Autumn is here

Every year, as the leaves start turning yellow and red and every possible shade in between, a great need to do something new takes over me. I want to start a new hobby, or join a gym to counter all the excess weight I’ve gained during the summer. I dash into the closest forest to photograph the turning season, or into a bookstore to buy notebooks and pencils – a remnant of the first days at school.

Not this year. I haven’t done any of those things. I’ve barely put my nose out of the house and I didn’t even check what exciting new things there were for me to learn this term. I did buy a new notebook, but I needed it. Well, I didn’t need it; there were plenty of barely used notebooks left over from all those previous times. But I bought it anyway.

I’m too busy writing to do anything else. The exciting new things for this autumn are the book I just published and the one I’m currently working on. Every day brings something new, worlds I’ve created on my own. Who needs the real world?

Luckily, not everyone is content to live inside their heads. My husband decided today that he wanted to learn how to make sushi. He didn’t waste any time but bought a sushi kit and started practising. He wasn’t at all bad for a first timer either. He practised enthusiastically, however, and now I’m stuffed. But it’s nice to know that if I get lost into my imagination, he can keep me fed. And who knows, maybe the spirit of the season catches me after all and I’ll learn the art of it too.