Autumn Inspirations

6 Mashiyyt 164 B.E. - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 about 8:57 AM PDT

Autumn and October bring a lot of memories for me. I grew up in Oklahoma where the change in season is spectacular. The leaves change color right after the first freeze and eventually begin to fall off the trees. This time of year generates poems and memories, but this year I don't have to worry about memories generating poems or stories.

In October the Interfaith Forums 2007 begin. I've written poems about them before, very long poems concerning the talks. This year I think I'll take a different approach and blog about the Forums. I think the best things about these panel discussion is the education they afford those who attend. The panelist present the beliefs of their own religions without belittling the religions of the other panelist or attendees.

Baha'u'llah in his writings encourages us to "associate with the followers of all religions" with an attitude of respect and love. That's why I like attending the forum discussions, because everyone there shows respect for the chosen faiths of others.

Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i scriptures are another source of inspiration. I've written several poems based on the history of the Baha'i faith and on the scriptures revealed by Baha'u'llah and the Bab. I've also written some poems based on the writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha. In fact, I'm working on a group of poems inspired by either the history or the writings. On October 20 is the anniversary of the Birth of the Bab.

There are other things occurring this month that inspire. On October 31 is the anniversary of my joining writing.com. I joined that writers' website in 2002, I find inspiration whenever I log onto their server. One of the intriguing things is the way they change the look of their page every year. This is October so the theme on the web page is Halloween, I don't think I've written a Halloween poem in a while. This is one of those holidays that brings back a lot of memories of Trick'r'Treating, Halloween Parties, and grade school events.

October is also sign-up month for NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month is in November it last the entire month and the goal is to write a 50,000-word novel during the month. This month I'm outlining the novel I'm writing in November. The idea isn't whether you win or lose, but that you make a daily attempt. It is a good idea to set a daily word count goal because it's easier to make the 50,000 words if you know how much you have to write in a day. A person can go over the word count goal, of course, but if you set it and keep working you have a chance of completing the novel by the end of November.