🌼 How was your spring?
Mine was pretty good. I did NOT spring-clean or plant a garden, but I did hike almost every weekend and am currently on a five week streak.
I love North Appalachia and the energy of the forest, but getting out there isn’t always easy. Hiking is challenging. I’m lucky because my adult son is willing to go with me.
🥾 If you’re struggling to start an activity you’ve been meaning to do, I hope you can find a person or pet to partner with!
Fiction Update
✍️ I decided to make a few last minute changes to the vampire story. Some had to do with toxic perfectionism (which I talk about in the podcast below). Others—like identifying my FMC as autistic—were worth doing.
🩸 Start with scene one below and follow the prompts to read the full first chapter:
Not Full Fae, But Close
It was the first time Nick Markovich had been to the Black Goddess in over ten years, but it was exactly as he remembered it. Same bundled barbed wire over the bar, same beat up black walls, same crowd...
Look for the ebook by the end of the month!
Nonfiction and Media
I've been getting more interested in how spirituality and writing overlap. It started with this video ☝️ and continued through the Hay House writing conference I attended just this week.
I’ll be talking about my experience with the conference in an upcoming post, podcast or video.
🎧 Listen to the podcast on perfectionism here:
Perfectionism, Neurodiversity and Writing
Listen now (13 min) | In this episode of the podcast, I talk about my own struggles with perfectionism and how that relates to fiction writing, neurodiversity and trauma...
Subscribe to my YouTube channel here youtube.com/barbaragraver
Follow Autistic POV on Spotify here.
My Favorite Post
🌙✨ My favorite post this spring was called The Animus of Romance.
One of the things I want to do with the new nonfiction project is talk about story as a way to heal from trauma. This post touches on some of the concepts involved:
The Animus of Romance
Your anima/animus is the personification of your unrealized possibilities. The intense aching to merge with it is the grandest of romances. — Marchiano, Stewart and Lee, Dream Wise
Thank you!
This spring passed quickly as all seasons seem to do. I got things done. We are all well. I am looking forward to summer. I will keep hiking. And I will aim to get my next seasonal update done a little earlier in the season.
Thanks for reading and subscribing and sharing this journey with me!
🌞 Wishing you a wonderful end of spring and glorious hurtle toward Summer 2026!!
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I love the tapestry topics you've presented and very much appreciate your photos...that's one beautiful cat. Such beautiful hiking spots you have. I imagine in your neck of the woods the ticks are active as they are here. I so don't like to keep covered up on hot days.
xx