Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:50:02 +0000 River reflections, view from my window, www.carolineallen.com I'm working on my second novel Air. It's flowing, but the stress and worry over money keeps pulling me up and out. The writing is so rich, so flowy...I'm being led down profound and unexpected paths, for example, looking at sensitive men in society and how hard this world is for them. Some of the ideas in Air…

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:12:52 +0000 Photo by caroline allen, www.carolineallen.com The hardest thing about reading tarot is not projecting what you want the cards to say. A good reader lets the information channel through. The hardest thing about opening the tarot to the public is trusting in the message that's coming through, even if you'd rather write something else, something that would make you as the reader look more savvy,…

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:14:06 +0000 magician, from the tarot series, acrylic on canvas board, www.carolineallen.com When I give a lot of tarot readings at any given time, I have nighttime visions or dreams or hyperactive comas, whatever you want to call them, altered states of consciousness. These unasked for visions are why I have to give up tarot sometimes to be able to live in this real world in any…

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:12:03 +0000 Sunflower, www.carolineallen.com I was asked by a friend to listen to The Secret on CD. I was not a fan of the craze. Even before I listened to the CDs, I'd followed the hoopla and felt deeply the concepts were too simplistic and actually even dangerous. First, the idea of our thoughts generating reality has been written about by spiritual masters for centuries, philosophers who…

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:40 +0000 To all the witches out there, happy halloween www.carolineallen.com A common thread I see working with writing clients is this: most of us stop ourselves from fully exploring a subject. We think: people will think it's boring so we cut ourselves off. I tell clients, allow yourself to write too much on a subject that interests you. Write it all out. Get it out of…

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:16:22 +0000 Haverhill, MA, 2008, www.carolineallen.com I am working with a writing client, a new novelist, who recently took a vacation to a tropical island with her husband and two children. Her laptop was too heavy, so she decided not to take it. Besides, she thought, I can use my husband's when he's not working. With kids on vacation, writing is all about grabbing unexpected openings to…

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:53:49 +0000 Missouri, 2008, digital photography, www.carolineallen.com The single most important aspect of being a new writer is setting and sticking to a regular writing discipline. To fully engage the process of writing, one must be doing it regularly, in a room of their own, without interruption. What does a writing discipline mean? It means setting the same time each day, the same days each week, to…

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:22:13 +0000 Self portrait, 2005, acrylic on paper. www.carolineallen.com We are sitting over the remains of a pasta dinner (mushroom and spinach -- I can't cook, but this somehow turned out alright) and an empty bottle of Shiraz. My landlady and I are playing rummy, and talking about an upcoming art class in a nearby Church auditorium. I've been life drawing for years, and I want her…

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:09:22 +0000 Cuban Dancer detail, from the Stream of Consciousness Series, acrylic and house paint on canvas, 2'x3', www.carolineallen.com I recently taught a writing class at my art studio, and am including here the overview sheet I provided to students. Listed below are the various elements involved in writing Fiction/Memoir. The list, of course, is only the beginning. Learning how to successfully pull off the following elements,…

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:04:04 +0000 Nude Seattle, oil bars on paper, 2005, carolineallen.com When I coach writers, the single greatest impediment to their writing is childhood trauma around their writing, around reading books, around telling stories or speaking truth. The single greatest aid to exploding open an individual's innate creative force is digging up, writing about and sharing these childhood stories. I can teach tenchiques for characterization, plot, setting and…