‘Tis the season for school supplies! Were you one of those kids who couldn’t wait to fill your new pencil box? My pencil box was sometimes my Grandpa Schmitt’s cigar box so it had crisp corners and the papered hinge was still unbroken. Maybe it was the box of crayons that not only smelled good, but all the crayons had points and the wrappers were still intact that made you giddy? How about the 5-subject spiral notebooks, filled with  college-ruled, clean, empty pages that held so many good intentions that each section would be used just for the designated subject . . . until somehow one section ran out of paper too soon and messed up the whole system?

I was that kid. Still am.

Of course now that excitement and those purchases are for my writing and reading. There’s something about fresh starts with new supplies that energize my creative spirit. I’ve gotten back to blogging regularly and will be re-introducing something here in September. I can’t wait!

I’m reading more, both for pleasure and for research, so books have various colored sticky-notes popping out of them like someone’s partied inside and let loose handfuls of confetti. 

I’m back to writing more. I’ve finished two poems in as many weeks. I’m beginning the narrative on my parish history. I’m dusting off a fairly crappy first draft of a second novel while I work harder to find a home for the first.

I know this all has to do with these new supplies. Well ok, maybe not all.

But they do help and the change in the air does too. Hubby told me the other night we’ve lost an hour of daylight already since the summer solstice. I’m one of those weird ones who love the thought of shorter days.

But the highlight about this time of year is reconnecting with poets and writers after a month or two of summer break. Even though we’re not kids and our lives don’t revolve around the school calendar, our internal clocks somehow still revert to that cycle. Like years ago when the first day of school meant seeing friends again, we local poets and writers look forward to August when our critique groups reconvene and our monthly reading and open mic series starts up.

The first event of our Afternoon of Poetry and Prose for the 2018 – 2019 Season was Sunday. We always call this first month a Welcome Back Celebration. Unlike the rest of the year, we don’t invite a Feature Reader from outside our group to headline. Instead we regular members, we friends, gather and celebrate reconnecting, share our adult versions of What I Did Over Summer Vacation and most of all, celebrate the poems and stories we continue to write with each others’ support and encouragement.

What are some of your favorite memories and new traditions for this time of transition?