HELLO OCTOBER! by Penny Dolan

Well, well, well! October, here you are already, sneaking in right at the end of September.

 I pretended not to notice, but I knew you'd arrive eventually.

I could hear you coming along through the leaves, chuntering that you'd need a post written and chuckling "Ho ho ho, let's catch her out . . ."  

I admit I've done hardly anything and been almost nowhere because of You Know What and all the changes it has brought about.

 Unfortunately, an un-exciting life is no use for any sensible blog purposes, is it? I totally agree.  

 Meanwhile, the whole "Wow, it's really Autumn now and time for jolly pumpkins!" vibe doesn't help either. One can have too much wind and rain and orange faces.  Especially orange faces.

 Furthermore, the Add and Minus system on my bathroom scales is surely adrift. How much? The pure anxiety of it has driven me to baking. More apple-cake, anyone?

  But now you're here, New Month, I need you to give me a bit of help. 

I have an awkward (but interesting) novel full of oddly conflicted (but interesting) characters with a complex (but interesting) plot that I'm trying to untangle. Some inspiration and relaxation might be needed. 

So what can you offer me, October? I've been looking around . . . 

 First of all, some delight, because today is National Poetry Day.

The theme this year is VISION, as in Twenty-twenty vision, so do look up the National Poetry Day website for ways of spreading the word about poems as well as watching for #ShareAPoem tweets. 

I'm going to place a poetry anthology or two by my desk and around the house. When I'm pacing restlessly from room to room because the weather's bad or when my mind is dull, I know that pausing to read a few poems - known or unknown - can open up the world and words again. 

But is there anything else, dear October? Something to bring back a bit of light and air? Another way of fanning the flame?

What about your alternative name?  

Aren't you also, in some circles known as INKTOBER?

I first saw INKTOBER mentioned on Twitter, where the artist John Shelley tweets @StudioNIB every day, offering the most amazing, surreal illustrations of ordinary words or expressions. Whenever I spot one of John's tiny one-inch ink drawings, I feel cheered and more encouraged about everything. Another person's creativity is definitely a daily joy for me. John Shelley blogs about his "Miniaturisms" here 

Meanwhile, INKTOBER makes a joyous international festival of the month, encouraging artists to display work on Instagram. INKTOBER even has a list of 2020's daily word prompts, available already, so artists can prepare their ideas and work for showing it on the "right word"  day.  Such intriguing words!

Here's a link to the origins of INKTOBER, although if you do post your work, be wary of plagiarism and copyright issues.  

 So, October, what do you think?

Might a pot of pens and pencils - rather than a keyboard - be a good way to loosen my current word-tangled tome? Just as an experiment for myself, without any need or fear of public presentation? See if my images can feed my own imagination? Worth a try?

Speaking of words, maybe INKTOBER'S prompt list might make a good starting point for a few word-picture morning exercises too?

 Wishing you all as good an October as possible. 

 Penny Dolan

@pennydolan1 

ps.  Linking, via the new improved Blogger, doesn't seem as simple as before. Apologies for the two-step links and the reduction in service.