn’t want to pick up anymore wips, but after seeing that purple house I had the cutest idea of Joel falling in love with reader who is a plant obsessed, herbal tea maker, enjoys talking to animals and being in nature and doing tarot card readings. I had a dream about their first date, and it was so cute so looks like I am going to have to write it out into a few parts 🥹 Idk who all would be interested in this, but let me know if you’d like to be tagged 💜

[moondust-bard]

~About Me~

• My pronouns are she/they

• You may call me either by my pen name, Moira Bard, or by my chosen name, Luna. I will answer to both.

• I have… four indoor cats. Yes, I know that’s a lot of cats. Taming and caring for the feral gremlins in my neighborhood has become a hobby

• I’m autistic

• I’m also a visually impaired person with albinism

• chronic illnesses? Got those, too. I’m a party, truly.

• I enjoy mythology, folklore, fairytales, and world history

• I identify as queer

• Aside from writing, I enjoy editing fiction, studying herbalism, singing, stage-acting, studying astrology, graphic design, interior design, crafting with modeling clay, sketching, watercolors, practicing tarot, and baking

• Is my goal to traditionally publish? Not sure. Currently, the plan is to do those things which bring me the most joy— and that includes storytelling

• I’m In my mid-20s, but I’m secretly an ancient hermit hidden in a stone cottage, nestled in a dark wood untouched by sunlight and civilization. Through some arcane magic I shan’t divulge there is indeed an internet connection.

I am open to:

character voice-act ✅

Beta-read ✅

Proofread ✅

(Amateur) developmental edit ✅

(Amateur) line edit ✅

Sensitivity read ✅

Positivity pass ✅

Critique swap ✅

Create book and character playlists ✅ (search the tag “songs for playlists” for examples)

Design book banners, covers, and other graphics ✅ (search the tag “my art” for examples)

My asks and inbox are both open!

About My Writing & Related Topics

• I’m a plotter, though I’ve recently been straying from adhering to a strict outline and allowing the characters and my own whims to dictate the story

• I write mostly fantasy and sci fi for adults and young adults

• I would like to indie publish at some point— though I’m in no rush. For now, I write because I can’t not tell stories

• I’m also adapting some public domain works into scripts, mostly because my friends and I need fresh audition pieces

• I draft with scrivener and speech-to-text software

• my pen name is Moira Bard. I chose it because it evokes a sense of ethereal whimsy— two words I feel encompass my energy quite nicely

• I prefer comments and reblogs over likes— but don’t let me tell you how to writeblr. All interactions are appreciated!

Here are my 2024 writing goals

~My WiPs~

Lost Souls’ Night Series

Genres: mythic fantasy, YA

Current Stage: draft of book 1 shelved for later edits; plotting books 3-5

WiP Tags: wip: lsn

Read the wip intro!

Character Masterpost

Cultures Masterpost

Locations Masterpost

Religions Masterpost

Excerpt 1

Potent Poison, Treasured Tonic (Her Enchanted Garden Series, Book One)

Genres: new adult, urban portal fantasy

Current Stage: world-building, plotting, and character development in progress

WiP Tags: wip: pptt

Character Masterpost

Faerie Courts Masterpost

Faerie Religion Masterpost

Read the wip intro!

The Bloody Divine (Unholy Covenant Duology, Book One)

Genres: gothic fantasy, horror, adult, romance

Current stage: 2/3 of the first draft written; book 2 is 20% outlined

WiP Tags: wip: tbd

Read the wip intro!

Character Masterpost

Religions Masterpost

Locations Masterpost

Shadefyre (Lost in the Witherwoods Series, Book One)

Genres: new adult, fantasy

Current stage: character development and world building; first 4 books 50% outlined

WiP Tags: wip: ww

Read the wip intro!

Character Masterpost

Religions Masterpost

Locations Masterpost

Species Mastetpost

Learn about the covens

Zenith Code (City of Crystal and Chrome Duology, Book One)

Genres: sci fi, dystopia, YA

Current stage: worlsbuilding, character development; detailed outline 75% done. Two books set in this world are 50% outlined.

WiP Tags: wip: zc

Read the wip intro!

Character Masterpost

Hunting Ground (a Noble Dragons novel)

Genres: romantasy, adult

Current stage: draft 1 is done

WiP Tags: wip: hg

Read the wip intro!

Character Masterpost

Clans Masterpost

Creatures of Fate Series

Genre: romantasy, adult

Current Stage: drafting book 1

Wip Tags: Wip: CoF

Intro to Book One coming soon!

Meet Book One’s MC!

~ My socials ~

Find me on Spotify

Find m on Pinterest

Find me on tiktok

Find me on ig under the_moondust_bard

Here’s my “writing playlist resources” Spotify account

Feel free to tag me in ask games and interactive posts!

~Resources I’ve Made~

Songs for playlists masterpost

Blurb Writing Tips

Writer’s Guide to Conquering Executive Dysfunction

I co-run moon+seraph — a blog dedicated to encouraging and supporting the writing community here on tumblr

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that my blindness makes me reliant on screen readers— you might also know this as text-to-speexh software. I use this tech to make tumblr more accessible to ne. One of the limits of the tech I use is that hashtags aren’t picked up and read to me. Please be aware that any messages left for me to read in the tags of a post… well, won’t be. I can’t see them and my tech won’t read them. I prefer feedback be left in comments and the text area on posts and revblogs for this reason.

[zackaran]

Tag meme

I was tagged by @moe-esqueleto

You have to tag 15 people by the end of this challenge.

Five things you’ll find in my bag:

wallet

chapstick

some cool looking rocks

tiny first-aid kit

crumpled receipts

Five things you’ll find in my bedroom:

Lots of cool rocks

birdseed all over the carpet (no matter how much i vacuum)

plants 

I counted at least 7 pieces of Ahsoka merchandise

my fishtank

Five things I’ve always wanted to do:

Travel

actually sell some of my art or jewelry

Learn to sauter and weld

It’d be neat to raise all sorts of different fancy chicken breeds

A big dream is to someday live semi-off grid and be as self sufficient as i can

Five things that make me feel happy:

My birds!!!!

most animals actually

my friends

seeing my plants doing well

spacing out to music while drawing

Five things I’m currently into: 

(im gonna do ones besides wow and star wars since everyone knows about those lol)

Gardening!

I’m actually learning herbal medicine

fascinated with pre-roman celtic history(mostly Ireland) 

Rockhounding. I collect all sorts of neat rocks and crystals- sometimes I buy them, but I really like finding them myself

Tarot

Five things on my to-do list:

finish any of the 5 billion WIPs i have

till and amend the soil in the the new raised bed I made

dust

talk to the manager at petsmart and see if its possible to get a job even though I’m 17 (I hope they’ll let me but idk company policy)

each of my animals has their own to-do list :)

I tag: @angelsaxis @crenandos @olaena @ripmeagan @goldengaymuy @crystalizedforest and thats all im gonna tag for now. If youve already done this or just dont want to, dont feel obligated or anything ^-^

[untethereddreams]

WIP Ask Game: 2 and 25

Thanks for the asks!

2. Do you set mini-deadlines or goals for yourself along the way?

Short answer: I try to, though I'm not always good about following through

Long answer: the most productive bout of writing I've ever done was when I did the Camp Nanowrimo in April, set my own goals, and pushed through with it for WHEaT, though most of what I wrote ended up being worldbuilding/character work and won't make it into the next iteration as anything other than background. For my Herbal Tarot, I came up with a very detailed timeline of what research needs to be done when, how long each stage should take, what to do next, etc, then burnout happened :/ but I still have the framework and will be reworking it to be more realistic for my energy levels now

25. If you could go back in time to when you first had the idea for this WIP, what would you tell yourself about it?

For WHEaT: a bit of a tricky question, since WHEaT is actually a reworking of the same protagonist/story/archetype that has followed me around for the last 14 years and that I periodically revisited, though this iteration is one I'm really happy with and will probably stick to finishing. So if we go by the inception of WHEaT about 18 months ago then I would tell myself to take heart, there's a lot more interest in the story and the characters than you thought there would be and even though translating phrases and such is very difficult there are other writers who have done the same, to great reception

For the Herbal Tarot: this one's easy, and it's something I keep telling myself even now. Basically, you're overcomplicating things! You don't HAVE to become the unquestioned expert on herbal lore to make the deck even though you want to. Don't get lost in the research and forget the synthesis.

[untethereddreams]

Personal goal for end of year

Finish the tarot research portion of the herbalism tarot deck so I can move on to more interesting bits, like writing my own interpretation blurbs, plant-specific research into occult and physical qualities, microfiction snippits for each card, and mocking up thumbnails for the cards

[untethereddreams]

Desperately need enrichment and really don't want to finish tarot card research because adhd so might throw myself into translating some stuff for the retelling project (where I translate and retell stories from chinese history and legend/myth/cultural milieu) instead since each piece is technically a different project. Still recovering from not being able to sleep or eat for a week tho so we'll see how it goes

[untethereddreams]

I haven’t done too too much research on tarot interpretations but a source I’m using has a lot of gender-binary/sexist/vaguely racist interpretations of cards. I don’t have the energy or interest to look for other sources, esp since I want to move on to actual creation not just research, but you can bet your ass I’m going to do my best to de-binary-ize my deck as much as possible. Like, the cards are representations of archetypes and a lot of archetypes are pretty gender binary but I’m under no obligation to abide by that if I don’t want to

[untethereddreams]

I’ve decided to take the tarot project into a completely fictional realm. Now the question is urban fantasy or high fantasy? There’s so much potential for both, though with Urban Fantasy I’d be able to dip into Bordertown vibes

[untethereddreams]

I saw your tags. I'm doing my WIP Wholesome Evil for Nano!

Awesome! I'm deciding between doing a comprehensive rewrite of The Walls have Ears and Thorns, working on the flash fiction/non-fiction portion of my Herbal Tarot deck, or some midway between the two of adhd strikes (I'm more concerned about getting writing done than what the specific works are). Would you like to be writing buddies through the month for motivation and support? Absolutely no pressure at all, I'm just really awkward with social things and found it easier to come out and say things directly otherwise I'd never approach anyone at all. Plus I think your wips are auper cool and I'd love to hear more about them too :)

[untethereddreams]

totally, completely, and utterly failing to get my executive function kickstarted so I can finally wrap up tarot card research for the Herbal Tarot/Herbalism Tarot WIP I’ve been working on for a bit. I WANT to do it, I NEED to do it, I CAN’T do it. makes me want to run away to a distant seaport before turning into a mushroom and disappearing into the woods.

[untethereddreams]

Writeblr Introduction!

Hi everybody! I’ve been lurking on Writeblr for ages but, since I just finished school, I finally have time and the spoons to make my writeblr introduction! I’ve already reblogged a lot of reference, advice, resources, and inspiration posts on this blog, both for my own use and for anyone with similar interests, but now I’m going to post my own writing as well. 

I’m a queer, poc writer and artist working out of North America. My writing style tends toward weird fiction and fantasy, which means that I read and write a lot of horror, fantasy, urban fantasy, and speculative pieces. I’m most comfortable with short fictions (the shorter the better!) but am dipping my toes into long-form fiction with several novel projects. I also recently fell in love with writing screenplays, so that may rear its head sporadically here as well. I also run a short poetry insta (@un.tethered.dreams) and have plans for several blogging projects as well (updates to come)! 

Beyond creative fiction, I am also fascinated with the craft of writing, what it takes, why some things work and some don’t, etc. I spent some years going to uni for neuroscience in a different life so science, particularly biology, is an ongoing interest. I also draw traditional art and am learning digital art, so you might see some of that on this blog as well. (Can you tell that I have a problem with overcommitment yet?)

My current projects/priorities include:

The Walls Have Ears and Thorns (Working Title)

Genre: Fantasy

Length: Novel (series?)

Stage: Worldbuilding/First Draft

Set in the world of Chinese Wuxia novels with themes and elements from both Chinese history and Western high fantasy, The Walls Have Ears and Thorns follows Yinning (隐宁), our asexual and non-binary protagonist, as they struggle to reconcile past sins, political intrigue, and the possibility that, despite everything, they are deserving of love. 

Tags: walls have ears and thorns, wip wheat

Translation/retellings of Chinese history/myth/folklore (taking suggestions for a better title)

Genre: non-fiction

Length: undetermined, one-shots

Stage: planning/testing

Translations and retellings of stories from ancient Chinese history. These will come out of both Chinese history/reference books and from my own childhood. I'm currently gauging interest in the project and planning how it will work with Patreon and/or Ko fi (because I am currently unemployed and want to build toward self-employment in the creative field). More info here. First sample retelling here. Second retelling here. More details to come.

Tags: chinese history, retellings, translation project (proper project tag to come with new title)

Herbiary Tarot

Genre: fantasy, reference

Length: Book + card deck

Stage: research

Almost done my research of tarot cards and their interpretations based on the decks I have and reference books. The vision for the final project will be a series of linked drabbles related to each card that lead the reader on an exploration of an imagined realm masquerading as the mundane, rather like how bestiaries look to us now. I’m still undecided whether the drabbles will segue into a plotted story told in snapshots. Next step is deciding whether the deck will be high fantasy or urban fantasy.

Tags: herbiary tarot wip, herbalism tarot wip, herbal tarot wip, tarot wip

Trouble (Working Title)

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Length: Novel (series?)

Stage: Worldbuilding/First Draft

When her aunt Cynthia disappears, leaving only a mysterious voice-mail message, Selena must abandon her life as a university student and bookstore clerk and embrace her heritage as one of the Morriganna, ancient prophets of war and doom, in order to stay alive and save her family. Her first task: decide if she can trust the young man who walked into her bookstore, the latest heir and black sheep to a family of Morriganna hunters. 

Tags: wip trouble

Daily Flash Fiction

Genre: flash fiction, micro fiction

Length: self-contained

Starting next week, I’ll be committing to writing six pieces of flash fiction a week (one per day plus a rest day). The goal is to get into the rhythm of writing regularly. I’ll be posting these works on my blog and cross-posting here as well. For inspiration, I’ll be working my way through Wikipedia’s list of phobias.

Tags: my writing, flash fiction, short fiction