It’s still something of a novelty for the sun to rise as late as it does, at this point in the year, so I’m sort of enjoying driving to work with my car’s displays still in night mode and watching them switch to day mode at some point on the drive. However, on these very rainy days they may never switch to day mode before I reach the museum parking lot, and that is not my jam. But the atmosphere of gloom and decay cannot be beat. This is a proper Halloween in upstate New York — the kids surely have to incorporate coats into their costumes the way I always had to!

The chill also encourages Bonnie and Clyde to snuggle peacefully:

Unfortunately, as we get to the end of the year, the deadlines encroach! I’m working on a short story to submit to Flame Tree Press by November 11, and then I have until the end of the year to finish a story to submit to Sunset Wave Press’s next anthology.¹ I don’t exactly struggle with deadlines, but something about my mind — perhaps the ADHD — paces my work out to fit the deadline. I will typically finish a project or paper maybe a day or two before it’s due, no matter the size or the length of time involved. Which is very annoying! At this point, though, I simply have to accept it.

1. The Flame Tree Press story is about a medieval princess taken as a servant/prisoner by a capricious fae queen; she needs to escape before too much time passes in the human world. There is a tragic ending planned! I’m pleased with how it’s turning out, but I’m really being reminded of how much easier I find writing romantic dynamics, even if they’re not the focus of the plot. There is a romantic (and Romantic) element to this, but not at the same level as other things I’ve written recently.

Because of this, it’s nice to have my totally deadline-less fiber arts work to fit into the gaps. Since getting my spinning wheel (a vintage Ashford Traditional), I’ve spun countless yards of worsted-weight yarn in various types of wool — which makes me think about how people in the past would have experienced the variety in wool fabrics available before we collapsed them down to just “wool” in commercial contexts. It would have been understood that wool from different breeds found in different regions would have had different qualities: some were silkier, some spun with more loft, some were very dense, and so on. Just normal things to think about.

(I have managed to work spinning into the story described above, of course. But it’s with a drop spindle, and uses … unconventional fiber.)

For fashion history content this month, I have something a little different: I recently gave a talk on early nineteenth century corsets with a long Q&A session after, and you can watch it over on my blog. There is even the text of the talk there, if you’d rather read, although I haven’t yet transcribed the questions and answers. Perhaps I will write something fresh about corsets in historical fiction next time? Let me know if you have any questions for me to address on BlueSky, or send me an email!