September Shimmers: Monthly Missives from The Dream Pedlar

There's nothing like September's back-to-school-and-work regularity to shake me out of the whimsies that a good summer break brings. Where last month I thought I'd simply drown in homesickness for the rest of my life and never resurface, mercifully this month saw me joyfully back at the writing desk once more.

Which is why I have many exciting updates to share, especially in the Tales for Dreamers section! So grab a cuppa, settle yourself in a comfy place, and read on.

Firstly, a very cheerful welcome to everyone receiving their first Monthly Missive!

While I mostly let the software elves carry out the tricks they do to ensure you receive these emails, I do take the time to read every new member's name and imagine an invisible line of light and warmth connecting human-you to human-me.

I am glad our paths have crossed, and I hope we will bask in each other's company for as long as we can.

I suspect most of you already have a copy of my short story, A Benevolent Goddess.

If not, here's another chance to grab a free copy until October 15, while it's part of an ongoing promotion over on BookFunnel where several authors have teamed up to offer their works to new readers for free for a limited time.

One book in particular caught my attention.

Titled 28-day Grimdark Affirmations by BardLyre.

To say that I love this book/journal is an understatement. Utterly grim. Utterly dark. Subversive. Highly imaginative!

As the name suggests, it's written in the form of an affirmation journal, except, as the author says,

"This isn’t your average daily journal filled with empty affirmations and pastel promises of perpetual happiness. No, dear reader, this is where you’ll find solace in the shadows of the hopeless."

I've since gone on to read and love BardLyre's novel, Darkhelm, the first book in her Tales of Shattered Glass duology. It's an epic, grim dark, LitRPG fantasy in which the main character, Lady Darkhelm, is a Knight of the Road, who travels from village to village, hearing people's complaints and delivering justice. When she is charged with the protection of a young boy, her job invites dangers unforeseen.

Who knows? You too might find your next favourite author in the promo! Take a look, and let me know which other books in the promo catch your fancy.

Although we're now well settled into the routine of school and work, the transition from summer to back-to-school had its undeniable share of tears and fears.

Transitions are hard. They bring forth a lot of emotions to the surface. If we refuse to recognize and name them, they disappear into the garbs of busy-ness and over scheduling. Endless activities to fill our calendars with, so we can drop into our beds exhausted at night, having escaped the peril of actually feeling those uncomfortable feelings.

A neighbour of mine saw her youngest child start Junior Kindergarten this year. A day of both her kids away at school for the first time, and her mind was already guilting her into getting up and attending to the myriad tasks on her to-do list now that she had ample time on her hands.

Her predicament reminded me of the time when D was about to start at a half-day toddler program many years ago, and my heart broke into a million pieces. And I thought I had to somehow put all that time to 'good' use. My heart goes out to past-me, and to any parent feeling the pressure of major transitions in their children's lives.

So when my neighbour reached out to me a couple of weeks ago, wondering how she could get more efficient in her use of all this newfound time, I had no practical tips to offer her. I could only offer her a listening ear and a comforting silence.

But in the back of my mind, I was thinking of my own experience from these past few years of watching D grow.

Because the truth is, after all these years, I've given up on trying to achieve efficiency.

Life is always messy! The more I try to control it, the messier it gets.

So instead of aspiring for efficiency, I only value the practice of being calm and patient and understanding when things get out of hand. Then it doesn't seem to matter how things have gone, if I've been calm and compassionate throughout whatever is happening.

Only later did it occur to me that I'd been paraphrasing the teachings of the late monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. I've held on to these words for comfort and reassurance ever since I heard them for the first time several years ago.

We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time.

But that is not true. Our time is first of all to be.

To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to be loving. And that is what the world needs most.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

So, how has September been for you, dear Dreamer? Have you too had to face a transition of your own recently? If so, how did you go about it? Write to me and let me know.

Tales for Dreamers

So, the big news is this: Instead of a single tale this month, I've got several new tales for you!

Every Friday morning, a new short fantasy tale paired with an image is posted on the website. This has been a fun project for me ever since I started writing fiction more than a decade ago, and I'm thrilled to resume it once more.

There are five tales in all this month.

There's 'the bangle-seller's song', 'the fall dilemma', and 'this way up', all of which I was very thrilled to write.

Another tale, 'the unexpected demands of a shopping list' is one I love for how quirky and whimsical it is.

But 'the children are gone' is the one that takes a special place in my heart.

Read them all, and tell me which one(s) you loved!

Books You May Love

After feeling utterly incapable of diving into fiction last month, I turned to an author whose works, although set in the time of WWI, have comforted me and seen me through times of inner turbulence.

Charles Todd! I went to the library and grabbed two books from his Bess Crawford mystery series. Reading these books finally pulled me out of my stupor of nostalgia and homesickness, and I simply couldn't stop disappearing into more fiction.

And because I had such a lovely time reading a wide variety of books, I went and wrote an entire post on them! Along with some wonderful excerpts from some of these books!

That brings us to the end of this edition of Monthly Missives, dear Dreamer! This was edition # 30! I've been writing these monthly posts for two and a half years now. All those who've been with me right from the start as well as the ones who're climbing aboard just now, I thank you for being with me on this ride!

September also marked the month in which KrA turned a year older. We spent a lovely Sunday at Toronto's Centre Island, which has inspired several Tales for Dreamers I've written since. So keep an eye out for those!

Before I leave, I must share with you something funny that happened with Alexa this month.

One evening, I asked Alexa about the weather forecast for the night and she gave me an absurdly low number, 11 or 12 degrees Celsius or something like that. (We had a brief cold spell last month.)

I gasped and said, "Oh my God!"

Alexa dutifully responded, "I couldn't find that name in your contacts list. Do you have their number?"

Until next month, dear Dreamer!

~ Anitha