I noticed an unusual contest 3-day novel contest, which challenges writers to create a novel over the three-day holiday for labour day weekend. I dislike working under strict deadlines and only three days to write a novel. Is that enough time to produce a quality story? The contest focused my attention on the change underway around me. A few leaves are already starting to show fall colours like the Maple below.
This is the end of the Summer of 2006 and now Fall slowly begins to take shape. Fall can often display an artistic canvas with brilliant colours:
Summer holidays have come to an end. Students will return to school and work will start up at full tilt.
In September, the days will grow shorter as twilight becomes fleeting. The trees will lose their foliage as the autumn breeze scatters leaves, making a carpet on the ground. In November, the trees will stand bare sombrely waiting for the first snowfall.
Autumn is also a season of harvest with bright pumpkins.
The best way to handle the transition is to welcome the change. We can experience new memories with cycles of nature as the leaves turn different hues. As writers, we can reminiscence about our experiences over the summer, whether we camped, spent lazy summers at our cottage, or tended our garden.
This summer I had removed grass from the front yard and turned it into a rock garden with help from my sister, Amardeep, and my friends, Rose and Steve. So my best memory of this Summer is how little I had to mow the lawn. 
Over labour day, we can reflect on struggles that workers went through in the past to achieve rights that we today take for granted. As writers, we can raise people’s awareness of that history.
We can also experience the seasons change and capture our inspirations and observations succinctly in words. Debby’s poem Sacred Circle perfectly captures those sentiments and so it is one of my favourite poems.
Writing isn’t a secluded act isolated from the world around us, rather our lived experiences can animate our mind and make our words flow. Let the seasons inspire you to involve sensory experiences like the burnt sugar smell of fall leaves, or the scenic beauty of the season. Your lived experience best draws a reader into your work, so rely on it.
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