the wild west 🌕 pink moon letter

suns, moons, and a book update

Living in a west-facing apartment is great. All year round, I get sunsets! (Well, there aren’t really sunsets in winter since it is overcast 100% of the time, but the potential is still there.) I’ve honestly learned more about how the earth’s tilt changes where the sun is in the sky because of the view from my balcony. In the summer, the sun sets up in the Northwest, it moves over to the West in the autumn, down in the Southwest in the winter, and back in the West come spring. I don’t know the exact degrees of orientation or whatever, but it’s cool that just observation can reveal so much! I mean, this is how people did it back in the day. They saw how the sun moved and figured out four directions to name. They saw the stars in the night sky, which were different in different seasons, and used them to navigate the waters. They saw the short days of winter starting to get longer and celebrated!

However, there is one downside to my west-facing balcony: I never catch the full moon. The moon rises and sets at different times of day during its cycle. That’s why you sometimes catch a full moon in the blue morning sky but see a big orange quarter moon already setting just as evening light is dimming. And why a new moon, which is out during the day, can get in the way of the sun!

Eclipse sidenote: Did you see the eclipse?! I went as far south as I could get—the St. Lawrence River—to get in the path of totality. It was wild! Watching that last dot of orange disappear in the eclipse glasses and taking them off to see that ring of light! And the world suddenly dark in the middle of the afternoon?! I hope it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, but it might be, so I’m glad I got to see this one.

I’ve learned that the full moon rises in the evening, so it doesn’t reach the part of the western sky that I can see until the wee hours of the morning. And I’m in bed by 10 pm, so I rarely catch her from my balcony at night. Occasionally, I have woken up in the night and gone to the bathroom (you know you’re getting old…), and on my way back to bed, see a bright light casting shadows in my living room, think, “Don’t those obnoxious high beams they use as security lights across the street go off at 11 pm?” and walk to my window only to be hit the face with a big round shining moon. I say, “Oh, hello, moon,” and go back to bed. I might catch her again before she sets in the morning.

Tonight is April’s full moon, the Pink Full Moon. The name comes from a pink wildflower that blooms this time of year in North America, but there other descriptive names for the moons from Indigenous cultures, like Frog Moon or Moon When the Geese Lay Eggs.

I’ve also been told this full moon is “in Scorpio,” which I guess makes it my moon since I was born under a Scorpio moon, which apparently means I am “unafraid to explore the dark side of life.”

Like writing a book full of murder, cannibalism, witchcraft, and smashing the Patriarchy…?

Segue to a book update!

I am in my fourth week of a five-week leave from my day job, and, of course, I feel like I haven’t gotten much done. I often have to remind myself that this is a break so there is no such thing as wasted time. However, it is disappointing not to hit my book goal timelines.

According to Scrivener, I have contributed 28,000 words to my book project this month. That’s a lot of words. Most of them will not end up in the book. There are many drafts and a lot of notes for each story. My measure of progress currently stands at eight stories ‘done (for now)’; three stories got rewrites this month and now just need some editing to get to the ‘done (for now)’ stage; and two are still in messy, incomplete draft stages.

So far this month, I have killed Bluebeard, given Cinderella a reason to go to the ball, almost burned the Six Swans’ sister at the stake, and I am currently working out how the Twelve Dancing Princesses (which I’ve cut down to only five) will manipulate the man following them into killing their father.

For the next sneak peek at the book, I shall reveal the fairy tale inspiration for each of the stories! (Some of them have elements from more than one tale, but that will be fun for you to read and find out!)

In no particular order…

Lapis: The Tale of Scheherazade
Red: Little Red Riding Hood
Ash: Cinderella
Indigo: Bluebeard
Roan: Tatterhood
Bone: Hansel & Gretel
Thistle: Sleeping Beauty
Lily: The Six Swans
Amethyst: The Goose Girl
Night: Beauty and the Beast
Pine: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Plum: Rapunzel
Ebony: Snow White

Are there any tales there that you don’t know? Most are European, and many are Grimms. I didn’t stretch myself to reach every corner of the world for inspiration for this first collection; I just let inspiration spring up from tales that I knew well enough that I didn’t need to study them to be inspired by them.

I’m getting very excited to share these stories with the world soon! I’ve been playing around with book cover designs in Canva once in a while, and I think I finally nailed it. But no cover reveal yet! My priority is finishing the manuscript. Then come the extras.

Speaking of extras, if you’re not following @taleswithtish on IG or TikTok, you are missing out! I spent a day last week filming video content and have started posting again. We’re learning about where fairy tales come from. We’re getting fairy tale advice. We’re havin’ fun over there, folks. Come on over.

I hope you catch a glimpse, or a long loving gaze, of the moon tonight. I’ll catch her in the morning.

Snip, snap, snout, this newsletter is told out.

.tish

P.S. A recent Wikipedia dive found me on the page for Sirin (like Russian siren), where I found this beautiful painting that caught my eye. I might print it out for my wall. Or use the black sirin’s wailing face as a new profile pic lol