This is the season that ends in darkness, especially in northern climes like New 
England. Wickeds, how do these dark days affect your writing? Do you need mood lights just to keep you going, or do the short ever colder days inspire you to write better tales of deceit and murder? Or both?
Liz: Without the light and long days of the summer months, I’m more inclined to become a hermit – which makes me more apt to chain myself to my desk and get work done. The colder and darker it is, the more I want to wrap up in 
a favorite blanket, turn on some nice lamps and music, and cook up murder and mayhem with some hot apple cider or tea.
Jessie: I find it absolutely easier to get desk work done at this time of year. The beach isn’t calling as loudly and schedules are more fixed with my kids back in school. I also like how at the beginning and end of each day my office feels cocooned in darkness and I have a sense of being even more inside the world of my stories.
Barb: I, too, love this time of year, even the cold and rainy days. I always have a bit of a bump when the time changes, but after a week or so of dislocation, I’m fine. By early December, I’ll be happy to see the Christmas lights twinkling outside, warding off the dark. And then we’re over the hump and the days are getting longer.
Edith: Once I get over grieving the end of fresh produce, except the kind I don’t care for – beets, rutabagas, watermelon radishes – and the last few heads of lettuce, I love fall. I can layer on clothes and pretend I didn’t layer on pounds over the summer. I love cooking stews and roasts and apple pies. And like my blogmates here, when it’s dark and the world is in senescence (I learned that word from an essay by Annie Proulx on autumn), it’s so much easier to write about people’s dark sides.
Sherry: I love fall but I do miss the longer daylight hours of spring and summer. I combat it by turning on more lights. And I start turning on the “party” lights I leave up on the bannister all year long. They add a cheerful note. I don’t think the season change my writing or schedule — probably because I don’t have a schedule.
Julie: My life is very seasonal. I teach a class during the school year, and also my job heats up. Summer there are fewer demands on my time. Interestingly, I do get a lot done this time of year, because time is so precious I don’t waste it. But I would trade it all in for longer days, and I will truly miss not having to wear 5 layers every day.
Readers: What’s your experience of fall? Love it or hate it? Are you able to be creative, or do you want to curl up alone and just read? (Authors don’t mind that, of course!)
I tend to become a more indoors person with the darker days, cocooning myself but not necessarily writing more. It’s easier to stay in bed when the sun hasn’t peeped through the window yet, and that means I have less time to write before work. But I love the autumn leaves, both the colors on the trees and the way they swish around when I walk through them. Festive and fun are words that come to mind, probably because it’s a sign that holidays are around the corner.
Cocooning – that’s the word.
Love the new header!!! Fall is wonderful..I love the leaves all the way down to when they fall off the tree. Dark when we rise and dark at bedtime isn’t my favorite though.
Thanks, Gram! Yes, so much darkness. At least around here the brilliant skies during day sort of make up for it.
Love the new photo! I love fall and the dark days are okay with me, though I still have to go out for my 20 minutes of Vitamin D each day! I don’t like that it gets dark so early, however.
Thanks, Ramona. Can’t tell we have fun, can you? (Hey, aren’t you supposed to be sprinting? Oh, I am, too…)
I love Autumn, but it doesn’t last long here where I have lived for the last 20 years. Fortunately,I am near the western border of Eastern time, so it stays light here a bit longer, however, that means it stays darker longer in the morning.
I tend to get more writing and paperwork done in the Winter as well as baking and cooking. It’s harder to keep going in other tasks when it’s dark early.
I am always fascinated by how different it is on different ends of a time zone. In Maine, we’re near the eastern end and it does get dark so much earlier than in Key West, when we’re much nearer the western end.
Tonette, I was struck by that on my trip to Indiana in August, also the western edge of the eastern time zone. Sun didn’t rise until well after I was awake! It wouldn’t have felt like summer except for the 90-degree days…
Love the new banner photo of the Wickeds! It’s perfect and makes a strong personality statement with fun.
I love the fall especially back home in New England. The colors. The crisp, clean smells. The sound when your feet move through leaves. I love to curl up and read and find it invigorates my writing. It’s great, and I miss it. Fall doesn’t really happen here in Tucson. It’s more like summer back in Salem. The good part about our 80°F fall weather is the comfortable level sitting outside with your coffee. And you can watch the oranges and lemons ripen for Christmas.
I’ve always loved fall because the trees go out in a blaze of glory, before the dark. It seems so brave. For me it’s easy to work in winter, especially because my desk, while in an open space (a stair landing, of all places) is directly above a heating duct in the floor below, so my corner is nice and, yes, cozy.
Great new picture! It makes me smile every time I see it. I’m a quilter and my habits are affected by the seasons as well. I get more quilting done when it’s dark because the colors in my fabric bring a garden into my house. Plus I need to iron the fabric which warms me up a bit. Lastly, there’s nothing cozier than sitting on the couch, with an almost finished quilt on my lap, putting the finishing touches on its binding. P.S. I feel the same way that Julie does. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who moves to extreme layering during the cold months.
I love that new picture!
I’m not a fan of fall, however. It means that all my runs will be in the dark from now on since I don’t get home from work while it is daylight. In fact, the daylight hours are hours I’m stuck in my office with no windows. I hate it. Plus I don’t like cold. (And I know we don’t get snow, but it still gets cold here.)
I do love Christmas. And I know we need rain this year desperately. But I will be glad when Spring comes back.
Oh, I remember that so well, Mark–the daylight hours being when I was at the office. The first day after the time change when I picked up my kids at daycare in the dark was always a bad day.
Glad everyone is loving the photo. It’s by Meg Manion, who specializes in outdoor photography. For any authors in Eastern Mass or NH looking for an author photo (or anyone else), the Wickeds would totally recommend her.
Yes! Meg Manion Silliker, http://www.megmanion.com/index2.php?v=v1. She took my author photos two years ago and I love them..