Autumn Dawns #amwriting

It’s that time of year again where I move all my sweaters to the front of the closet and I start wearing socks again. I find something about the crisp nip of colder weather invigorating both mentally and physically after a long, wilting summer. Nothing sounds more welcoming than leaves (and snow) falling outside while I’m hiding in my writing cave with a cup of cocoa, my office heater on full blast, and an open Scrivener project.  ::sigh::  That is heaven for an introvert writer like me.

Autumn and winter are when I regenerate between the busy, often exhausting, spring/summer convention season. I need to catch up with myself because this year, extra responsibilities really threw my publishing schedule into the toilet. That’s the danger of taking on too much.  Though I learned from my mistake and have taken measures to not let it happen in 2019, I know myself well enough to admit I have a habit of spreading myself too thin. This wasn’t the first time and it likely won’t be the last, though hopefully, I’m more cognizant about it now.

This winter I want to immerse myself into my work so deeply that I will have 2-3 new titles to take to Denver Comic Con next spring (provided I get a table). SO many projects! I have decided not to add any more projects to the list until I finish all of them in the current queue, which means I’ve got plenty on the publishing schedule well into 2020-2021.

I heralded in my favorite time of the year by having some friends over for a fire Friday night. That was rather enjoyable. I haven’t been getting outside nearly as much as I’d like the past three years – since my surgery anyway. I have two apple trees full of edible apples (not crab apples) in the backyard and I’ve been toying with the idea of making a pie. I will have to be careful though. We don’t treat our trees, so there are occasional wormy ones. You have to be careful of that when you have fruit trees and don’t treat them with pesticides.

On that note – it’s back to the grind. It’s a reading day and today started our online divination class. My editor, Will, just sent me back the first two chapters of Illuminated Darkness for me to look over. I’d like to get him a couple more chapters for next weekend (or when he has time). I think I may know what’s wrong with the story now thanks to him. I don’t know what I’d do without my editors and betas for feedback since I haven’t had time to get with my critique partners in over a year now. Hoping to have these readings done in the next hour or two, so that I can relax this evening and get myself ready for another payroll week! Woohoo!

‘Til next time!