Tag: Fall (Page 2 of 2)

September Ink Ripples: School Butterflies & Fall Leaves

September 14, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Second Monday of the months means a new #inkripples post!

IMAG1080 I love the long, lazy days of summer. Wearing as little clothing as possible; going barefoot in the crunchy, dried out grass; running through every sprinkler you pass by. The summer just feels easy to me. The only thing that makes the end of summer okay is that it leads into my second favorite season: fall!

Apple picking (though sometimes this is an end-of-summer thing), limitless blue skies, jumping into piles of leaves, and that certain earthy smell that fall brings. 20150828_121636 Ahhh, fall is nice.

Then there’s that other thing that the end of summer brings: school! It’s been many years since I’ve been in school, but now that The Boy is in his second year of preschool (and the first year that he is starting in September…he was too young to start in September last year), I’m remembering about those beginning of school butterflies and that tiny bit of dread that the freedom of summer is over.

So lots of mixed feelings over here during this time of year. How are you all faring during the change of season from summer to fall?

Inkwell meme green Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). September is all about school and fall. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!

Updates, Getting Back into the Writing Groove, and a Call for Guest Posts

September 9, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

First off, my guest blog schedule is pretty wide open for the fall, so I’m definitely looking for guest posts to come my way. If you have a book coming out or an older one you’d like to promote, I’d love to have you on the blog. I prefer a post with some original thoughts (though it could be a post that’s been posted elsewhere) as opposed to something purely promotional.

You don’t have to be published or even a writer to guest post either. I’d love some short, fun posts about anything to do with writing, reading, the creative process, or whatever interesting ideas you might have. Hit me up on my contact page if you’re interested or mention it the comments with an easy way to contact you!

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post…

So technically it’s still summer (and it certainly feels like summer this week here in CT), but school’s already back in session and the air and earth are starting to get that fall feel and smell to it. That means my non-summer schedule has started and with it comes more writing time. Yay!

Though I certainly have enjoyed all the fun times we’ve been having this summer and all out outside time, I’m definitely looking forward to sinking my teeth back into my writing projects.

In particular I’ve been chomping at the bit to get back to revising my YA thriller. Even with beta reader feedback coming in (and those ever-present doubts are rearing up, making me questions my abilities to pull off what I’m trying to accomplish with this story), I’ve never been so excited about the thought of sending a piece of writing out. So I’m hoping to ride this wave of confidence to the finish line and get to submitting it soon.

After that I don’t have any set plans on what I’ll be working on next. It’s a freeing and exciting feeling. I love the prospect of starting something new (or possibly digging back into something I put away for awhile but may come back to soon). The world is wide open at this point for me.

So how was everyone’s summer? What are your plans for the fall?

Fall 2014 in Pictures

November 18, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

We’ve been having a wonderful fall here, playing in the leaves, watching The Prince’s personality emerge more each day, starting pre-school with The Boy, baking, Halloween…all kinds of fun things (except for our disastrous vacation where the house leaked, but I’m so over that now!). Busy, for sure, but a good kind of busy. I haven’t done a picture post in awhile, and you all love seeing pictures of the cuteness of the boys (right?), so I’ve got some great pictures to share with you all today.

Exciting things are happening in my writing as well. I am loving my WIP. I’m deep into drafting it and still have that new book enthusiasm. We’ve got something of a regular schedule at home, too, so that’s helping me to keep up with my word counts and get in regular writing sessions.

Chapter one of The Great CT Caper, a collaborative, serialized MG mystery is set to be released on January 4, 2015. A new chapter with its illustration will be released every two weeks, so look for chapter two (mine!) on January 18. As the chapters release, I’ll be featuring guest posts from some of the writers and illustrators here on the blog, so that should be a lot of fun. It looks like I’ll be making some in person appearances as well to help promote the Caper…I’ll keep you all posted on that.

And more pictures! 20141106_075422

Early Autumn 2013 in Pictures

October 23, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Autumn is probably the best season weather wise in New England. Mild days and cool, crisp nights. And there’s no shortage of fall-like activities to keep the whole family busy. What’s your favorite thing to do this time of year?