There's Something in the Air

I've been reading about, hearing of and experiencing something remarkable. Sleep deprivation. For the past week or so, I've averaged four hours of sleep a night. My flatmate keeps waking up in the middle of the night. Friends have been averaging anywhere between two to five hours of sleep a night. Some get their eight, but it's continually interrupted for no apparent reason.

What is going on? Is there anyone else out there in blog land that is suffering the same as this transitional period?

Perhaps something big is shifting in the universe, and we're all unconsciously tuning to it. Perhaps my luck will finally change and I'll be a writer for real - like earning a decent income real. I mean, I am a real writer in that I write stuff all the time...

Well, that was awkward.

The point is, things are weird, and they're like as not going to get a bit weirder until we all settle down into our new seasons.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the autumn. It's my favourite time of the year. The weather cools and becomes comfortable instead of sweltering. The colours are amazing. It used to be that a new year of university was about to commence (here in North America), and the anticipation was delightful - particularly if I registered for very cool classes in the summer (and I usually did - thank-you Celtic Studies!).

This year, I'm anticipating the commencement of my violin lessons (so excited!) and the return to my martial arts training. The prolonged break from Kung Fu has helped me immensely to refocus, to heal up and gather myself together. I should be in a much better frame of mind this time around.

Also this autumn, despite still being behind 8 000 odd words, I will be finishing the first draft of Ethan Cadfael: The Battle Prince. I'll then be working on getting it into publishable shape for Hallowe'en of next year. Being as how I'm self-publishing, I can set my own deadlines and release date. I'm enjoying that immensely, actually.

I might be a bit of a control freak.

In any case, I think autumn is by far the best of the seasons. Out of curiosity, what's your favourite season, and why?

The Squares

"How go the squares?" how goes the game? The reference is to the chessboard. [Thomas] Middleton, Family of Love [1608]. Yomenne, "yeomen"; the pawns in the game of chess.

- Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914