Hello all, and a warm welcome to new subscribers, so happy to have you here.
Things about November
Dia De Los Muertus - or Day of the Dead is celebrated in many parts of the world at the beginning of this month. Here in Italy, it is a public holiday.
Chrysanthemums are the flowers of November. They are grown here particularly for this time of year when the Italians visit their deceased relatives at the cemeteries.
World Diabetes day is on the 14th of this month. This is close to my heart as both my husband, Simon has Type 2 and my brother in law and nephew both have Type 1.
"Some of the days in November carry the whole memory of summer as a fire opal carries the color of moonrise."
Gladys Taber
No to NaNoWriMo
November is, for some writers, a very busy month as it’s the NaNoWriMo challenge. The acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month. The ‘competition’ has been going for some years now and the idea is to get that book written down within thirty days with a word count target of 50k. Essentially it’s about creating a habit and I first joined in 2009. Over the twelve years I’ve stacked up 374,763 words, which looks pretty impressive when written down. For me, the challenge worked in terms of creating a habit. There are some years I’ve missed, but it did encourage me to get the deed done, words on paper, bingo! And sometimes that led to a fully grown novel which I published. This year I shan’t be participating because I’ve learnt that I can do this anytime of the year, it doesn’t have to be in November and for the past year I’ve written a piece of flash fiction every single day.
Flash Fiction
This piece I penned some time ago, inspired by the Day of the Dead and particularly by the festivals they hold in Mexico to celebrate this day.
Lady of the Dead
“You danced with Catrina? But she died, centuries ago…”
Jake wasn’t interested in small talk. After his date had dumped him for a better offer—a flash car and bespoke suit—Jake almost didn’t go to the Halloween party until he remembered the fancy dress costume hanging on his door. What could possibly go wrong? The wig alone had cost him fifty quid. And he had pulled Catrina within minutes.
“They say she calls to collect, as the veil lifts between this world and the next—”
Ignoring the warning, Jake reached out and touched her face as the skin of his fingertips crumbled to grey dust.
And finally…
Update on Thunder Moon
I’ve published five episodes so far (you can find the first one here if you missed it). I’m really enjoying the process and have had some feedback from readers which is great.
I’m preparing to write out the next in the series. I’ve signed up to a course called Writing With The Soul which I’m hoping will help take my storytelling to another level. I’ll let you know how it pans out next month.
I’ve also included some sketches I’ve done with the episodes which are relevant to the chapter. I’m learning to draw on my iPad. Here is one little sketch I sent to my granddaughter and baby grandson as their monthly postcard. I use Touchnote which is a service that sends cards you design yourself. It’s not a very seasonal pic but I’m mad about Minions! (and I didn’t want to scare the baby.)
That’s about it from me! Hope all well in your corner of the world. I’ll be in touch again on the 15th of the month.
Ciao for Now
JoAnna