Harvest Time

Questions Relating to My Stories and Writing Life

On Friday, a group of writers shared the answers to three questions in a Facebook group. We each had a fifteen minute window and had to put our posts in order five minutes apart. I could have done better, but it did lead to some serious thinking and something I have to write for a better start to my Last of Dragons novel.

POST ONE:

It’s Harvest time! What kind of traditions does your world have? Share a scene with us! Or what is your favorite memory of the traditions you grew up with?

This question made me have to sit back and think because neither book happens during harvest time thus far for the Light Series. It’s something I could elaborate on more in a standalone book set at an earlier time in the world of Karnum. There is the last big horse race of the season for the main city setting. To flesh out the beginning of that novel, I could include a scene of a harvest festival to set what the normal is of a rural village before things go awry. I have something to think about.

Harvest time in Phoria Heights, where my book Champions of Light is set, would include community parties with a wide spread of food, dancing, storytelling and games. It’s time to give thanks for the abundance the Lord of Light supplied for the year. The citizens give an offering from their harvest to the Light as part of the rituals for this time of the year.

I grew up on a large dairy farm, but late summer and fall led to plenty of harvesting, canning and freezing. Most of what we put away would last until the next year. It’s been a long time since we had a farm in the family, but one thing we still do is have a huge traditional Thanksgiving meal. It doesn’t always have to be on Thanksgiving Day, though it usually is.

POST TWO:

What is your MC’s favorite treat that’s only served at harvest time? What’s yours? Share a recipe!

Sergeant Vern loves fresh apples, and any dish made with apples. The dishes are never the same if not made from fresh apples.

Rhoanda loves the variety of fall squashes and all the things you can do with them. Her favorite way to eat them is roasted with seasonings.

I go for all things pumpkin. It has to have pumpkin in it and not just be something with pumpkin spice. There is a huge difference. I try not to have too much of this in my house because too many sugary treats will mess with my multiple sclerosis, especially the fatigue that can happen.

I wanted to share my mom’s pie crust recipe that I have never heard a complaint about. Unfortunately, I can’t find it, since I haven’t made a pie in years because of the issues with my hands. Let alone there are tales of missing rolling pins in my life. In this house, the last time we used a rolling pin was on a housing project to help smooth something out that was not edible.

I couldn’t find a good pic of foods that I could share so I shared my helpers taking over my desk. Jenny and Boots can be SO helpful.

POST THREE:

Tell us about your current writing project or new release. Where can we find you? Share all the links!

In June, I released Champions of Light which is the first novel of my Light Series. Book two, Truth Bearer, is currently with beta readers and then it will go into deeper editing through the holidays. Book three has a primary setting and reason for it, but all the fun details to spin a story out of it haven’t slipped out yet. I’m aiming to have Truth Bearer out sometime in February, but will push to March if it really needs more work based on feedback. Book 3 is still mostly a mystery, but I am hoping to release it in the fall of 2024.

On my Substack, Tales of Karnum and Beyond, I have a dystopian tale called Cataclysm. It’s the story that got me back into taking my writing seriously in late 2020. I have it set as a serial fiction. It is the first fiction piece on the Substack that is not a character interview. I plan on putting up other writings of various lengths around my fun of producing the Light Series and Last of Dragons.

You can find all my links at books.altheadamgaard.com. Tales of Karnum is where I will share behind the scenes work, my writing life, a variety of writings that may or may not wind up in a book someday, and a monthly wrap up. The monthly wrap up also goes out to emails and will link everything I worked on for the month. You can subscribe at talesofkarnum.substack.com.

Of course, you, my subscribers, knew most of this info in Post 3. It was fun getting to share things with other writers, some of them I knew quite a while and others I never met before.