Gratitude

Autumn Nostalgia

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Field edited

Autumn field on my drive into work

“Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life”

~Hal Borland

So I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately. Autumn, while always my favorite time of year, tends to bring out this emotion in me. Of course, it’s never too far from the surface, anyway. It just seems that the shifting of seasons from the warmth and vibrancy of summer to the cooler evenings and richer colors and textures of fall add an accent note to it all.

Life is incredibly busy at my house. Between my husband’s and my full-time jobs (outside of usual office hours, his requires a bit of travel, mine requires lots of planning and paperwork), our two teenagers with their schedules, homework, sports, or emotional upheavals of various life stages, visiting my widowed mother-in-law in the Alzheimer’s facility a half hour away, or talking on the phone with (and trying to see more frequently) my own widowed mother, the minutes, hours, and days seem to rush by. And then there’s my writing. It’s an integral part of who I am, and so I need to take the time to put some words on the page every day.

clouds and color

Autumn colors outside my back kitchen door

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The road into the valley where my school district is nestled in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Upstate New York

Lately, I’ve been trying to consciously slow down. To notice world around me (even if it’s outside my back door or on the drive to my school district!) I’m also fortunate to live and work in an area not too unlike the place I grew up, with plentiful fields, and trees, and woodlands, wildlife and bodies of water that are easily accessible.

horses in a field edited

Horses in a field on my drive to work one morning

There is so much beauty around me, and I’ve resolved not to let the days slip by without taking a few minutes, some deep breaths, and undertaking an effort to cultivate deliberate attentiveness to see it and appreciate it. Nature and I have always had a special connection (well, I’ve had one to her…not sure how she feels about me, LOL). If I’m away from Nature for too long, I feel the absence at an elemental level.

corn field edited

Corn field in the sun on my way to work

I hear many around me who say they enjoy the colors and activities of autumn, yet they feel a sense of dread and a little bit of darkness creeping into their outlook at the same time, since autumn is the precursor to winter (which around here can indeed be brutal in temperatures and snowfall amounts). But I can’t agree with that philosophy. There is something to be said about appreciating the moments of every season, whether it be in the midst of summer’s white-hot glory, winter’s icy beauty, spring’s fresh verdancy or autumn’s golden bounty. As Mr. Borland noted, they comprise the “rhythms that are at the heart of life.”

Brushes With Authorly “Greatness”

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Me, Lyssa and Julia Q framed

New York City, 2003: Me, NYT Bestselling authors Julia Quinn and Elizabeth Boyle, Adele Ashworth, Susan Kay Law, and Sari Robins with our fabulous editors Lyssa Keusch: Executive Editor at HarperCollins/Avon/Morrow, and May Chen: Senior Editor at Avon/Morrow

So, I’ve been fortunate to have had a few of these “brushes with authorly greatness” in the 21 years since I began pursuing a writing career (the last 14 of them as a published author with HarperCollins and later Cool Gus Publishing). Although I don’t have photos to commemorate all of the occasions,I’m sharing a few here and/or on my “Photos” page, accessed through the link in my sidebar.

The one above is special to me, as, not only does it feature extremely talented and gracious NYT Bestselling author Julia Quinn, who has been so kind as to provide several cover endorsements for my books over the years, but it also shows us after a fun evening out in New York City in 2003 with several other author pals and our fabulous editors Lyssa Keusch and May Chen.

Fortunately for me, my experiences with other talented authors began much earlier; back in 1993, in fact. I had recently earned my Master’s Degree in English literature, but I knew as well as anyone that degrees do not a writing career make. It would take six more years before I would be offered my first publishing contract from HarperCollins, and so in the interim I was in deep learning mode, attending conferences, joining writing organizations like my local chapter CNYRW, and writing. Always writing. Of course I’m still learning all the time – what fun would it be if we didn’t continue to learn and grow throughout our lives and careers? – but back then the gaining knowledge facet of a writing career was my primary focus.

Mary and Teresa Medeiros 2006 edited

Me with the fabulous NYT Bestselling Author Teresa Medeiros at a conference in Atlanta, GA in 2006

As is true with most writers, I’ve been an avid reader since childhood, and the kinds of books I enjoy vary greatly, from non-fiction, to literary, to commercial fiction. One of my favorite authors was then and is still now Teresa Medeiros. As a reader, she has taken me on many wonderful journeys of emotion, action, and adventure, and one of my dearest dreams in the early 1990’s was to meet her in person. In 1994 I attended my first National Writing Conference in New York City. At that Conference I was not so fortunate as to meet her, despite my best efforts. I made it to the Bantam authors autographing (her publisher at the time), only to be told she’d had to leave already in order to catch her flight home.

Ultimately, I did meet her at a conference a year later, and she was even more gracious, warm, funny, and welcoming than I had thought she’d be. Years later and much to my delight, I signed with the same literary agency that represents her, and then a few years after that, she and I both ended up being published by HarperCollins/Avon, and so I had more opportunities to rub elbows, chat, and have lovely conversations with her online and at every conference we both attended. This pic is of the two of us in 2006, after the RITA Award ceremony in Atlanta. I had a crushing headache that night, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to take a photo together. 🙂

RWA 94 Diana Gabaldon

Me with Diana Gabaldon in NYC at the Marriot Marquis, 1994

But back for a moment to that NYC conference in 1994: Disappointed but undeterred that I didn’t get to meet Teresa, I continued to visit other authors’ autographing tables and was able to get this lovely snap with the immensely-talented Diana Gabaldon, whose debut OUTLANDER had only been published three years earlier. Of course now it and all of the connected books to it have become an international phenomena, with the television series being broadcast now as well.

In a wonderful turn of the page, 13 years later I had the pleasure of attending an Historical Novelists conference in Albany, NY with Ms. Gabaldon  – only this time as a published author myself. We participated in the autographing session together (albeit at separate tables), and I remember thinking back to that first time I’d met her, and how I’d promised myself I would be autographing books as well someday. It’s funny how things come around, often reflecting the fruition of our goals, if we work at those goals long and hard enough.

There are many others I’ve been fortunate to meet at conferences or cocktail parties and chat with, including Meg Cabot (who like Teresa and I is also represented by the same literary agency), Nora Roberts, Dr. Michael Baden, Marion Roach, Lemony Snicket, Julianne MacLean, Eloisa James, Maggie Shayne, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Emma Cane, Christine Wenger, Molly Compton Herwood, Kris Fletcher, etc. etc. At one cocktail event at OTTO in New York City, I even had the pleasure of meeting and shaking the hand of chef Mario Batali! 🙂

The world of publishing is vastly different from the mostly solitary world of actual writing…the digging in and doing the job of producing words and paragraphs and pages that spill out an author’s innermost thoughts, emotions, and messages that are important and drive the work. Because it’s been a few years since I have actively published any new novels, this interactive, more “public” aspect of my writing career has slowed. I imagine it will pick up a little again with the release of my newest book, whenever and under whatever imprint it ends up being released by. Time will tell. Until then, it’s fun to look back and reflect on the fun times I’ve had, and the brushes I’ve enjoyed with many very talented people.

A Gift from the Heart

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Pa sewn art

I stumbled upon this piece of “sewn art” in the attic recently. It’s something I made when I was around seven years old. My sweet mother had recently taught me a bit of hand-sewing, beginning with showing me how to thread a needle and complete simple tasks (like replacing buttons or making hems).

I’m not ashamed to say that as a child I adored both of my parents (and I still do). However, I’m not saying I never got angry or frustrated with them; I did so pretty regularly, all the way into young adulthood. But I kept my frustrations to myself 99.9% of the time, because I respected and loved them. Unlike in the world today, where many young people (whether on TV, in the classroom, or in one’s own family) often seem to have little compunction about speaking whatever they feel at a given moment without any kind of “respect” filter in place, I always tried to treat Pa or Ma with deference for who they were and are as people and the role they play(ed) in my life.

Maybe I was helped in that by being a pretty sensitive kid; the only thing a teacher, the elementary school principal (another story I’ll share soon), or my parents had to do to make me contrite (and sometimes even burst into tears with regret over whatever naughty thing I’d done), was to look stern and tell me they were disappointed in me. I never wanted Pa or Ma to feel that way about me, and so perhaps that’s why I wasn’t much of a rebellious child, teen, or even adult. Oh, I knew how to have a good time, and I did my share of stupid and even risky things in my youth, but the ways I tended to push the boundaries were pretty mild compared to some of my peers in the 80’s.

Anyway, back to this piece of “art”. I can distinctly remember sewing it as a present for my father for either his birthday or Father’s Day in the early 1970’s. I remember the effort the project took, but that I didn’t mind working really hard at it, coming up with the idea and then picking through Ma’s bags of fabric scraps to find just the right colors (regal, dark red and sparkly gold, so it would look important and wonderful when it was finished).

I painstakingly cut out the golden letters and “border” and then sewed it all together, placing a golden bow at the top. This was it: a most elegant and fitting gift for my beloved “Pa”. Looking at it from a more mature perspective, its drawbacks are clear, including how asymmetrical and ragged it is around the edges. But when Pa opened it, he reacted as if it was sewn perfectly and expertly from the finest fabrics…treating it like something precious and even doing me the honor of having it professionally matted and framed, and hanging it on the wall next to his bed.

It hung on that wall for more than four decades, staying exactly where he had placed it, until nearly a year after his death. At that time, my mother decided (with all of her children’s encouragement) that it was time to move forward and redecorate their bedroom. When work commenced and the framed piece was removed from the wall, I received it gratefully. But getting it back marked  the end of an emotional era for me – a time of innocence, love, and respect, both given and received. I cried a little when I got it home…and when the time is right, I can still cry a few bittersweet tears now for all it represents to me of the stern, exacting but also patient man who loved me so unconditionally and taught me so much.

As a child, I made this little banner as a true gift of the heart. As an adult, I realize that as imperfect, flawed, inexpensive, and silly as such gifts might be, they are indeed worth more than all the jewels and gold the world has to offer, and we should cherish them and the memories they evoke forever.

Some of Life’s Little Pleasures

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As summer winds down here in upstate New York, I’m trying to continue to cultivate a sense of connection and gratitude to my life: it’s so easy, in the hustle and bustle of daily living (which for me, as a HS teacher, has already been busy with meetings and planning all summer long but is about to increase exponentially with the arrival of students in less than a week), to forget to slow down, take a breath, and recognize some of the many little pleasures that can make up a day.

Although this is by no means a complete listing, I’ve just randomly chosen some pictures that represent some of those pleasures for me during this season. Then I’ll gear up for autumn (and probably do a similar post about it in the coming months!)

Ok, so here goes:

coffe and kindle on the deck

 

Having my coffee and a few minutes to read my kindle out on the deck in the not-as-hot-as-it’s-been sunlight this morning.

 

 

 

Full moon

 

 

A late July full moon, visible through the trees around my house.

 

 

 

 

flowers in the garden

 

Early summer flowers in my little “backdoor garden”.

 

 

 

 

 

pets

 

 

Pets who actually get along. 🙂

 

 

finished book

 

A finished book, after five years of work. I guess this one isn’t so much a “little pleasure” as it is the very satisfying culmination of a huge undertaking, but it’s a pleasure to have written “The End” nonetheless. Information about it’s release – how, when, and by whom – will be forthcoming in the next month or so.

 

 

So that’s it for this post. How about you? What are some simple pleasures you relish at this season of the year (whatever it’s like for you, depending on where you live) or at any time?