Happy Autumn Equinox

Today is the Autumn Equinox, also known as Mabon or Second Harvest. It’s one of the eight holidays on the Celtic Wheel of the Year that you see at the beginning of my novel Circle of Nine. Autumn is definitely one of my favorite times of the year, but I do get a little sad thinking that this day represents equal hours of light and dark and from now on the days just get shorter as we descend into winter. Brrrrr.

“Day of equal light and equal dark, time for winter’s chilling bark.”~ Onora Quinn/Circle of Nine-Beltany

I am left wondering what happened to the month of August and the first half of September. Oh, I know what I did with all of those weeks, but I am somehow surprised by the passage of time this morning as I see the browning corn, ripe apples waiting to be picked, and the few remaining tomatoes and overdue grapes all beckoning me outside. Instead, for a while, I shall admire it all through the dining room window while I write this update—and drink another cup of coffee.

Life has been busy—in the last few weeks we’ve moved our youngest to college in Iowa for his freshman year, seen his older sister off to her college in Minnesota, and celebrated the wedding of their big sister. We’ve also been busy with my husband’s charity, The World Orphan Fund, which hosted a pancake breakfast this past Sunday.

I was also extremely fortunate to be invited to see the premiere of this year’s Navajo Oral History documentaries on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. These documentaries are a collaborative project between Winona State University and Dine’ College (Tsaile, AZ), and our daughter was part of the team of students creating them this year. I was struck by the grace and beauty of the Navajo people. Their stories will resonate with me always. The videos are archived at the Smithsonian and available for viewing.  

Even with all of that busy-ness, I have had time to write . . . the first of the novellas that I have promised my readers is nearly ready for publication as an eBook.  So many of you asked for more of Dervla’s story that I began with her. I will announce the release date of Dervla’s Destiny very soon. I am excited for the cover art from Kelsey Curkeet who did such a fabulous job with Circle of Nine. There will be two more novellas published before the end of the year. (You may remember that I did plan to write four novellas. However, when I began the notes for number 4, I realized that I was heading into spoiler territory for the sequel to Circle of Nine and decided to incorporate that one into that novel.) For those of you who do not have an e-reader, these novellas will be compiled into a single paperback and released early in 2016. 

Looking forward, my autumn schedule brings me more opportunities and challenges. You can check out all of the events coming up under that tab on my website. I am most excited to be teaching a novel writing course to teens and tweens at the Columbus Library and appearing on a panel on Indie Publishing at the Wisconsin Library Association Conference in November.

I am also continuing to coordinate our monthly Columbus-area book club called Books & Beer. We’ve had a lot of fun inviting local and regional authors to visit our group and talk about their writing. The next event is October 8 at 7 pm at The Black Kettle (139 N. Ludington, Columbus), featuring author Kelley Lynn. If you live in the area, please consider joining us!

So Happy Autumn – Blessed Mabon! It’s time for me to pick some apples!!