Claudsy’s Blog: Ripening Fruit and Autumn Changes

Courtesy of BJ Jones Photography

Each year, when autumn hums for the world’s attention, I can count on multiple changes taking place in my life. Not only are leaves changing their colors in a final blaze for recognition. The fruit and nuts that have hung heavy/light upon tiny twigs between those leaves succumb to gravity’s need and fall to earth, signaling the squirrel that the time for winter storage has arrived.

Squirrel’s bark of ecstasy at the new bounty pulses through the forest, alerting all within range of his status as gatherer extraordinaire. Scurrying between tree roots and through ground cover, the flick-tail wastes no time making ready to survive the coming cold, the lean months. His little cousin, chipmunk, hastens his own feeding frenzy, storing his needs within his body, which is beginning to yearn for hibernation’s rest period.

Cool/cold mornings ease themselves into warmer afternoons. September sky’s blue lightens its intensity and hue in preparation for white flakes and resultant blankets to cover earth. Clouds move to wind’s wiles and shifting directions.

Walking among trees of autumn encourages thoughts of changes. Summer held its own shifting sands of writing projects and priorities. Winter holds time’s majority to be spent indoors. This time of falling leaves and brisk mornings teases with possibilities and decisions.

Holidays will soon take control of spare time. Which crafts will take precedence this year? Can I create enough spare time to use my hands for something other than keyboarding?

Do I have enough materials to create a worthwhile art project? What about those I have started and haven’t finished? Shall I complete those and move on to something I haven’t done in a few years? Could I learn a new craft/skill? Would moving some of my attention to these activities improve the time spent writing?

So many questions tempt indecision. I straighten my spine, close my eyes, and choose; new or old? New, my spirit cries. Fabric or beads? Both—smaller projects for each. Is this the year to learn how to make chainmail in different patterns? No! What about learning a new crochet stitch? Yes. What about a redesign on my bedroom? Yes, get it done first.

And so my path is charted for the next few months. It wasn’t so hard or time consuming. All it took were simple questions and simple answers, done in rapid-fire assembly.

Now that I’ve discovered the fruits/nuts along the path, I can select a few to bring home for the colder months, settle back, and let my autumn unfold. There will be surprises. Old friends will drop in to say hello and visit for a spell. I will begin and finish one small project at a time that has nothing to do with writing.

“The Moon Sees All” will go soon to agents. “Failures to Blessings: Finding the Silver Lining” will be finished and ready to go out by the end of October. The cookbook will soon sit on an editor’s desk. All of the other developing large projects will come into their own when it’s time.