Blackberry Winters, Indian Summers & ???

      
Blackberry Winters, Indian Summers and ???

It's May and everywhere I look the emphasis is on summer's immenent arrival. Everywhere except in the air where store merchandising schedules mean nothing and Mother Nature has the final word. Here in northeast Tennessee not more than ten days ago we had "Blackberry Winter"—the blackberries are in bloom but the temperatures are more winter-like than late spring-like. Just when I thought it was safe to pack away the winter clothes, I woke to find temperatures in the 30's.

As I sat and contemplated this "Blackberry Winter" phase I realized that there are other fleeting seasons named by … well… by whom?   Indian Summer… Harvest Moon… Blackberry Winter… Halcyon Days… I'm certain that some of you can name more such days in nature.

What names would describe certain phases of your life? What name would tell someone who doesn't know you exactly who you are this month of May? Why not spend some time in the days ahead reflecting on various times in your life—give those phases appropriate names much like the Blackberry Winter we've just had here in Tennessee?

 Are you in a place in your writing life that seems to be a major flood? or perhaps a phase that resembles a drought? Has your writing experience opened you up to rainbows and sunshine or dark clouds and storms? Mother Nature provides us with so many examples of the mix of positive and negative forces coming together… So does the practice of writing life stories.