My Favorite Time of Year

This week marked the first day of Autumn. And I love everything about this time of year. What makes it special for you?

This skeleton doodle is in my copy of Zen as F*ck, by Monica Sweeney. The leaf art is hers.

Sweaters. Pumpkin spiced lattes. Orange and brown leaves dotting the driveway. And skeletons.

I’m not sure what it is about this time of year. It’s a season for getting back to work—or back to school. Leaves turn warm shades of yellow and red, while temps drop. We kindle the fires and snuggle up in our soft, well-worn sweaters. There’s a sense of tucking in.

My creativity gets ignited by the riot of color in the trees. By the cool air at night. I’m currently editing my manuscript, FOREWARNED, and getting it polished to submit to a handful of publishers. I’m also writing the first draft of Daphne Ann Post’s second book, FORESEEN. This one takes place during the Fall of her sophomore year. She’s learned to deal with her psychic abilities by keeping her skin covered and her hands tucked under long flowing sleeves. (In Stevie Nicks’ style.) When an excited friend grabs her hand, Daphne receives psychic images of her friend’s brutal death. This time, she know better than to dismiss those prickly feelings, and when a shy classmate turns up dead, the description of her dead body near Fall Creek is just like Daphne’s premonition of her friend. She has to stop this from happening again, but isn’t sure who she can trust.

Lucianna of Flavisham welcomes people into our home with a mace. LOL! She is a long-time mascot of my brand, find more images of her on #flavishamfridays on Instagram.

I’m also prepping for a fall jazz recital with my piano students. As a classically trained pianist, I find jazz and improve very difficult. So I settled on the Gershwin Prelude no. 1. The rhythmic baseline bounces through my head while I pose skeletons on the lawn. I’ve decorated the pianos with a mini Halloween town. My students love the miniature houses, tiny graveyards and trees decorated with eyeballs.

Danny Elfman’s music inspires me this time of year. I love The Nightmare Before Christmas, both listening and playing it on the piano. I’m a huge fan of his band, Oingo Boingo. The African inspired rhythms and nontraditional chord progressions hook me.

I’m not quite finished decorating for Halloween. A few days ago I went shopping for the elusive 9 foot tall skeleton. The Home Goods store had them in stock when I stopped in last week. Now they’re sold out. And so is Amazon. Unbelievable. I’m pretty sure if Amazon doesn’t have it, no one does. I can see why they’re popular. One giant intimidating skeleton is really the only decoration you’d need in your yard.

One skeleton? Hmm-wa-ha-ha!

I love skeletons!

So in lieu of adding one more extremely tall skeleton to my collection, I took my Menard’s rebate receipts and bought a trunk load of bones. I added a gravestone, two 6’ skeletons, two bird skeletons and a howling wolf.

Inspired by the season? I’d love to hear in the comments how you celebrate Autumn!