Hail bounteous May!

Among the changing months, May stands confessed

The sweetest, and in fairest colors dressed!

-James Thomson

Hello Readers!

Welcome to May! We hope you all danced around the Maypole this week, and engaged in your favorite fertility ritual. 

Before we jump into our topic for today's blog, let's talk about May for a quick minute. 

We don't know for sure where the name May comes from. The leading contenders are the Roman Goddess Maia, who was the Goddess of plant growth (kind of a weird thing to be a deity for, but, go off Queen), and the Latin word maiores, which means elders. Interestingly enough (at least to us), there is a Greek Goddess Maia as well. She's the mother of Hermes and Goddess of fertility. 

Don't forget about Mother's Day, May 12th. If you're lucky enough to still have your momma around, make a plan now! Also, May 8th is Root Canal Appreciation Day, so, you know, plan accordingly. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Women's Health Care Month, Arthritis Awareness Month, and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

If you're in the Midwest, it's Rhubarb pie season. Strawberry Rhubarb pie may just be the best pie ever created. 

Going to any weddings this month? It used to be considered bad luck to get married in May. The saying was "Marry in May and you'll rue the day".

Timberlake says, never get married in May

Alright. Now that that's out of our system (we love fun facts!), let's get to our main topic this week. 

When we were at the LA Times Festival of Books a few weeks ago, we had the chance to chat with several other authors, either when they visited our booth or when we passed by theirs. One thing we discussed a few times with folks is what we most loved about writing novels. And we thought we'd share that with you. 

We've been writing together for many years. In that time we've written screenplays, short stories, and (David especially) poetry. But there's something special about the novel. For us, it's the chance to create a new world, or even universe (like we did with Ascension) with no restrictions. No page limit, no form to adhere to, no deadline, no rules. It's entirely up to us. That freedom is exhilarating. It loosed our imaginations from their moorings and let us set sail. 

Another thing we love about writing novels is that we have the time and ability to allow for the unexpected to come to us. Whether it's a scene, or a character, or an entire plot line that pops into our heads, it's thrilling every time. And it often pushes us further down a path we weren't aware of, resulting in more twists and turns than we could have scripted out. Writing from the subconscious, and having the time to allow it to occur properly, is stimulating, spirited, and often dramatic. We love it. And doing it together, where two of us are on that path, doubles the pleasure. It also doubles the challenges of editing, but that's another topic for another day. 

There's a lot of power in the subconscious mind

We hope this May brings you joy, renewal, and peace. We'll leave you with a few gorgeous lines by John Milton. 

 Hail bounteous May that dost inspire

Mirth and youth, and warm desire,

Woods and Groves, are of the dressing, 

Hill and Dale, doth boast thy blessing.

Thus we salute thee with our early Song.

And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

-John Milton

Until next time,

~2authors