Peg Cheng

Reader + Writer + Teacher

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New Video! Decorated Quote: Octavia Butler

New video! Decorated quote of Octavia Butler

This April marks the launch of my Journaling Videos! If you were a member of my Journaling Club on Patreon, you received these videos every month. Marcus and I enjoyed making them and when I closed the club due to not being keen on Patreon and wanting more time for my writing projects, I missed them. So, I’m bringing them back and making them available to everyone. Hope you enjoy this!

I’m reading Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler and wanted to journal using a sentence from her short story, The Evening and the Morning and the Night.

If you work hard enough
at something that doesn’t matter,
you can forget for a while
about the things that do.

— Octavia Butler

I call this form of journaling a “decorated quote” or “message picture.” I write down a word or sentence and then draw colorful, organic lines around it. I’ve been doing this form of journaling for 30 years or so (hard to remember when I started) and find that every time I do it, I feel relaxed and satisfied. It’s like an artsy meditation. So, grab your journal and some fine-point markers and let’s journal together!

I’m thinking of doing a monthly journaling livestream so that people can journal with me, converse with me using the chat, and watch the whole process live. Are you interested in something like this? If yes, pop a comment below and let me know.

ps. If you’d like to see more of my videos, visit my YouTube channel here.

Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, and The Contenders, a novel that asks, can enemies become friends? She is also the proud owner of Plaid Frog Press with her husband Marcus Donner. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

This page contains affiliate links to my shop on Bookshop.org, an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. If you make a purchase using these links, I will earn a 10% commission and a matching 10% will be given to independent bookstores. Thanks for shopping indie!

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Tarot Touchstone for April 2021

Tarot touchstones Reading for April 2021

This April marks the launch of my Tarot Touchstones series! If you were a member of my Journaling Club on Patreon, you received one-card versions of these touchstones weekly, along with writing prompts. I loved doing them and when I closed the club due to not being keen on Patreon and wanting more time for my writing projects, I really missed them. Then, I realized I could do a tarot touchstone once a month and still have time and energy for my writing projects. So, here’s the first one. Hope you enjoy it.

Why is it always when we feel a strong pull (Eight of Wands) towards a project or venture that calls to us that we often combat our initial enthusiasm and desire by allowing fear to overtake us (Nine of Swords)?

Just when our minds, bodies, and souls want to take flight, our anxiety tramps all over our spirit, causing sleeplessness and negative thoughts, or an equally strong desire to retreat and retract.

Fighting this seemingly clashing set of feelings and emotions can set us on edge, keeping us paralyzed from taking any action.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The medicine is to surrender (The Hanged One) to both sides of ourselves. As Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in Big Magic: “I made a decision a long time ago that if I want creativity in my life–and I do–then I will have to make space for fear, too.”

You can feel fear and still take a step forward. Fear can sit in the backseat of your Creativity Car while you drive toward your destination.

It’s okay if you have to stop often to consult your map. It’s okay if you need to take lots of bathroom breaks. It’s okay if you feel both extreme fear and numbing excitement at the same time. It’s all okay.

As the Hanged One advises us, stop pushing away conflicting feelings and surrender, surrender, surrender.

April is the time to take a step forward.

See you on the path.

Cards: Eight of Wands, Nine of Swords, The Hanged One

Deck: Modern Witch Tarot by Lisa Sterle

Journaling prompts for this month:

  • I feel ready to take a step…
  • The fear that stops me…
  • I want to let go of…

Recommended books for this month:

Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, and The Contenders, a novel that asks, can enemies become friends? She is also the proud owner of Plaid Frog Press with her husband Marcus Donner. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

This page contains affiliate links to my shop on Bookshop.org, an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. If you make a purchase using these links, I will earn a 10% commission and a matching 10% will be given to independent bookstores. Thanks for shopping indie!