September has always felt more like the beginning of a new year to me than January. Maybe it’s all those years of school calendars and freshly sharpened pencils. Or the memory of fresh notebooks, new saddle shoes and uniforms, and classrooms waiting for everyone to return. Even now, long after my school days have ended, September still arrives carrying that same sense of possibility. It’s a fresh start tucked quietly between Summer and Fall. And… Fall just happens to be my favorite time of year.
Happy September!
Here in Virginia, September doesn’t necessarily mean cool weather. The afternoons can still be hot, the garden is still producing, and summer isn’t quite ready to give up its hold. But recently, I’ve noticed things have changed. The light isn’t as bright, the mornings come a little later, and the evenings arrive a little sooner. And every once in a while, especially early in the day, there’s a hint of something cooler in the air. Autumn is coming.
This is also the time of year when my thoughts begin turning toward apples and pumpkins, soups and bread, books read under blankets, and all the things I want to finish before the holidays arrive. September always makes me want to tidy my desk, pull out my notebooks, make lists, and convince myself that this will finally be the season when I accomplish everything on them.
It never is. But I make the lists anyway.
The garden is changing too. Summer hasn’t completely disappeared, but we’re entering that lovely in-between season when I’m still putting away the last of the summer harvest and I also have to can my Peach Salsa while beginning to think about apples, fall gardens, and everything I want to bake and can when the weather finally cools. (There there are also the green beans in my garden which are producing far more than I can eat, can, and freeze!)
And, of course, there are stories waiting for me. I am currently finishing up two novellas for two anthologies coming out later this year and working on my Gothic Women’s Fiction novel. September is usually a busy writing month, and this year is no exception. There are pages to edit, stories to outline, and new novels already whispering from the edges, asking when it will finally be their turn and desperately hoping I’ll work on them in November’s drafting extravaganza.
But today, on the first day of September, I’m not rushing ahead. There will be plenty of time for pumpkins and Halloween and everything else I love about autumn. Later this month, I’ll celebrate Michaelmas, as I always do, with blackberries and the old stories that say you shouldn’t pick them after St. Michael’s Day.
But for today, I’m simply welcoming September (despite it being almost 100 degrees F!). This is a month between seasons, a month for finishing things and beginning things. A month when summer is still lingering outside the window, but autumn is on its way. So a very Happy September to you!
