November: Bits & Sundries

Note: I wrote this post on Friday. I thought I’d posted it. Turns out, I should have double-checked. So in today’s post “Rethinking the Medieval”, when I say “if I piqued your interest” this is the post I mean. You live & learn. 🙂 As Halloween approached, the Twittersphere came alive with preparation and excitement […]

Soundscapes

This is the time of year when we compare summer and winter, the usual pros and cons, and brace ourselves for the downward plunge into grey skies, shorter days and snow. It usually comes down to a matter of personal preference: heat vs cold, light vs dark, ice cream vs hot tea, mowing the lawn […]

Advent Doings

Until a few weeks ago, my writing life looked like this: I could feel the end coming. I could see it in those tiny numbers: 57, 87, 102 words cut. Weeks earlier it had been in the hundreds; if I was especially diligent, a thousand. When you’re trying to condense a novel down by several […]

Solmonath

A poem for you this day. Solmonað is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of February. It translates to “mud month.” False springs appear in deep winter – a tease of green as the snow falls again. Restless, we count robins – or are they sparrows playing games? We long for buds and blossoms under a Lent-grey sky […]

Faces of Winter

It is not enough for me to say or hear “I hate winter.” Every year, I face the season with the same dogged goal to appreciate Winter. Not to say it’s easy. I could do without the bone-chilling winds and the dry air, wet socks and flavorless vegetables. And clearing off the car and driving […]