Hello dear readers,
I write to you once again from my kitchen desk, sun streaming in through the window. The upcoming week is meant to be one long, torrential downpour, but for now, signs of spring creep in. On our walk last night¹, I saw my first daffodils of the season, along with an abundance of crocuses in every colour, and a few shy magnolia trees just beginning to open.
This blog post was intended to be something else, but then I realized that Ostara is just around the corner. I think its coming nearly snuck by because the last few weeks have been cold—much colder than winter itself was. But we have hyacinths open in the front yard, and so I’ll take their cue instead.
This year, Ostara is going to be quite quiet for me, though this is on purpose—the last few months have been busy², and I’m more than ready to draw inward for a while. For me, drawing inward also includes cleaning and organizing my space, and going through my things to donate what I no longer want or need. I am very much looking forward to decluttering what I no longer need.
(A side note on this: I’m thinking of adding a “thrift” section to my shop. I know there are a number of pieces in my closet that are in good condition, and I’ve always wanted to do a sort of depop-inspired section there. So keep an eye out for that! There will be some dresses, some vintage sweaters, maybe some other fun things).
The one thing about this week that I’m not thrilled about is how much rain we’ll be getting. I am glad to have it, because it gives all the plants a drink, but I have a garden bed I’d like to dig out back and I’m not thrilled about doing it while rain pours down on me. Though maybe I’ll do it anyway..
One spring-related task I can get done is planting a few more seeds indoors! I have a number of flowers I’d like to start³, and bought a few new ones yesterday, including chrysanthemums and lavatera. Do not ask me where they’re going yet because I don’t know, but I will make space for them regardless.
And finally, I’m going to do an Ostara-related tarot spread. I’ve been meaning to start doing larger tarot spreads for myself each sabbat, and I just.. haven’t. But I feel rested, and organized ahead of time, and so I will do one. I haven’t yet decided what that spread will look like. Actually, I will likely decide on the day I do it. I’m still deciding if I’ll blog about it or keep it to myself.
Now, not necessarily Ostara related, but it is related to this week: last Wednesday, I made the final⁴ edits on the novel I was working on, and on Thursday, I began sending it out to agents. Which means that, this week, I’m going back to another novel, one I started in September and then set aside for other projects. I won’t do an entire post on that right now, but if you’re interested, you can head over to my patreon and see what I’ve said about it there.
That’s all for this Ostara/life update mish-mash of a post. I hope you’re well, and I would love to hear what you’re planning for Ostara this year.
—Catherine
A friendly reminder that I’ve restarted my patreon, where I share weekly writing updates, (among other goodies). In these posts, I go in-depth on my writing process and progress—much deeper than what I post on this blog. It would mean a lot to me if you’d give it a look 💜
footnotes
¹ I used to walk every single day, but the practice has gotten away from me in recent years. I’m trying to change this, because I’ve heard aerobic exercise is good for migraine prevention, and I’ll try anything to make them stop (and also, it’s nice to walk through the neighbourhood and see which plants are coming up).
² Holidays, birthdays, filming far too many youtube videos, finished writing two first drafts, finished a second and third draft of one novel, a fourth and final of another, began sending that novel out to agents… you get the picture.
³ I’m digging a new garden bed, and would like to add more lupins and delphiniums, plus some zinnias and marigolds. Likely others too, but those are the ones I’m starting with. The back yard is going to be beautiful!
⁴ I say final, because the week before, I also said I was done—and then I added two sets of vignettes, which were not planned at the same time, and meant I wrote one set, decided to add another, and then frantically edited them. It do be like this sometimes.
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