Guest Post

HAVE A BOOK TO PROMOTE? Lyrical Pens welcomes guest posts. Answer a questionnaire or create your own post. FYI, up front: This site is a definite PG-13. For details, contact cjpetterson@gmail.com cj
Showing posts with label #autumnalequinox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #autumnalequinox. Show all posts

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Fall is here...can the end of Daylight Saving Time be far behind?


Autumn days come quickly, like the running of a hound on the moor.                   –Irish proverb
cj Sez:  Fall, that season of brilliant northern foliage and ubiquitous pumpkin spice, officially arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on Monday, September 23, at 3:50 a.m. EDT. 

   Tell that to my Gulf Coast weather man, please. I’m in the mood for cooler weather…80° F and lower humidity would be nice, thank you.

   The equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide—adjusted for your local time zone. (For my visitors in the Southern Hemisphere, that’s when you look for the arrival of spring.)

From patch.com . . .
   No matter where you are in the world, the sun will rise due east and set due west during the fall equinox (the same thing happens during the spring equinox). For the directionally challenged, it’s a good time for a reset. Go outside around sunset or sunrise, find a landmark and mark the sun’s location in relation to it.

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   I give you the above public service announcement so you can plan ahead. There are only three more months until December 25, that’s Christmas, y’all. If you’re like me, that's three paydays, and you’ve already missed Hobby Lobby’s offer of free shipping of their artificial Christmas trees.

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In other news …
   Carolyn Haines announced that her novel, A VISITATION OF ANGELS, is up for pre-order at $4.99 on Kindle and … “all proceeds—every penny—goes to fund Good Fortune Farm Refuge and the animal work our tiny little band of volunteers do.

   The story is set on Sand Mountain, Alabama, in 1920. This book is #4 in the Pluto's Snitch mystery series, and we hope you enjoy this bit of paranormal chill as we head into Autumn. It's the most dangerous case Raissa and Reginald have taken on.

   Release date is September 30. You can grab this e-book (or paperback!) at Amazon, B&N, Apple iBooks, or Kobo. Here's a quick link to choose your favorite e-book store: 


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   Remember that call for submissions from Negative Capability Press I mentioned last week…the one for short, short stories? Well I submitted my 100-word story. How about you? You still have time. Here’s the info again: Last date for submission is September 30. And did I say short, short? It’s more of a haiku…no more than 100 words long. If you’re interested in trying your hand, read more here: http://www.negativecapabilitypress.org/   (P.S. Their call for submissions is near the bottom of the page.)

   By the by, as the masthead of Lyrical Pens says, if you have a book you want to promote, let me know. We can arrange a blog date…the only caveat is that this site is PG 13.

   That’s it for this week’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. See you next week?

cj

   CHOOSING CARTER and DEADLY STAR are quick reads chock full of adventure with a touch of sassy banter and sweet romance. Get your Kindle copy on Amazon…visit my Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj for more information about my stories.

   TO ORDER an autographed copy of CHOOSING CARTER, DEADLY STAR, HOMETOWN HEROES, and/or THE POSSE, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: The Haunted Bookshop  Angela Trigg, the awesome owner and a RITA Award-winning author in her own right (writing as Angela Quarles) will be happy to ship you the book(s) of your choice.

Visit me on Facebook at:   cjpetterson/author on Facebook

Sunday, September 23, 2018

At last . . . fall


Welcome to the first day of fall.
Since this post is going live on Sunday, Sept 23, I said “first day” because, officially, my local autumnal equinox occurred at 8:54 p.m. C.T. Saturday evening, Sept. 22.

copyright Jeff D. Johnston
What is the autumnal equinox, you ask? According to my eNews source, it's actually a dual-purpose event. It marks the beginning of fall in the Northern hemisphere and the beginning of spring in the Southern hemisphere. If you are geographically challenged, it means at 8:54 p.m. C.T. on Saturday, Sept. 22, autumn began officially in my space in the world, but a different season began on the other side of the equator:  Spring began on Sunday, Sept 23, at 3:54 p.m. S.T. in South Africa and at 11:54 a.m. E.T. in Australia. These time zones can be so confusing. The equinox does have astronomic logic to it, albeit some of it based on scientific imagination.

The word “equinox” means “equal nights.” Equal nights happen when the sun’s rays are exactly over the earth’s celestial equator, which is really an imaginary line: an abstract projection of the terrestrial equator into outer space. The terrestrial (or geographic) equator divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres…0° latitude.

The other thing to remember is that after the equinox, the length of the days changes. They get shorter and cooler in the Northern hemisphere and longer and warmer in the Southern hemisphere.

Just thought you’d like to know, because
Copyright Jeff D. Johnston
maybe you can find a use for some of it in one of your novels. Setting is one of the more important pieces of a good scene, and weather will inevitably play a part in that. Personally, I’m looking forward to days when the heat and humidity along the Gulf Coast aren’t combining to reach triple digits. My protagonist is doing the same thing.

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I just re-read a Jane Friedman** post that said that the main character might not really change at all, that the change readers see may be an illusion; that is, forces and circumstances in the story have created outcomes that cause the character to reveal his or her true self.  What do you think?


Upcoming book signing in Mobile . . .

Local authors are being featured. If you’re in the area, please stop by and say hi. I might be handing out candy…if it doesn’t melt first.

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Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.
                                                 .... E. L. Doctorow

Writers, if you have a book launch coming up and want to schedule a post on Lyrical Pens for your blog tour, drop me a note.

That’s it for today, folks. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj
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