Wishing you all a peaceful and joyous holiday break.
From Finland with love ♥
note: If you’ve entered the Winter Giveaway: For Book Lovers, please don’t forget to come back and check tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 20th, perhaps you are the winner!
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs
YAY! I see snow, at last. It’s winter, my favourite season. Now, and just because it’s the season for giving (and receiving), I’ve got a little something for you.
This hand-carved wooden book pendant by the multitalented artist, Iona Orbinski, is yours if you are a book (and a nature) lover.
So, you’ve read my chapbook, Seasons Defined. You even took time to write a review on your blog and elsewhere (despite that “Big Brother” is determined not to support this endeavour), I can’t THANK YOU enough for your support.
Now, entering the giveaway is as simple as quoting your favourite line or two (or a stanza) from one of the poems in the collection, Seasons Defined. Leave your entry in the comments section below.
Here is my example, and quoting from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete:
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day. (from ‘A Word’)
special notes: I assume you’re already following my blog, public posts on Facebook or Instagram in order to keep up to date. If not, please don’t forget to add your email to the comments section so that I can be able to contact you, if you win.
The giveaway is open from Dec. Wed, 12th – Wed, 19th to anyone who can legally enter it. I will draw and announce the winner on Thursday, Dec 20th and no later than 20:00 EET time. The winner has 24 hours to claim the prize, failing which another winner will be drawn. So, do come back to check!
That’s all, folks. All the best!
UPDATE: The winner of Winter Giveaway: for Book Lovers is KC Redding-Gonzalez.
Congratulations, KC!
Please contact me at khaya.ronkainen(at)gmail(dot) com to claim your prize.
I disappeared to concentrate on the final edit of my novel. And how is that going? You may ask. Short answer, slow.
I won’t get into details of having two summers this year, that is, in Finland and South Africa. The milestone my husband and I celebrated.
Happiness and tiredness from travelling; backpacking in South Africa during the past two months. Hopefully, the pictures tell a story. 😀
All this is life! It’s invigorating, exciting, meaningful and a gift. I’m eternally grateful, even though it meant putting writing on hold for a while.
I’ve mentioned before that autumn is my most productive season in terms of writing. So, I came back from all the travelling inspired by events taking place at home, and with my mind set on finishing the novel, which happens to be set in South Africa.
“But you can’t plead with autumn. No. The midnight wind stalked through the woods, hooted to frighten you, swept everything away for the approaching winter, whirled the leaves.” ~ Yevgeny Zamyatin
The quote above captures exactly how autumn dictates and moves things in the northern hemisphere. Yes, there is no pleading with autumn. The whirling leaves of the season swept me to a complete different direction.
Instead of a complete novel, I sit with another poetry chapbook (dark poetry) almost ready to be sent out into the world, at the beginning of the new year.
So yes, novel revision and integrating feedback from my editor is taking time. But I promise to keep you up to date with the novel’s progress in the new year. I think I need to ”Speak it, Believe it” and eventually release it.
This means I’ll start sharing why I wrote the book in the first place. The emotional toll it exerted. And, am I scared to release it? You bet! As you know “all art is autobiographical”. That is, there’s always a bit (or more) of self in one’s work.
OK, folks that’s where I am right now. How about you? What are you working on? Any forthcoming work (books, art, etc.) to look forward to in the new year? Oh, please do share!