So yeah, I'm a bit rutted at the moment, limiting my inspiration for blog posts. That twined with the holidays and trying to get all of the Christmas shopping in, as well as that little work thing and a special lady taking center stage in my life distracts me a bit from blogging. That being said, I do love this time of year. We've had very little snow to date, but it's coming. For that reason alone I have trouble imagining ever moving out to California.
Prague in winter is a season for depression. The sun only puts in periodic appearances and the days are short (then again, summer nights are long). It makes perfect sense that the Czechs love to get out in "the nature" come summertime. Winter is bundled up (though winter sports are also popular) walking as fast as possible iorder to spend time with friends in the pub. Slivovitze (and its cousins) and Becherovka become more popular at this time of year. Personal hygiene is not necessarily a priority at this time of year (it is getting better though), possibly folks don't want to go outside with a wet head. This isn't so bad on the tram, but once they get to the office... This also leads to some greasy hair during the season. However, I did have one student who believed in taking cold showers to start the day, or using the lake, so he was cleaner than most (though a little odd. He was also a beekeeper).
Spending six months in Brazil was a rather different thing. I only got to experience a very limited amount of the rainy season, but it made sense of a lot of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Even in a planned city, like Brazilia, the storm drains couldn't handle the water. The ground just can't absorb the water and it flows along paths and down the streets. A five minute walk to work would leave me absolutely soaked (I wore flip flops and changed into shoes at the office). Most folks don't have clothes driers, so hanging on a line in the house, nothing really gets dry. It's not surprising that clothes wear out. Then again, it's a period of renewal and blooming flowers are everywhere. In the summer it's hot and dry, but things start to turn brown (hooray for drought resistant plants) and the dust kicks up.
It's the change of seasons more than the new calendar that makes me take stock of my life. It reminds me that things are changing, that I'm not accomplishing as much as I want to, that I'm getting older, and that we only have so much time allotted to us. I always enjoy putting old winter jackets and finding old receipts or programs to remember what I was up to the year before. Cookie baking before Christmas revs me up for the holidays. The cycle of the year helps to tie me into the world around me, to make me remember that each day is a part of the whole of my life. It reminds me that I need to take certain steps today so I can take more tomorrow to get out of this rut.
If you want to think about how to apply all of this to your storytelling, remember that at different times of year there are different tasks to accomplish. Daylight hours shift. There are different materials available to work with. Their routines change in response to the world around them. Assuming your characters aren't adventuring in Southern California, using seasonal changes is a great way to break them out of a rut. Hell, there is usually a festival around that time for some reason or another anyway, right? Every season can be a season of renewal. I hope you enjoy this one.
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