"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers" -Lucy Maud, Anne of Green Gables
October turned my maple's leaves to gold;
The most are gone now; here and there one lingers:
Soon these will slip from out the twig's weak hold,
Like coins between a dying miser's fingers.
-Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Hello Readers!
Write On, Oceanside! was a blast. This last weekend we got to connect with local authors and readers, sell some books, and attend a fantastic panel led by Matt Coyle (author of the bestselling Rick Cahill crime series) on creating a series protagonist. We were able to take away some valuable tips for developing our main characters into people you'd want to stay with over multiple books. That, plus the live music and poetry readings made it a whole lot of fun. We'll be sure and let you know when the next fair or live event comes up. It's always a delight meeting readers and signing books for folks.
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| The calm before the storm at Write On, Oceanside! |
We've entered spooky season (are you ready for some fun facts??).
Let's talk about October, shall we?
October got it's name from being the 8th month of the early Roman calendar (octo being eight). When they converted to a 12 month cycle (they switched from lunar to solar cycles) they decided to keep the name because who wants to learn a new name for a month? The Anglo Saxons tried, calling October "Winterfylleth", but it didn't stick. Similarly the regular ol' Saxons called it "Wyn Monath" which meant, wine month. See, that's confusing because every month is Wyn Monath.
October contains plenty of holidays:
- Rosh Hashanah started on the 2nd
- Yom Kippur starts the 11th
- Leif Erickson day is the 9th (you know Leif the Lucky, he set foot on North America 500 years before Columbus)
- Indigenous Peoples Day is the 14th, along with Canadian Thanksgiving Day
- United Nations day is the 24th
- And the 31st brings us National Sugar Coma Day, also known as Halloween
Did you know October babies have more athletic potential? There are a lot of competing theories as to why this is, but one theory with a decent amount of evidence is that those kids are usually bigger than the other kids in their class, and so they are given more attention and get more time/training/development in sports. It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point.
That's all for now gang. We'll leave you with a graceful poem by Mabel Douglas Essay
October Weather
There's a certain eerie sadness
Tempered with exultant gladness
In October weather.
Vanished is June's fertile sweetness,
July's mellow rare completeness;
August fleeing with September
Leaves a beauty earth remembers
In October weather.
The long rows of china aster
Stiffly face a sure disaster,
The vine grasped by the frost's keen fingers
shrivels where it deserted lingers;
Summer suns are mirrored brightly
From the trees the frosts touch lightly
In October weather.
There's the courage of the mountains
And the daring of the rivers,
There's the wisdom of the meadows
Autumn holds and guards forever,
And they give a ripened gladness
Tinctured with a shadowy sadness
In October weather.
Until next time, dear readers.
~2authors
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