I was walking from the gym yesterday and that cool, crisp wind hit me. I think of it as a Halloween wind. The hometown I came from was named “The Valley of the Winds” by its native American settlers so I remember the Halloween wind being a lot stronger growing up. I also came from a place where the leaves didn’t really change so it’s this shift in the air that signals autumn for me.

I think I get this sense of calm and new beginnings from the pattern of the school year. In college, fall meant that summer was over and I was starting a new set of classes. When I was a teacher, the fall became a huge milestone because that’s when I would have a whole new set of students. By October, I would know all their names and the ball would really start rolling.

I realize I’ve kept the same rhythm. The months from September through November are when I’ve done the bulk of my writing. The rest of the year is spent polishing and querying and contesting, but the fall will usually yield a complete rough draft. And I’ve never done NaNoWriMo either. I’m a bigger fan of the two week Fast Draft process. After a two week intensive Fast Draft, I can usually keep myself going to draft a book in two or three months.

Maybe I’ll try to Fast Draft mid-October. In the meantime, I’m just trying to find my stride again on this darn first/fourth book.

If I ever need to write two or three books a year, I have no idea what to do. 🙂