Heading into autumn like ...
bring on the pumpkin spice, the fall color, and a book deal.
Summer used to be my favorite season. Now, it’s autumn. Summer has grown too hot and too filled with wildfires and other tragedies. Spring is too wet and too blustery. Winter too dark.
Autumn is just right. And it’s just around the corner.
Heading into autumn, I’ve been thinking about what I will carry with me into 2024. There are some things I need to let go of in order to make way for the things that are important to me but that are getting too little of my time. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve let go of my weekly blog, The Write Stuff, although two years’ worth of posts will remain up to help writers with their craft and their writing lives, and I can’t promise there won’t be occasional new posts here and there. I’ve let go of Twitter and Goodreads and Pinterest, feeling only the lighter for it. I’m freeing up space to write, to find an agent for my first book, to finish my second book, and to serve my book coaching clients.
My California is not one of the things I’m letting go of, but I am letting go of one aspect of it—I’m letting go of my regular posting schedule, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. I’ve met that schedule for the past three months, all summer long. But I’m going to do something that’s against my nature—I’m going to try being more spontaneous. If you know me, you’ll know that’s not going to be easy.
I’m going to do something new. I’m going to try posting when I have something I’m excited to say and to share, no matter what day of the week it is. When there’s a lull in my schedule that gives me the time and space to write something good. When I’ve come back from a uniquely California trip (I’m visiting the La Brea Tar Pits tomorrow, so you’ll likely hear about that soon). Let’s see how that goes.
So, if you don’t see My California in your inbox twice a week like clockwork, that’s why, and it doesn’t mean it’s gone away. In the meantime, I have a newsletter I send out every other Thursday for readers and writers. I’ll continue to send that out regularly, and I hope you’ll subscribe to keep up with all the things. See you there! And see you back here, too, now and then.
And yes, contrary to popular opinion, it’s not perpetually summer here. California has all four distinct seasons. Case in point: