Terminating Tembusu and Tiny Candles

Ovidia--every other Tuesday

It's Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, in Singapore. And tonight (or last night, by the time this comes out) I'll be lighting my little sandlewood, spruce and lemon scented candles to celebrate a final draft finally submitted as well as new stories to come.

For many, lighting lamps and candles and creating diyas symbolises welcoming Goddess Lakshmi and her blessings of wealth and prosperity into their homes.

But another figure I like to remember at this time is Aravan, who is celebrated in rituals, particularly the fire-walking of Theemithi, leading up to Deepavali. :

This is early 20th century image of Aravan is in the National Museum of Singapore.

In the Mahabharata, Aravan allowed himself to be sacrificed to the goddess Kali to ensure victory for his people and he is associated with continuity and regeneration.

I believe all writers are familiar with these feelings of commitment, sacrifice, walking on nails and through fire and then committing to doing it all again despite knowing what's to come!

But the candles tonight mark more than the submission of my final draft of The Tembusu Tree Mystery. This will possibly be the last of my tree history mysteries--I have so many ideas that I can't explore while I'm committed to writing a book a year for this series.

My cover sketch for the Tembusu Tree Mystery

I know I'm going to miss this series and its trees and characters so much, but right now I'm just glad I've sent it off!

And I suddenly have a free week (ten days in fact) before November begins. November is going to be a month full of upheavals (furniture--including bookshelves--removed for parquet polishing, furniture--including bookshelves--replaced) and, even more upheavaling, dealing with editorial comments & feedback & rewrites.
So now I'm thinking of taking on a mini 10 day project to occupy myself so I don't brood endlessly about how much my editor might be hating what she's reading!

So far my main options are:
1. Learning enough about self publishing to put out a book on Kindle Direct Publishing (I'm not hoping for a bestseller--I just want to learn how the system works because it scares me!)
Or
2. Downloading Minecraft and figuring out how to access The Uncensored Library, the virtual library built in Minecraft by Reporters Without Borders to provide access to censored journalism. Again it's an area I'm unfamiliar with that I find scary.

Maybe I'll start both and see what happens. Maybe that’s the lesson Deepavali brings: you can’t control what grows, but you can still put your seeds in the soil and light your lamps.

For now I will at least be:
3. Lighting a candle and sitting quietly with the glow and some celebratory sweets.

Happy Deepavali everyone! May your week and and your life be safe and full of light!