The Ramblings of my Disorganised Mind

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