Behold, Autumn!

And thank fuck for that. I think it's more reflective of my job that this year feels no different from last year and the year before, and so on. While the actual work varies (with a few monotonous days peppering my calendar here and there), it's the nature of the work and the repetitive commute that dull the senses -- or at least my brain. That said, I'm so, so, SO glad I'm no longer in customer service, and I ran across the ad for this position when I was at the end of my rope in my previous job. Give me the occasional monotony if it means not dealing with people's endless demands and attitudes. This month marks my anniversary, and I'm on to my fourth year and some extra perks. 

Today is also a spa day for me. I'm off for a mental health break and some well-deserved lazy time, but I'll be spending today working on those postcards for swing states. The new batch, anyway, since I already finished the previous set for my sister, and she sent me 100 cards to fill. 

I'm loving the moment right now -- still early morning (it's 4:20 am as I write this), foggy, and quiet. If I had woo-woo powers, I'd keep the entire day like this, but I'll settle for just a quiet day for myself. I'll likely dip a little into my WiP folder for a page or two of new writing, but that's low on my agenda list. 

Now that The Perfect Rochester is heading steadily toward the finish line, my notes for Compline are experiencing so many shifts, and I think the story will work more effectively as a classic haunted house tale but still following the plot of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin". I mentioned before that the story's going to take place in a boarding school. Well, scratch that idea. There is a boarding school, but it's in the past, and it does hold the key to the mystery of an old man's haunting. And as far as what I said about the book being an epistolary novella from the point of view of just one character -- that still stands since the details the character only hints about in his journal entries will add to the atmosphere and tension of the plot. I hope to manage that, anyway. 

By the way, I might be tweaking my 2025 calendar given how far ahead I am with my writing (at the moment). My initial plan was to follow this year's release schedule, which is March - July - November. I actually would like to go back to my preferred calendar cycle of February - June - October (October being my main target since it's Halloween month, and it works perfectly with the genre of stories I write). That's doable, at least, as opposed to me publishing four books and not three, however tempting it might be to do that. 

Oh, and since I'm on the subject of Halloween and haunted house fiction, here's a great video on someone's recommended list of haunted house movies. I haven't seen about a third of the films on the list, so at least I've got a starting point for my gothic entertainment. However, I'm so, so happy to see my favorites rank so high: The Uninvited, The Changeling, The Others, and The Orphanage. Those films are, to me, the best examples of how to work atmosphere, tension, and excellent writing into a complete and eerie package.

To someone who writes the kind of stuff I write, everyday is Halloween, so holding off for autumn really doesn't make any sense, but having autumn here, finally, does add something extra special to my days.