The End of the Summer...

... approaches quite rapidly. The weather starts to reflect rather strong variations in night and day temperatures, cloudy skies, chilly winds, nightfall arrives suddenly at unexpected times (at least until we get rid of the Summertime Daylight Saving +1 hour)...

The Second Harvest approaches, the Equinox that balances light and darkness (Good and Evil as well? naaah). It's a time for our moods to balance as well, torn between the delights of the leaving Summer, and the ocher shades of the impending Fall (it seems a beautiful word, although Autumn is also nice).

And where does all this lead us? To a time of changes, of memories from a lost recent past, of what could have been but was not; but also to new opportunities, to the chance of shredding our old skins off, like the trees do, to get braced for the Winter.

The Winter which arrives after the Third Harvest (not the Astronomical Winter, but the seasonal one, after Samhain, the Halloween), the announce of the infertility of the soil, the domain of Darkness over Light, of night over day, and the chance to overcompensate with our fertile Muses, comfortably sat before our hearths, hot cocoa infusion close by and writing mitts on our hands; the time for creation when nothing can easily be created, time to spread warmth with our minds when the weather is cold and menacing, to fertilize the Winter landscape with the colors of our mind.

I am talking, of course, about NaNoWriMo.

And fertility this Nano is bringing.

Yes, I know what you are thinking: "Another novel? When are you going to finish one, first?" Well, the answer is: when it's done.

This Nano will give me the opportunity to finally tackle my very first Historical Novel project, one that I have delayed for years of slow investigation, thinking, figuring out... The other day, though, I had a revelation brought to me through the mysterious paths of the Muses, and now I feel confident enough (it's not like I haven't written more than 200,000 novelling words between then and now, I have learned some things, I hope).

I'll let you know as we get closer, for the project deserves it. It will also be a kind of jump to the future for me, which considering my recent trends, is good news in and on itself (I mean, I will be writing about this Common Era, that's more than 1,000 years later, hehe).

So, stay tuned. ;-)

Lastly, I was visiting one of the biggest book stores in Spain the other day, hunting documentation, references, and so on, and went to visit the 'Other Languages' section; I usually go to look for some novels written in English that will probably never see the light in Spain/Spanish: it's more rewarding than Amazon and other online services, you can touch and feel the books, something I undeniably enjoy.

Guess what? I found some exemplars of the pocket version of the UK edition of Memnon, by our top ten favourites writer, Scott Oden. Way cool, I'm very happy for him that his books are getting such a distribution (I mean, if they get in here, they are widely spread out!). No trace of Men of Bronze, though, but I won't lose heart, and, as always, I recommend everybody to get 'em, as they are more than worth their price, indeed!

Well, times are changing: we feel it in our skin, we feel it inside, and Nano will let us get it out in an explosion of creativity and emotion!

KALLISTI!