Kelly Dwyer: Fall

Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts

(from @TheGoodwillLibrarian)

When the leaves turn gold and red, the air feels crisp and smells like wet leaves, the temperature drops to the 50s, and pumpkins and mums appear on porches, my thoughts turn to scary books and films.

I love watching my favorite creepy movies, and I love re-reading and discovering new shiver-inducing books. A few recent discoveries these past few weeks have been Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, about a young nanny, recently sober, who comes to live with a family with a five year-old child. When he starts drawing dark, disturbing pictures, the nanny, unsure of what she's seeing, begins to investigate an old murder. Fervor by Alma Hatsu combines Japanese monster stories with the Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II, as well as a Zombie-like illness. Ray Russell's Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Stories contain some gothic stories that seem as though they could have been written during any time period, even though these were mostly written in the '70s. My favorite is the tale of how a man came to acquire a permanent disturbing grin on his face.

I'm a fast reader, and these were page-turners. If there's a ghost haunting me, standing behind me, reading slowly, I'm afraid I disappointed them, for I was turning these pages as fast as I could to make sure the characters got out alive....

What about you? Read any good (scary) books lately? What are you looking forward to reading this fall?

Photo by Patrick Tomasso from Unsplash

September, 2021

I returned to school this past week, teaching three sections of The 99-Day Novel through the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival over Zoom (see link below). Thirty writers will be starting (or starting to revise) a novel before Labor Day, and finishing their goals, whatever they are--to finish a skeleton of a novel or to finish a completed manuscript--before the holidays. My job is to shepherd them through the process and to be their most helpful reader and their most enthusiastic cheerleader--a job I absolutely love!

I wish all students and educators who are returning to school a happy and healthy year. May we make new friends and grow in "old" friendships, may we learn new things, may we learn from our failures and rejoice in our successes, may we have fun!, and may we attempt feats just out of our reach...

What are you doing and learning this September? I wish you well in your endeavors!

*For more information on the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival upcoming classes, sign up for their email list/ go to: ISWF

Like everything else, Halloween was a little different during our global pandemic, and I was impressed by how inventive and creative people were in finding new ways to celebrate and distribute treats. Some things never change, however. See Rosie the pug, above, my beloved best friend, who hated wearing a costume just as much as she always does. She was an astronaut in her rocket just long enough to seem very skeptical about a life in space with a flimsy spacesuit and no treats, while I snapped a few pictures, and then she was back to unencumbered freedom again--until I will put a Christmas hat on her, that is.

Halloween over, I awoke the next morning with a marvelous feeling: It was Sunday, November 1! I love it when new months fall on Sundays or Mondays, don't you? The entire month seems like it is filled with possibility!

I have so many plans to accomplish: so much teaching and editing this month. I also hope to enjoy some walking in brisk air before it snows, and to read and watch scary books and movies in whatever free time I have! What are your hopes and dreams for a new month that begins on a Sunday?

I have been a student or a teacher for much of my life. The Tuesday after Labor Day always represents a new year for me more than January 1 ever does. I'm excited for new classes, new students, a new school (University of Wisconsin at Platteville), and new writers whose novels and memoirs I'm working with this year.

Summer is my favorite season. I love long days, sunlight, travel, fireflies, and the beach. But Fall is a close second. I'm looking forward to wearing sweaters again. I love autumn leaves. And Halloween is my third favorite holiday, after Christmas and birthdays (my own, my daughter's, friends'). Most of all, I love the promise of Fall: a new year, a new slate, life starting over again.

What are you looking forward to?

In August I was in a bad car accident. I got T-boned (right at the driver's door) by a van whose driver went through a red light right. I have had quite a few issues to deal with since then, which is why I haven't posted lately, and which I won't get into here. I am just checking in to wish everyone a happy new season that marks new beginnings. I am indeed not only glad to live in a world where there are Octobers, but also very happy to be alive to enjoy this one. Happy Fall, dear readers! Hope you read some great books and have fun writing your own!

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