When September Starts...
by K. Allen McNamara
Every Labor Day Weekend since I can remember has signaled the end of summer and the start of fall. Perhaps more so for me as I grew up in a seaside resort - on Nantucket Island actually- where Labor Day Weekend brought the exodus of tourists and the start of school, with the thrilling angst of new teachers, assignments, and the rearrangement of the sixty-four kids of my K-12 class.
Labor Day Weekend has always ushered in change and it still does. I find that even if the weather doesn’t get the memo about Autumn arriving, the calendar makes sure to let me know. Call it Labor Day Back-To-School Blues or Autumn FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) but the end of summer brings this yearning home to me - packed in among the sea glass and shells collected during summer forays to the beach it comes tumbling out like grains of sand. And, I’m not alone. Many of my contemporaries also are wanting to learn something new every September. Echoes of this refrain may be found many in tweets and social media posts.
Small wonder, when for years, the promise of newness, of cerebral growth was heralded by the end of summer. Now, years after the graduations and diplomas, many of us find ourselves in the September doldrums with only the TV Fall Lineup, Monday Night Football and the World Series as givens. But these are not enough for those, like myself, who yearn for the growth of possibility that September so often brought. Where are those new corduroys, the freshly sharpened pencils, notebooks and ballpoint pens which warded off the melancholy gloom of shortened days and extended nights? What is a writer to do? To keep their wits about them?
Consider :
Signing up for a class in something outside of writing - is there something you’d like to learn to make your character ring true. Is your protagonist a mosaic artist? A yoga instructor?
Or take a class or a workshop in something you’ve always been dying to try: trapeze anyone? Belly dancing? Greek cooking - haven't you wanted to make baklava?
Commit to following a syllabus of a literature class from a syllabus posted online by one of many Universities or Colleges - read the readings with your now seasoned writerly and adult eye (link below courtesy of Lithub)
Take a day trip somewhere you’ve never been - believe it or not there are STILL things to learn about where you live. Looking at your local city, town, village, island with fresh eyes can take away some of those summer-ending blues.
Or visit a place you went years ago. You’ve changed it probably has too.
Attend a lecture or demonstration at a museum. A book signing at a bookstore. A concert, a beer tasting, a festival...
Learn how to knit or make jam… there must be something you thought about doing but always put off because of the kids, the dog, the spouse, the cat, the lizard… now might be the time.
Train for a Fall Road Race, Turkey Trot, Jingle-Bell Run
Volunteer - at soup kitchen, a school, or become a mentor…
The point is your Labor Day Back-to-School Blues or your Autumn FOMO (Fear-of-missing-out) may be quelled and your writerly curiosity satisfied by trying something new this September. You just need to step out of your comfort zone a bit - think of it as going back to middle school only now you know yourself a whole lot better.
King Arthur Flour Baking Classes (Vermont trip?)
Lithub.com - college lit classes to follow
