New plan ... humility.

Not as foreboding as it should sound, but the excitement for spring has always coupled with a dread of summer, because warm breeze brings realization of failed resolutions ... things promised, none delivered.

Though I do have a way of juicing on self-motivation, believing wholeheartedly that the goddess of fortune will pluck me from the crowd of the discontent, and keep luck tucked away in my pocket, the longer the wait the more languishing I do. So, in the event that luck is a turncoat with a knife, and the wound in my back is fatal, I would like to say, I tried.

 That said. I have completed the sequels (two) to The Civilization [of light & Dark] and am playing with the titles: The Gate at Dusk, and Broken Realms. The former is mystical and the latter is on the metaphorical nose. I arrived at the former because of an obsession with Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gate of Dawn, title taken from chapter 7 of the Wind in the Willows, where Mole and Toad help their friend, Otter find his lost son, which leads to catching a glimpse of Pan while he ushers in the dawn. The eponymous piper being Pan, the ancient pagan god of pastures, rustic (country) music, shepherds and the wild. Pan lives in Arkadia (Arcadia) aka a pastoral paradise (a real place in Greece that has been mythologized)

 What does this have to do with my title?

Mole and Toad caught a glimpse behind the curtain of the natural world when they spotted Pan. Ancient peoples created intricate mystery rituals to tap into the wonders of the natural world. If the other side of dawn is daylight and pastures, then the other side of dusk is darkness and what W. H. Auden described as an 'artificial wilderness and a sky like lead.'  

The Civilizations series plays with the mysteries of existence and wonder. Like human life, Maruti life is fragile, existing tenuously between here and there, adhering to rules that no one understands but everyone follows. But who are these gods? Books 2 and 3 are all about unraveling the mysteries of Marut and all roads lead to the Gate at Dusk. 

Toad, Mole and company might not have breached the boundaries between the material world and the world of gods intentionally, but my characters are all about the journeys of self-discovery, with prophecies hanging over their heads and all. But, as always, these violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph, die like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume. The title of book 3, Broken Realms is, well, self-explanatory. 

So, these elementary things got me through the hiemal days. And what will get me through the vernal days?


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These violent delights do have violent ends, and in their triumph die like fire and powder, which as they kiss, consume.

And so begins my  first venture into in-person book promotion.

All the hopes of a doe-eyed dreamer.

 Come see the pretty books and buy the pretty books. You must love me. Grandeur of thoughts.

 Most people who come out to social or community events are elders and parents with young kids, and many of these people know each other, and are there to socialize.

So, I sat there waiting for the moment the cool kids notice me. All the cool kids are teenagers who are volunteers. I'm terrified of them, but eventually handed out business cards with bated breath.

In the end, I was a voyeur to the delight of others, watching the joy of others talk about their work and hoping someone would notice me.

I didn't sell that day. I have more days. More disappointment or new triumphs?

 February is the shortest month.  Promises to keep and miles to go before I weep.

It's been long. A long, cold January. There are issues. I am working through them.

I have plans, also. 

- Finish the sequels to The Civilization
- Finish my last and lingering contemporary novel
- Finish other unfinished manuscripts
- Visit book fairs.

Wishing everyone a postive start to the new year!