Author: joelsherwood

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White Review

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In the first few pages, we learn that Benji is a transgender 16 year old boy who is on the run from a Christian death cult who unleashed a plague upon the world in order to bring about Armageddon. They want him, and him specifically. In the rest of the book, we watch him struggle in various ways against the cult and the plague-ridden world they have wrought, with some brave and battle-hardened fellow-queers at his side. Also, one of the characters is unabashedly autistic.

I was entranced by this book’s cover as soon as it showed up to my library, and then drawn in further by the blurb. Once I finally checked it out, it was better than I could have imagined.

This book is definitely YA, and while it may be a little juvenile for adult readers, it is great fun for people of any age. The ending makes any understandable gripe you could have with the rest of it worth it, in my opinion.

Trigger warnings: the entire work is rife with body horror. I did not find it particularly grotesque but may have struggled more if it was a movie instead of a book. There’s also interpersonal violence, arson, transphobia, religious abuse, eco-fascism, self-harm, and vomit throughout. I found it delightfully dark instead of unpleasantly grueling, but YMMV. It is also full of hope and solidarity. If you think you can handle these subjects, when they are directed towards a YA audience, I highly recommend picking it up.

I give it four stars for its quality and five stars for my enjoyment of it.

Intro to Fountain Pens– for Cheap!

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Fountain pens? Why, when ballpoint or gel pens are available, would you spend extra money on something as frivolous and anachronistic as a fountain pen? At first glance, it seems silly to spend exorbitant amounts of money on a single pen, but it’s definitely possible to get into the hobby for much less than $50.

If you care about your hand-writing experience, I highly recommend experimenting with fountain pens. Let’s look at what you need to know to get started.

Note: NONE of the links in the following article are affiliate links. I make no advertising revenue on this blog. If you would like to support the blog, you can sign up on Patreon!

Why use Fountain Pens?

  1. They provide an unbelievably upgraded writing experience. If you’ve ever used a fountain pen, you know that they provide a much better flow and feel deliciously smooth on the paper. If you haven’t, I recommend getting the cheapest possible supplies and doing some experimenting. It’s like painting with a paintbrush versus scribbling with a crayon, even at lower price points.
  2. You can customize your writing with fun and fancy inks. If you’re sick of plain black or blue ink (which I am not personally, but if you were it would be understandable!) there are a PLETHORA of inks out there, in every color you could imagine. Some even have glitter (called shimmer), or change color where they pool (called sheen).

How to Get Into Fountain Pens— For Cheap!

What to Buy

  1. The pen. If you don’t want to make a large monetary commitment, you can get a fountain pen for less than $10, like from the Jinhao brand. The upgrade in writing experience is immediate, even with cheap pens. If you already know you like fountain pens, I have heard great things about the Lamy Safari, which is less than $30 and comes in an array of colors.
  2. Ink. If you want to experiment with many different inks, you can pick out samples or get random ones from Goulet. My favorite ink for everyday use is Parker Quink in black. It is quick-drying so it’s less likely to smudge during normal writing.
  3. Optional: converter. Depending on the pen you buy, you may need a separate piece to hold the ink inside the pen. The Jinhao brand seems to come with them, but if you get another pen, you should bear in mind that you might need it. Do your research on the model of pen you want to get!
  4. Optional: blunt syringes. Depending on the pen you get, you may need to fill the converter or the ink chamber with a blunt syringe. Getting syringes also allows you to use any ink samples you may get, because you probably won’t be able to dunk your whole pen in the small vial to fill it up.

Let me know if you end up experimenting with fountain pens and how it goes! Have fun writing!

How to Create a Reading Journal You’ll Actually Use

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Reading journals have become big business recently, in large part because of a growing movement that promotes mindfulness in a hectic world. Whether you read paper books, ebooks, or audiobooks, it can be extremely valuable to track your reading. However, it can be hard to get started and even more challenging to keep with it.

Here are some of my thoughts on reading journals.

Reasons to track your reading:

  • you want to remember what you read.
  • you want to get more thoughtful about books.
  • you need a place to take notes from the things you read.
  • you want to make sure you’re reading a variety of genres.
  • you want to connect with other readers by writing reviews on GoodReads, StoryGraph, or a blog.
  • you want to read a certain number of books in a certain time frame.
  • you’re curious about what books you gravitate towards.
  • you’re curious about what tropes you like.
  • you want to compile a list of your favorites.

Got more reasons to keep a reading journal? Let us know in the comments below!

Pre-Made or Bullet Journal Style?

There are a ton of pre-made reading journals out there, to the point that, despite oodles of reviews online, you may find it overwhelming to try to pick one. In that case, I recommend making your own!

The rest of this article will deal primary with make-your-own reading journals, with a heavy influence from the Bullet Journal Method.

Think: what is the purpose of your reading journal?

The main purpose of my reading journal is to remember what I read, because I have memory issues. I often feel like I don’t know what I did with my time, including what I read, so I keep track. I also like to give myself credit for all the reading that I do before I decide a book is not for me, so I even keep track of books I started but didn’t finish!

Yours might be different, and become a place to list all the exciting things you might read next! Or maybe you’re goal-oriented and want to see how many books you can finish in a year! Or maybe it’s primarily an art journal! The possibilities are endless.

My point is, it’s important to choose a primary reason for your reading journal so that you know what to include or which one to buy, if you’re taking that route.

Here are some reading journal page ideas, from my own reading journal:

  • A title page. I recommend that this have your name and contact info in case it’s lost, as well as the dates the journal covers. That way, in the future, you can easily find what you read by time period.
  • A Table of Contents like in the Bullet Journal Method. I only include pages I will want to reference frequently, but you may choose to include everything.
  • A running list of the books you have finished. For me, this is a simple numbered list with the book’s title, author, and the date I finished it. I make a new list for each year.
  • A reading log. This is different than the books you’ve finished, because it’s arranged by date and chronicles books you may not have finished. I don’t always finish the books I’ve started, and I still want credit for them, dammit! My reading log is a chart with the date, title, author, and a column where I can draw a star if I finished it that day. I do this particular chart with the notebook turned landscape so I have more room to write the title.
  • A library books tracker. For me, this is another chart with the title, author, three columns for me to write the due date, and a column to check off if I’ve returned it. In my library system, we can renew books twice, so I might need all three spaces.
  • A To Be Read, or TBR. Obviously! Make sure you write down both title and author.
  • A review template. Mine includes title, author, publication date, star rating out of five like on Goodreads, genre, diverse voices, and who I would recommend this to. If you like, you can also include the format (like ebook or audiobook). The rest of the page is divided into two columns: things I liked and things I didn’t like. I make a review page for each book I start and write in it as I go, but other people may choose to only do review pages for books that they have finished.
  • Review pages. My review pages are rewritten from the review template, and contain a big star if I finished it.
  • Book notes. You might be reading fiction or nonfiction– I know I read both– and either way, you might want to write notes. I often write chapter summaries for fiction. For me, these are separate from the review pages.
  • Quote pages. Sometimes a quote from fiction or nonfiction will really strike me, so I write it on its own page. Make it artsy if you like!
  • Vocabulary. If you’re an enthusiastic reader, you might not often come across words you don’t know the definition of, but when you do, you should definitely write it down and look it up! Camp Damascus stumped me with “gelid” and I have never really understood what “philology” is. If you keep a running list, you will avoid being stumped in the future and learn something new!
  • Recommendations you’ve gotten and who recommended them. Sometimes, the person doing the recommending matters a lot! You may have reviewers whose tastes match up with yours, or friends whose opinions you trust! I have a special page for books I was recommended through my single month of Tailored Book Recommendations. (I was so curious I had to give it a try, and I learned a lot about my own preferences just from answering the questions that the service gives you!)
  • A list of your favorite books of all time. For a challenge, try to pare it down as much as possible!
  • Least favorite book of all time and the book that challenged you the most. Mine are, respectively, Ethan Frome and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
  • DNF (or Did Not Finish) page, with a list of your DNFs and why you stopped reading.
  • Series lists, to keep track of each book in a series.
  • Finally, an index. Mine is in the back of the book and records titles as well as authors (by last name) and the pages on which they appear. I allotted about 10 lines per letter and just fill them in as I go.

Do you keep a reading journal? Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments below!

Seed & Sickle Oracle Deck Review

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Divination has been an important part of my practice in the 15 years I’ve been doing witchcraft. Recently, however, I got bored of tarot, but have been having trouble finding something equally versatile. I think I have found it in the form of the Seed & Sickle oracle deck by Fez Inkwright, with my own twist. In this post, I’m going to review the deck as well as tell you how I’ve put my own spin on it.

Why oracle cards?

An oracle deck is used in divination, but unlike a tarot deck, every oracle deck is different and has a completely different vibe. While most tarot decks have 78 cards and consist of a major arcana and minor arcana, oracle decks can be set up however the creator desires. There are infinite variations, meaning you could experiment with a new one every day and never run out of new experiences!

There is a popular assumption, unfortunately, that oracle cards are somehow lesser than tarot– that they are supplemental, less “spiritual,” or less in-depth. However, I believe they are powerful enough to stand on their own, especially if you find a deck that works for you.

Why the Seed & Sickle deck?

First of all, the art is beautiful.

Secondly, I felt that the two guidebooks provided an interesting roadmap for interpreting the cards. This is the main selling point of the Seed & Sickle deck: it comes with two guidebooks, labeled “dawn” and “dusk.” Dawn is for readings about beginning projects and potentialities, and Dusk is for introspective readings. I felt that this was a really interesting development and could lead to great daily readings.

Thirdly, I wanted an oracle deck that would be versatile to the point that it could replace tarot. Tarot has cards that could represent just about any situation, but many oracle card decks are restricted by their themes.

How I’m Using It

I am actually not interpreting based on the guidebooks at all at this point. Instead, I am using my intuition– and these have been some of the most powerful divination experiences I have ever had.

Here’s how I did it: I made a gigantic chart in my witch journal that included 4 columns and enough rows for each card, and about 8 lines each. (It took like 15 pages, so if you want to do something similar, you may want to do it digitally or in its own dedicated notebook!)

I went through each card in order and wrote down my intuitive interpretation first, based on the art on the card and its general vibe. Then I researched the folklore and correspondences of each plant and wrote those in the third column. Finally, I split each box of the fourth column into two and recorded the Dawn and Dusk interpretations from the guidebook.

If, during my readings, another interpretation crops up, I will write it down!

A Note

This is not a criticism of the deck at all, but someone who was more well-versed in plants might have an easier time with these cards than I did. On many of the cards, there are no symbols other than just the featured plant and often I struggled with an intuitive interpretation of these cards. I should have known from the creator’s bibliography that it was an herbalism-based deck, but honestly I bought it on a whim and didn’t do too much research.

Check out the oracle card related offerings in my Patreon shop!

How to Design Your Own Witchcraft Path

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Designing your own spirituality is one of the great allures of witchcraft, but not a lot has been written (at least not that I can find) about how exactly to do so. How do you know what you want to do in your witchcraft practice? What is important to you and not just a passing fancy? Where do you want to go next?

I have designed, kind of on a whim, a writing exercise for figuring out where you want to go with your witchcraft, and I wanted to share it with you in case you were feeling as frazzled and directionless as I was.

The Exercise

This exercise is appropriate for people at all “levels,” whether they are beginners, intermediate, or advanced practitioners. Afterwards, you will have a document that will guide you in making large decisions (like whether to join an initiatory lineage or dedicate to a deity) and small ones (like what witchcraft-related things to do each day).

You can free-write this by hand, use a word processor on the computer, or even write in your notes app on your phone. (That’s what I did!)

Your prompt is “I want…” (Yes, this is vague on purpose.) Each new paragraph can be a different topic, but I recommend making them all begin with “I want…” Get as detailed within each paragraph as feels right.

Some further prompts, if you need help getting specific:

  • What you want to do in your regular witchcraft practice
  • What you want to do once, or less frequently
  • What you want to learn about (and how)
  • What you want to feel (and why)
  • What you DON’T want (This one is very fruitful for me!)
  • What you want to focus on (and how)
  • What you want to celebrate (and how)

Remember, you don’t have to have all the answers when you start writing– the point of this is discovery, even if you end up rehashing some stuff you already know.

Mine ended up being about four pages long, but afterwards I had a much clearer idea of what belonged in my witchcraft practice and what didn’t. For example, I learned that I had been placing a heavy emphasis on divination when in reality, that should be supplemental.

After the Exercise

After I finished this exercise, I let it sit for a few days, reread it, decided it was good, and copied it into my witch journal. Now, I use it to guide my decisions– rather than doing tarot/oracle draws once a day or more, I try to do it every few days, because I don’t truly want it to be the bulk of my practice. However, I do want to work with crystals, so I choose one to carry for the day, as often as I remember.

Keep in mind that you can do this exercise as often as you like, though I don’t recommend doing it TOO often (whatever that means). You could set a regular schedule for it (every year on Samhain or New Year’s Day) or just do it whenever you feel your practice has changed significantly.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

How to Create a Witchcraft Journal, Book of Shadows, or Grimoire

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I used to spend a lot of time Googling what to put in my witch journal. (Other people may call it a Book of Shadows or a Grimoire, neither of which feel right for me.) It was a very fun activity for me, but social media had me thinking it was incomplete. I was motivated to work on it, but I didn’t know what to include. Recently, however, I realized that a witch journal should be as unique as the person writing it, and I set out to figure out how to achieve that. In this post I will share my method with you!

Here is your complete guide to making a witch journal, Book of Shadows, or grimoire that:

  • you will realistically use regularly
  • is unique to you
  • is perfect for your personal practice

What Notebook Should I Get?

Before you start a witch journal, Book of Shadows, or grimoire, you have to choose a notebook. Having tried both analog and digital options, I prefer analog for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that it’s a lot of effort to copy down something someone else has written, making you more motivated to include your personal insights instead. (There’s nothing wrong, of course, with writing down stuff like “Crystals That Can’t Be Exposed to Water” or “Fire Safety Rules,” but in my opinion, that shouldn’t be the bulk of your witch journal.)

I highly recommend the Artist’s Loft dot grid journal from Michael’s. They are sturdy, less than $10, and last me at least a few months. Recently, they have been including space for an index as well as numbered pages. They also often have a pocket on the back inside cover.

The only criterion for choosing your notebook is to get something you WANT to write in– not something so beautiful you don’t even want to touch it. For me, that is something that looks nice but is not extremely fancy. Your pick might be a composition notebook or spiral-bound with some stickers on the cover– it’s really up to you! Get as messy or as aesthetic as you please.

How to Organize Your Witchcraft Journal

To keep everything accessible, I use the Bullet Journal method in my witchcraft journal. This means that the first few pages are an index, and (with a few exceptions) pages are not set aside or divided up into sections. When you need to use a new page, just use the next numbered one. Therefore, tarot journaling (for example) might be on pages 4 and 8, with notes from a book on page 5 and 11, art on page 6, etc. If you want to, you can color-code different subjects in a variety of ways. I use markers for the headers in corresponding colors, for example, but you could also use circular stickers on the edges of pages or anything else you can think of.

What To Put In Your Journal

Witchcraft is the only endeavor where people tell you to copy down a ton of stuff you can easily Google. Have you noticed that?

Instead of writing pages of one-word correspondence lists that don’t mean anything to you yet, write about your unique spiritual journey.

I recommend starting with a daily witchcraft-focused journal session and expanding outwards from there. It often helps to think on the small scale. For example, you might write about what you thought about spiritually that day, the rituals or spells you did, offerings you gave to spirits, books you read, tarot readings you gave to friends, signs you saw, etc. You might be tempted to write a manifesto on your practice right off the bat– I do recommend doing that at some point, but my advice would be to start out as small-scale as possible. Just write about your day, from a witchcraft perspective. And then keep doing it.

This will naturally expand into other things that are relevant to your practice: wishlists, artwork, tarot/oracle reference charts, correspondences for crystals you own, plant profiles, offering logs, book notes (lots of book notes!), recipes, etc. The sky’s the limit!

I have had at least three witch journals in the last 15 years, and the daily witchcraft-focused journaling still forms the basis of my practice. It’s also very useful to see my evolution into the witch I am today– for example, I first write about Baba Yaga on April 7, meaning I have been researching and working tentatively with her for about 6 months at the time of this writing. That is useful information!

What About the Aesthetics?

I run into a lot of people who are hung up on the aesthetics of their journals, so my first instinct is to say, to hell with the aesthetics! Let your witch journal be as messy as you want!

On the other hand, some of you reading this may be art witches or just people who genuinely like to decorate their journals and planners.

I am not artistic at all, but I have started doing marker drawings and stickers and sometimes fancy paper, but only in a way that is relevant to my actual practice. For example, my current witch journal includes a drawing of amethyst (one of my favorite crystals) and a half-open folding knife (a symbol from one of my favorite tarot cards).

Conclusion

I hope this helped you move towards creating a witch journal, Book of Shadows, or grimoire that is personal, unique, relevant to your practice, and realistic.

Let me know any thoughts you have in the comments!

Review: Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

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Title: Camp Damascus

Author: Chuck Tingle

Published: 2023

Summary: Rose is a normal, Christian high school senior who begins seeing demons. That’s about all I can tell you without giving anything away. This is popular erotica author Chuck Tingle’s first foray into horror, as well as traditional publishing, and it packs a punch. Trigger warning for gay conversion camps and bugs.

What I Liked:

  • Rose is neurodivergent, probably autistic, and that was honestly my favorite aspect of the book. Much is made of her curiosity and how it is a guiding light in her life, and it’s what propels the book forward. She’s brave, yes, and stubborn, but she won’t rest until she understands what is happening to her. Seeing curiosity touted as a virtue, in a way that was so consistent throughout the book, was very important to me and cemented this as a 5-star read.
  • The ending was absolutely stellar. Very cathartic and definitely on the spectrum of happily ever after. You are rooting for the characters through the whole novel and, in the end, they find out what they can accomplish both separately and together.

What I Didn’t Like:

  • I felt that the pacing was off. Though the book takes place over the course of weeks, readers have no time to recover from one action-packed sequence before they are thrust into another one. Rose even spends some time in the hospital and yet we, as readers, are not given a pause in the excitement.

Rating: 5/5. The breakneck pacing did not dampen my enjoyment of this novel, which covered many subjects that are dear to my heart in a way that was as kick-ass as Chuck Tingle could make it.

How to Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas

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If I had a nickel for every time I Googled this…

For some reason, I never feel like I have a handle on what blog content I want to write next. I am always looking for the next big idea, and usually I seek it in those exhaustive lists of blog post topics put out by those blogs-about-blogging. Lists populated by stuff like “7 Things Making Cabinets Taught Me About Marketing!”

The thing is, even if you’re blogging professionally, writing is an endeavor that connects humans together. People who read your blog value what YOU have to say. This may be because they already know who you are and value your thoughts as someone they respect, or it could be because of the high merit of the ideas you write about.

Blog about stuff you have real opinions/expertise on. (This does not mean you have to be an expert (whatever that means) before you can write a single word; in that case I recommend admitting that there’s a lot you don’t know and providing resources for people who want to learn alongside you.) Write from your own unique point of view, because that’s what readers want to see.

However.

Knowing that fact doesn’t necessarily mean you know exactly what to write about next.

There IS an exercise that I have found helps me when I don’t know what to write about. I discovered it recently from Little Coffee Fox, who got it from a book. Just write 100 things– it’s as simple as that. Number a piece of paper and free-write ideas until you get to 100. It’s both harder and easier than it sounds!

If you need more help, I recommend making a mind map. You’ve seen them, they look like this:

Each bubble can have more bubbles coming off of it, in an endless fractal of related ideas.

Put “BLOG” in the middle and make a bubble for each broad topic you want to write about. If you use WordPress, these may be your blog’s categories. Keep making bubbles outward in a circle until you get to topics small enough to be individual posts. For example, BLOG -> Dogs -> German Shepherds -> Training your German Shepherd puppy -> Supplies you need for training your German Shepherd puppy. Go back and add this to your list of 100 ideas.

If you need even more help than that, I recommend scrolling through YOUR OWN social media pages. What do you usually post? What have you ranted about recently? What did you share because you agreed with it? What did you share because you DISAGREED with it? What inspired you? I’m not saying to steal other people’s posts word-for-word, but the emotions and thoughts you have while scrolling social media can be a big clue as to what you could be writing about. Add any insights to your list of 100 ideas.

Once you have 100 ideas (which might take a few sessions, despite what Little Coffee Fox says) keep them in an accessible place. Add more if you think of them. Make more connections. Write. Always write.

Break a leg!

Bullet Journal in a Happy Planner: The Key

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This quick post will discuss the symbols I use in my Happy Planner Bullet Journal, which is just like any other Bullet Journal except the pages can be added, taken out, and rearranged.

The symbols I use, on my calendar and elsewhere, are:

  • A dash for notes, of any type.
  • A square for tasks. The original Bullet Journal method prescribes dots for tasks, but I don’t feel that that stands out enough. Squares are also more satisfying to check off.
  • A star for “anything I have to show up to.” This includes appointments (video and in-person), irregular work shifts, or any event with a specific date and time. As a freelancer, it was important for me to note meeting times, since the rest of my days were unstructured.
  • A circle for due dates. This was very important during my career as a freelancer, and I’m sure will be important again as I go into grad school. I also use it for library books. Using a symbol specifically for due dates eliminates the need to write “_____ due,” saving space. It also allows me to scan for upcoming paperwork I need to turn in or bills I have to pay.

New Patreon Offering: Get To Know Your Oracle Deck Worksheet

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Based on the popular tarot book “21 Ways To Read a Tarot Card,” this multi-page, in-depth worksheet will teach you how to really get in touch with your oracle deck and turn divination into a personalized, multi-sensory experience.

Remember that all Write Mind content on Patreon is priced as affordably as possible. Each item on the shop is $3, which is Patreon’s minimum price for downloads. Subscribing, and therefore getting every shop item for no extra cost, is $5 per month.

Check it out on Patreon here!