It was chilly on Thanksgiving and I loved it. It SNOWED on Tuesday and I loved it. I'm freezing at my house now and I love it! I'm a weird person. I love being uncomfortably cold at times. I like it because I can focus on all of the feelings of it and try to describe it in words so that I can write about the cold. "It was a chilly night." doesn't suffice for me. "My fingers are brittle and unfeeling as they work." "My back tenses against the chill." "The cruel gusts scalded my cheeks and nose until they are raw." I always think to myself as I walk outside without much of a jacket... "this is not even close to what my characters have to go through." and when I do have huge jacket... "so this is how the people up north must feel when they go outside, what a different lifestyle..." Everything ties back to stories. I do the same in the summer. Some people think I'm strange but I don't like to use sunscreen. Not because I'm lazy (which I usually am as well) but because I want to experience the blistering sun just like people throughout time have and how my characters will. Everything is research. When it finally will become unbearably cold, we won't turn on the heat... we'll build a fire! I love staring into the dancing flames. I could do it for hours. It is inspiring to me! The contrast between the scorching heat of the fire on my face and hands and the numbing cold on my back and feel is... like I'm there in my story. For some reason the cold is just the right environment to get me in the scene. There are many things that will trigger this sensation and I often try to surround myself with them: candles, warm homemade soup, a real christmas tree, no tv, cuddling up in a blanket for warmth rather than a thick jacket, homemade wassail... the list goes on and on. People often say that when it comes to plans for the future, you will probably change your mind all the time. I know that will not be the case for me. I wouldn't be the same person without writing. This is the path I've been set on and I will continue to lose myself upon it.