Autumnal Musings

Autumn and rain have returned to the valley.  The ground in our backyard has been so dry the last few weeks that we've had big cracks in the garden, and I hope the rain closes things up.  I think the only way we could fix the cracks permanently would be to bring in a truck of soil and sand and replace all the clay in our yard.  

It's the new moon.  New moons are sometimes difficult for me--as I've written before I want to be mystical and prophetic during new moons, but I end up feeling sleepy and depressed.  Especially when I get story rejections.  I was looking ahead at various astronomical  events, and I noticed that for the next few quarter days (winter solstice, spring equinox), there's a new moon.  The full moons fall a little after the traditional cross quarter days (Halloween, Ground Hog Day).  If I were very clever, I would submit stories so that the editorial response happens during the full moon, and then I could be manic about rejections acceptances!

It's always amusing for me to read Dion Fortune's accounts of her equinoxes, as she would stay up all night keeping some sort of vigil and writing about the dangers of the time of flux -- I never quite understood what she was darkly hinting at, and suspect it has something to do with polarity:  with everything being equal she'd feel like all of her mystical cosmic batteries were uncharged; it's very different from the equinox rituals of the later Neo-Pagans celebrating balance and harvest.

Fall term at the university is starting soon; the new students arrive tomorrow and suddenly the campus will be filled with eighteen and nineteen year olds.  Already the foot, bicycle, and automobile traffic is becoming congested, and I expect pandemonium tomorrow.

Wednesday mornings are frequently skip days.  Tuesday night is Wordos night, and usually we go to the local bar and grill afterward for food and drinks and discussion.  Last night's discussion was focused on writing the feminist agenda in fiction, identity politics, and using writing to change the world.  I'm not sure how one sets out to write political fiction which works as fiction.  I believe that writing should be more about expressing one's experiences, the human condition, and telling a good story, and less about a manifesto... although I've enjoyed many of Sheri S Tepper's novels, so I think it can be done.  

The down side to post-Wordos socializing is that I end up staying up past 10 PM, and then the next morning is difficult.  I'm always tempted to drink more tequila than just one drink, and on those occasions when I channel my inner Alfred Doolittle, I'm always regretting the lost productivity the next morning.

Project:  Uh? Project? Blaming an emergency at work for cutting into afternoon writing ...

Workout:  150 calories in 12 minutes.  Plus weight-clinking with some increased reps.  (I lost momentum skipping Monday's workout)