Hey, my fellow horror freaks!
September is here! You know what that means…it’s officially fall!
Now, I know not OFFICIALLY-officially. Just officially in my brain. It’s always struck me as a little bit odd that fall on the calendar isn’t until September 22 every year. In late August, I always see “It’s almost Halloween!” posts starting to go up all over social media. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big believer in fall; it is my absolute favourite season. But to me, September 1 has always felt like my official start to fall. Back to school buzz is in the air, it’s already getting darker a little bit earlier, and the mornings feel just that tiny bit cooler every day.
Why do I love fall so much? Simple, really. It’s always a season that feels like a fresh start. The leaves begin to change, and everything is just so beautiful and crisp before the more depressing winter period. Not to mention my favourite combination of words in the entire English language: SWEATER WEATHER!
This September is especially exciting for me. I’ll be immersing myself in blogging and other writings, and focusing on making more connections via social media. I’m happy to report that this is already well under way!
In terms of writing outside of the blog, I am enrolled in the second round of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction contest. I had such a blast in round 1 and am so excited to see how I do in round 2! If you’re ever interested, I can’t recommend it highly enough as such a creative writing exercise! This is a paid contest as every participant gets feedback from the judges for two rounds, and then of course for rounds 3 and 4 if you qualify. You are given a genre, a location and an object that must appear in the story, and then have 48 hours to write a 1000 word or less short story. If you are looking to flex some creative muscles, you can try this at home. Pick a genre that you wouldn’t normally write in, and use a dictionary to pick random words from, or ask a friend to throw you a few random suggestions. The closer the friends, the better; they are more likely to want to torture you and will give you a real challenge! Having a timeline and a small word limit will not only help you to kickstart your creative juices and just get over that crucial block of just putting that pen to paper already, it will help to hone your editing skills. If you need a challenge to clear the cobwebs if you’re feeling blocked, this is an amazing exercise.
Other than the competition, I have also taken the big step of committing to beginning my very first novel. I was working on a short story that just kept on getting a little more out of hand, until I realized that I was having so much fun writing it, I didn’t want it to end! And so, I am embarking on the challenge of completing an entire novel. Even typing that out is making it seem less scary and easing my slight panic attack at the work involved, so I am sure that I will be sharing more of my writing journey with you as I go. If you are writing as well, and need someone to commiserate with, feel free to reach out via social media! We newbies have to stick together, am I right?
In personal news, I am also very excited at the prospect of a little bit of travel coming up very soon. I will be taking the plunge as the very large child-at-heart that I am and will be making my very first sojourn to Disneyland! Naturally, as a lover of literature, we will also be attending the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which I think that I am the most excited about. My boyfriend and I are already agonizing about wands purchases!
And so, September will be a very busy month. I am looking forward to keeping up with the blog and really stretching myself to achieve deadlines and goals over the next several weeks. I love challenging myself and have the time right now to fully immerse myself in the process of writing, editing, and seeking opportunities. September seems like a perfect month; change is on the horizon, and I can’t wait!
View From the Morg 