Autumn: A glimpse from the water

By Fran McNabb

 Transition is a nice way of describing the months we call autumn. Summer has ended, school has started, football is rolling along, and winter is just around the corner. I have a love-hate relationship with the season.

I love the color change in the few trees that actually lose their leaves in the fall. I live on the Gulf Coast so we miss out on the breathtaking colors that our northern neighbors experience, but we have just enough falling leaves to remind us that we’re in a different season. Here on the coast fall fishing is fantastic, but with football we tend to have a conflict. Yes, that’s one of the things I dislike because I love to fish. My husband is an avid fan and attends every home game and a few road games for the university where we each attended.

The warm days of fall still offer quite a few boating days. Last week my husband and I took a short

boat cruise to one of the beachside restaurants. The wind had picked up making the ride a little bumpy, but it still was a gorgeous day. Not many boats were out so we had the waterways to ourselves. Warm sunshine and birds following the boat hoping for a morsel of food made the bumpy ride a minor inconvenience. I love being on the boat with my husband. He understands I’m a wimp and don’t like to be knocked around so he slowed the boat down, put on some music and together we enjoyed the afternoon. What better way to spend a beautiful autumn afternoon.

As I was enjoying the ride, I thought about all the pleasant days we spend together on the boat with each season bringing a different experience. Soon it will be much cooler and our days will have to be selected carefully for a boat ride, but today that wasn’t the case. From the channel through the bayou I enjoyed the changing colors of the wooded areas. We watched a bird, either an osprey or an eagle, soar with the breeze well above us. The wind created a rippling effect on the water catching the sunlight. My youngest son used to tell my mother that the sparkles were like diamonds on the water. He was right. Today there were diamonds all around us. I was rich in the beauty that nature was providing.

I use these coastal scenes in some of my books. It’s hard for an author not to include what she knows and what she experiences and especially what she loves. I’m glad to be able to share the joy I get from where I live.

Am I lucky? You bet. Will I be sad when winter gets here and I’ll have to look at the boat on the boat lift and wish I was out on the water? Again, that’s a “You bet.” Every season has its good parts. Autumn offers a lot to all of us no matter where you live. I hope your fall days are filled with the joys of the season.

FRAN MCNABB writes tender romances and uses the setting of the Gulf Coast in several of them. At present she has eight books available with her latest books being published with Montlake Publishing and The Wild Rose Press. Check her out at www.FranMcNabb.com or at mcnabbf@bellsouth.net

 

 

Thoughts on a Nice Autumn Day

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

Okay, it’s November already, so where is Fall? Admittedly the temperatures have fallen to bearable levels (meaning the sky has gone off of ‘broil’) but where are those lovely all-too-brief Autumn days? Not here… The sky is bright blue and that treacherous, nasty sun is glaring right where you need to see, no matter where you stand. It’s November, for Heaven’s sake! Why don’t we have the lovely grey and cloud-hung skies that are so emblematic of November?

Anyway, since it’s now fairly nice outside I decided to run away from the computer and its unceasing demands for words and do some yard work. Odd – when I was young and limber I lived in a condo and the only yard work I did was watering the potted plants on my balcony. Now that I am not so young and not so limber I have a house and a large yard. Sigh. And in the final irony, I have decided I like yard work. As long as the weather isn’t too hot. Or cold.

Today’s chore was one I should have done years ago. We have a lovely A-frame swing of teak or redwood (I think) which sits on our deck. Years of hot sun and cold winters have not been kind to the wood, so today – armed with teak oil, paintbrush and a plastic cup – I went out and started applying. I should have done it much sooner. The wood was so dry it just absorbed the oil – inhaled it might be a better term.

The swing is not large; neither is the frame. I worked for over two hours, but got less than half the frame done in spite of using the entire tin of oil, and even so part of what I did hardly shows any oil at all. Obviously it’s going to take several coats to get the wood back in shape, which indicates a quick trip to the hardware store for more tins of oil. Then it’s going to take a coat of something waterproof (I need a consultation with the expert at the store regarding this) to really protect the wood.

Then I weeded, and swept leaves, and did a lot of the other things a yard continually requires. (Except mow – we hire someone to mow.) It seems the yard, like the house and the word-hungry computer, is never-ending in its demands for attention. At last I was tired enough to go back to the computer and its continual demand for words. That’s my job, that’s what I do – put words in order, in books and articles and emails… all of which need to be written. It is my career, has been for many years, and I love it. But it is nice to get out every so often. When the weather is nice.

TRANSITIONS

by Sandy Cody

I love this time of year. Actually, I love all the seasons and am grateful that I live in an area where they are all different.

In Pennsylvania, each time of year has its own seductive charm, from the spare elegance of a bare-limbed tree in winter to the extravagant bounty of a summer garden. But my favorite seasons are spring and fall. They are less intense than the periods that precede and follow them, but to me, they are more interesting. Lacking extremes of heat and cold, the transition seasons are more gentle. They are also less predictable. Each day begins with a decision: T-shirt and shorts? A sweater and jeans? True, that’s a trivial decision, but if you don’t get it right, you’ll have an uncomfortable day. Even if you do get it right, there’s a good chance it’s just temporarily so. By mid-day, something as capricious and beyond your control as the weather may force you to regret your choice, maybe even change a decision you've made.

Transitions in novels are like that too, both in that they are more gentle (they are not the scenes of intense action, but those moments of introspection that follow the action) and less predictable (when readers wonder how characters will react to events beyond their control). These are the scenes in which the characters have an opportunity to change and grow. They have to make choices, some of which may be trivial in themselves, but they can produce unexpected results that lead to other, more difficult choices, which in turn, lead to more changes and, thus, keep the plot rolling along.

Transitions show the characters in their more reflective moments. It  is here, in the periods of less intense action, that we get to know the characters, to understand why the choices they have to make are difficult for them, maybe even identify with them. I think of these scenes as bridges - where the writer guides the story from beginning to middle to end and, if they’re good at it, they make it look easy, as natural and inevitable as the changing of the seasons.

We've Got That Covered

by Jean C. Gordon

I've found that readers often think we authors have more control over our books' covers than we do. That's not to say we don't have input. I fill out screens of art sheets to help the art department create my covers. I have to describe all of my characters, scenes I think might make a good cover, notable landmarks in my story and I'm encouraged to send pictures of how I see my hero and heroine.

I thought it would be fun to show you the the pictures I sent for a couple of my books and the book covers. What do you think?

Midwife Autumn Hazard and Dr. Jonathan Hanlon from Small-Town Midwife 

Neal Hazard from Small-Town Dad 

This one is Jared Donnelly from Winning the Teacher's Heart, the first book in my new Love Inspired Romance series, The Donnelly Brothers. It's due out in May 2015. Can't wait to see the cover.

The Magic of Autumn

by Gina Ardito

As a writer, I find each season a sensory delight, but autumn has magic for me the other seasons lack. I have to admit, autumn (not officially here until next week) is my favorite time of year. 

Autumn doesn't have the extremes of summer or winter. The temperatures grow cooler, and days become more focused on family, on home and hearth.

Visually, it's a stunning time. The leaves on the trees beckon for an artist's touch, their bright green shade transforming by degrees into gold and scarlet. 

Lawns are decorated with cornstalks and pumpkins and bales of hay. Children wait at the bus stop, dressed in their new clothes. 

The air becomes crisper and carries the scents of apples and nutmeg. 

At home, I go into "domestic mode." Everything gets an update--from the curtains on my windows to the food in my pantry. I spend weekends baking bread and cookies, brewing huge pots of soup and other comfort foods, and keeping the boys well-stocked with football-watching goodies.

Other benefits? I can go for a walk on the beach without slathering myself in sunscreen or fighting to get through a crowd. Any day can be pajama day. Hot cider. And of course, new seasons of my favorite television shows.

What are you looking forward to?