I remember hearing an NPR story about an experiment that proved older people perceive time as going faster than younger folks. Their methodology? I don’t remember. But the speed with which September passed has confirmed my belief in the study. I imagine our 4-year-old grandboy thought September crawled by, crammed full by his birthday, the start of Pre-K, and a dozen new adventures every day. But for all the adults in his life, four years have gone by in a blink. And I swear, September absolutely whizzed by.

It whizzed by birthdays (collective ages adding well beyond 200!), a great book club gathering, two excellent free concerts sponsored by our downtown merchants, a fabulous production of A Chorus Line at Geva Theatre, and numerous lunches and dinners with good friends. Yet, besides these brief pauses of joy, fun, and meaning among the whiz, I blinked and the month was gone.

All the more reason, I suppose, to savor every ounce of joy I can squeeze into every pause. Because it’s unlikely my perception of time whizzing by will shift. So, savor I will. As I also strive to remember speed itself can be fun!

Making Stuff

I’ve been on a tear to prepare for our Christkindl Market, now a mere six weeks away. Five new scarves wait for photos on the next sunny day. Holiday earrings and brooches await finishing touches, and by the end of the week, I should complete my contribution to the Festival of Trees. Next up? Felt poinsettia pins, one more scarf (which will bring my scarf inventory to fifty!), lots more earrings, a bracelet or two, and a bunch of fun, inexpensive pendants.

Sold today from FlairWearableArts.etsy.com Sold today from FlairWearableArts.etsy.com

Find all of the above, plus over sixty other treasures at www.FlairWearableArts.etsy.com. Please consider my shop and other local artisans as you plan your gift-giving season. Think how pleased your gift-ees will be with you when they open a handmade item the maker has poured love and time into.

Making Stuff Up

Last month I reported being halfway through a second set of revisions on Terroir: A Finger Lakes Winery Novel. I’m gaining on it! I passed three-fifths last week, and ought to be seventy-five percent of the way by next month’s end. Can I race the clock and complete these revisions by year’s end? Maybe. And then, there’ll be another round of revisions, and perhaps as many as two or three beyond that. But here’s the good news I’m clinging to. Each subsequent set of revisions goes faster – fewer holes to fill and errors to fix, more excitement to get on with it already. I actually am starting to feel the excitement growing now. It’s too soon to tell for sure, but I think the story holds together. I like how the characters are growing and gaining in appeal. So far.

Meanwhile, I’m serious about soliciting your feedback as an early reader. Let me know, and I’ll make sure you get an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC in writer-speak.) If you like what you read, I’ll ask you to be part of the Terroir Street Team, which will involve submitting your review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Bookbub (preferably all three), sharing social media posts, and telling everyone you know about the book. Sounds fun, am I right?

Reading What Other Authors Make Up

The plugs and lavish praise for this book show Kate Clayborn’s friendships with some very successful authors. My take was a bit milder than theirs. I liked the characters and the necessary healing for the romance to work. But would I call the book ‘perfection’? Um, no? Georgie and Luke both try to show their hometown that they’re responsible adults and not the feckless teens the town remembers. By doing the wild stuff Georgie was too afraid to do when she was a teen? Odd choice, yes? I questioned how quickly Luke falls for Georgie too. But I did like the characters and how each grew. So…I guess it didn’t need perfection to still be fun.

Here’s a tale that generated a great book club discussion. It’s based on a true protest in 1970 Ireland, when fifty-some women defied anti- contraception laws via what became known as the ‘Condom Train.’ They rode to Northern Ireland and came back to Dublin with legally purchased condoms and aspirin tablets, posing as the ‘pill.’ The female lead of the book suffers horrific domestic abuse for over half the book and then, once free from her husband, becomes a prime advocate for contraception rights. Which seemed a big topic leap to me. More troubling was an omission in the author’s notes describing the true Condom Train event. Why did she not mention the fact that non-prescription contraception remained illegal in Ireland until nine years after the ‘condom train?’ I was glad to learn important history about Irish women. But I kept wishing the book was better.

Sadly, this one disappointed me too. The premise was strong. Three friends formed a book club in college and remained fast friends into adulthood. Professional crises push them to take risks worthy of their favorite novels’ heroines. Okay, I’m in. Except it all went downhill from there. The three clearly thought their friends walked on water, but I never felt the same admiration or sympathy for any of their challenges. But my biggest problem with the book was the boatload of re-telling what I’d already read. Were I Hatcher’s editor, I’d wield my red pencil and cut out at least a third. Lose the redundant and focus on character depth, Julie, to make me care.

I’m a Katherine Center fan, so when this came available on Libby, I snapped it up. Was it Center at her best? I liked it a lot – fun characters in the forced proximity of a cruise ship, multiple absurdly amusing circumstances, snappy dialogue. But. Some hard-to-pinpoint quality felt just a little off. Maybe it was the male lead’s near-perfection or a certain tossed-together feel? Still, if you like a good rom-com, you’ll find it here. You might also appreciate, as I did, Center’s forward, where she mounts a passionate defense of romance writing. When all the world seems awry, she says, we need the hope of love and the reliability of a happy-ever-after ending. Not to mention how much we need fun.

I’m a Klune fan too and love how he takes a tough topic – death – and makes it fun. When Reaper May delivers Wallace, a not-nice man, to the tea-shop way-station between death and the afterlife, it takes a lot of convincing before Wallace believes he’s dead. It’s not till he accepts his end of life – amid great angst about what happens next – that he learns what it means to live. I was intrigued and highly entertained by Klune’s charming characters and fantasy world-building.

For weeks, I saw these volumes on Libby, but when I finally selected Volume 1 and enjoyed it, somebody else had borrowed Volume 2! The nerve! But because Brower published these in serial fashion, each is a far quicker listen than most audiobooks, and Volume 2 showed up soon. Alas, I’m still waiting for Volume 3 and anticipate similar waits through the next three volumes. It’s worth the wait, though, to enjoy Emma’s genteel but impoverished spunk in 1883 London. She’s an independent spirit who, despite being unable to buy essentials like books, has a positive if snarky outlook on life. I look forward to her future exploits. In a few weeks.

Yet again, I inadvertently chose to listen to a volume one book without noticing that Libby doesn’t have volume two. And now I have to decide if it’s worth joining Audible to get Ashbrook’s other three volumes. I enjoyed this first book, but do I really want to expose myself to another thirty-nine hours of Hunger Game-like violence, and still have to wait till volume four is published sometime next year? Even if Audible is running a deal for the next four months? I have not yet decided.

Here’s a wowzer of a story from another of my fandom authors. Four fast childhood friends rely on each other through high school when the unthinkable causes an unforgivable rift. Twenty-five years later, three are summoned by one who discloses her diagnosis of early-onset dementia. Oh my. The friends’ dynamics, pre- and post-rift, leave marks on each of their lives that cannot be easily healed. But to support their fading friend, the other three try. Higgins addresses deep female friendship as well as the powerlessness of forgetting just what one is supposed to do with a toothbrush. She also manages to give her readers hope even in the most tragic circumstances. I highly recommend this book!

There you have it, friends – my September of making stuff, making stuff up, and reading what other authors have made up. And still the days keep whizzing by. I mourn September’s swift passing, but take comfort in seasonal savoring to come. I vow to celebrate the sweet-tart taste of a Honey-crisp apple, a bright warm October afternoon, bursts of coleus colors in their last gasps before frost, soup for dinner, candles to ward off the SAD feelings of early darkness, and so many tiny blessings I don’t want to take for granted.

Celebrate with me, will you? And please keep in touch by clicking on any or all of the following.

Till next month, be well!