Beltane
Happy May Day to those who celebrate it.May Day, of course, roughly corresponds to the pagan Beltane celebrations in the Northern Hemisphere, and many Australians do the Beltane-y thing too, as a nod to the European past most of us associate with. Mind you, it's supposed to be a seasonal celebration (coming into spring) as well as a spiritual one, so I don't.
This is not because of the pedantic thing (Nicky :-P) but because of how associated with the seasons my rhythms have been all of my life. If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you may recall this post where I outlined my tendency to drive my mother mad by celebrating the beginning of Spring by running through a sprinkler, come rain, hail, shine, sleet or frost in Canberra! (Hoi. I just read that post. I was a depressed nutoid back then, what).
Seasons have always been more important to me than dates. I'm still a little out of whack that way up here, with the no "four seasons" thing. It's not bad, but it's interesting. I get to avoid the winter downies, mostly, although that tends to be affected by the length of the daylight more than the cold. I actually don't mind the cold. I like the snuggle under the doona thing and I also like the way it feels on your face when the frigid air hits it and you get instant numb-nose.
I do tend to make May Day and Spring "resolutions" (if you can call them that. They're more like assessments) instead of New Years, because it's a season thing not a date thing for me. New Year's, down here, is smack-bang in the middle of summer and associates with Christmas/Yule/Hannukah etc., and is just too busy to quiet my head enough to decide what it is I actually want to do with the next year of my life (other than the stand-bys "lose weight" and "finish novel". And I usually don't resolve those, because it may not be the right time to do either yet, for all I know). And I like using 6-month intervals because I'm a believer in flexibility. This year May Day manages to be at the beginning of a week, after a new moon, too, so it's nicely wrapped up.
"Beltane", as it so happens, is the 2nd novel in my series of 4 I've been writing based on the greater (seasonal) Sabbats, "Imbolc", "Beltane", "Lughnasa" and "Samhain". I posted the first draft chapter of "Imbolc" here a while back, as I started it during a NaNoWriMo. It has changed a little bit, as first drafts by their very nature tend to suck small cow eggs, but not a lot, surprisingly. These novels are a bit of a divergence for me: contemporary dark fantasy (with, I hope, a bit of the spooky about them), stand alones but linked in theme and purpose. These, I will finish soon, as there's been a little bit of interest in them from people who can actually help get them published. We'll see. I feel quite good about them; I'm not sure why. Part of it would be that I had ready-made titles for them (which anyone who knows me knows is an abject miracle: if I have a title for a book then it's a "supposed" to be written one: I suck at titles), but also that the ideas (and the drafts) came very easily. Whcih makes me suspicious, of course.
Then again, it could be that a publishing editor heard the first chapter of Imbolc being read and demanded that I send him the rest when they were all done. I hope he doesn't change his mind. :-
One thing about my May Day & Spring Resolutions is that they tend to be very personal in nature, so I don't share them around. But the finishing of this series is definitely on the agenda, now that Conjure is done with and I have some time to kill (hahahaha! Did I really say that with a straight face??)
I wouldn't mind some encouragement (read: nagging) from anyone who feels like it on this. I know I'm supposed to be self-motivated, but I really don't think I'm going to allow success right now. So, while I never ask for help.... uh... never mind. ;-)
posted by Heather @ 8:42 am
6 comments
