Changing with the Seasons
Shifting Gears
Coasting Along A Writer’s Journey
May 4, 2026
“Each season’s change is nature’s way
of reminding us to embrace life’s transitions.”
In the Pacific Northwest,as well as other areas, the seasons come in a multitude of varieties. Some describe these as microseasons. According to the ancient Asian practice of living according to the seasonal patterns and changes, the year is divided into 72 microseasons, each lasting about 5 days. This practice which started in China and Korea, was also established in Japan. It is a system designed to encourage living in awareness of the changing seasons. While still recognizing the traditional four seasons, the microseasons focus on the tiniest changes in temperature, humidity, flora and fauna, and whatever helps us notice the subtle shifts in nature and constant movement of nature.
April and early May, mark the time when all things are ready for planting and change. The period between April 30 and May 4 is when the Peonies bloom in Japan. May 5-9 marks the beginning of summer in many cultures. Yesterday, in my region of the Pacific Northwest (lower Columbia, north coast of Oregon), the temperature rose to a high of 80 degrees. That was the first warm day since last Autumn. In each geographic region, the microseasons are marked differently. For example, in Japan, the first croaking of the frogs happens between May 5-9, while where I live, the frogs began croaking in early April. Early March is the time the daffodils usually bloom, and the crocus are the first flowers to bloom in late winter.
I noticed that in Japan, Iris bloom in June, while here in the PNW, Iris are blooming this week, early May. The ancient practice of noticing what is happening with the weather at different times of the year, is meant to encourage people to slow down enough to notice the slow unfolding of life.
“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
― Yoko Ono
As writers and artists, our lives also run according to patterns and seasons. Seasons affect our creativity. Spring marks the season of renewal and growth. We plant ideas and seed new projects. And we rest and renew ourselves after working hard. Summer with its long days and increased outdoor activities, may be a time when you feel full of ideas and energy, and it may also be a time when you feel more motivated to explore, get outside, travel, and change your way of living. Summer is when we allow ourselves to come into bloom. Summer is when we may participate in more the more social aspect of being a writer or artists (open studio tours, book signing events, workshops). Autumn invites us to become more reflective and to harvest the fruits of our work. It’s a time when we may go deeper into our work, and spend time editing, repairing, refining, revising, and bringing things to conclusion. Winter is a time for reflection, rest, and recharge. It’s also a time to go deeper into our creative mode. We may spend time dreaming up new ideas and projects. We may take time off to rest and rejuvenate. And we may spend more time each day, working on ongoing, long-term projects.
Seasons affect us all differently depending upon where we live. Our own style of creativity and our personalities also have a great impact on how and when we use our creativity. Not being a summer person, I find it harder to work when the temperature is too warm (anything above 80 degrees). The cold provides lots of stimulation and inspiration for me. How do the seasons affect you? What microseasons have you noticed? When do you feel most inspired? Most productive? Least inspired? Least productive. And what changes have motivated you to change the way you express your creativity or organize your work life?
For decades, my creativity revolved around the academic calendar. Now that I’m free of that lifestyle, I’ve begun to live and work differently. For one thing, I now wake up earlier in the day. For me, mornings are when I am best at doing detailed work. It’s the time I now do most of my writing. Focusing on my writing in the mornings, helps me stay on track, and frees up other times for different activites. Afternoons I set aside for being outdoors and for doing business and being more social. When I was younger, I lived with my family, where I had more company and more support for taking care of the house and garden. Now I am responsible for those tasks alone. That means I need to make time for the obligations that go along with owning a home, tending a garden, and working for myself out of my home. When I’m able, I hire people to do what I cannot do myself including home repairs, heavy lifting, chores and tasks that free me to do my creative work.
Some seasons are more labor intensive than others. For example, we gardeners can hardly wait to get back into the garden in spring. This year, Spring has taken a long time to kick in, longer than usual. So now there is a rush to get all kinds of things done, tasks that had been put off until “the weather is just right”. With creative work, we have seasons that affect us emotionally, psychologically, and even spiritually. When the holidays arrive in all their busy-ness and glory, I find it hard to stick to my schedule, that is, unless I incorporate the celebrations with my work. For example, during Advent and Lent, I have conducted virtual retreats in daily life. I’ve also focused some of my work on celebrating the holy days (making Christmas cards, writing about holidays and stress). The end-of-year holidays are also a time when I like to do a winter clear out and clean up. I also like to schedule and plan for the upcoming year. Early winter is a time when I like ‘checking out’...not something many of us can do if we have lots of other obligations.
Being a self-employed writer and artist though affords me the option of making time for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. I used to travel at this time; now I take staycations and enjoy the winter weather and winter calm to be out and about more. Since I love the cold and wintry weather, I find it inviting and more enjoyable to do short trips in winter than in summer. Our choices for when we schedule our activities, can be easier to plan for when we’re working for ourselves. We may also participate in more workshops, classes, conferences, or art/literary events. Depending on what our needs and preferences are, being an indie writer or artist lends itself to having more freedom to choose how we organize and use our time.
When we’re working for others or have obligations that demand our time, our creative work may have to be adjusted to fit a different kind of schedule. Because your work is creative doesn’t mean it should be considered less important than other types of work. I remember hearing how the fishermen in Monterey, California thought John Steinbeck was just some guy who liked to talk to them about fishing. They didn’t see Steinbeck as someone who ‘really worked’. The idea that writers, artists, musicians, and other creative people are ‘not really working’ is fallacious. I remember someone close to me asking ‘when are you going to get a real job?” He had no idea that my real job was exactly what I was doing. At the time, that was setting up my businesses (writing/publishing and photography). We have to believe in ourselves against all odds.
If we creative people adopt that same attitude about being creative, we can really undervalue not only our work but also our use of time and energy. Anyone who has ever written a book or a piece of music knows what kind of concentration, focus, and personal commitment the act of writing a book or piece of music requires. Part of what a creative person relies on is their own dedication to their craft. Without a commitment to do the work, there can be no finished product. A book well thought out is nothing more than a collection of thoughts until it’s all written out and ready to read.
Our commitment as artists and writers is also affected by the seasons. The four seasons and the 72 mircoseasons as well as the seasons of our lives. As we grow and develop, our goals and desires change. I did not start writing fiction until I was well into my late-60s. Poetry has been a constant all my life, and photography has also been a key aspect of my creative life. When the virtual world first came into existence and when I broke my ankle and couldn’t walk for 8 weeks, I found my first jobs writing for online newspapers, setting up my own website, and founding my own virtual magazine and indie publishing company. That meant, at the time, making a decision to take the risk of trying something new, of trying a new approach to writing and publishing. At the time (late 1990s), the naysayers were warning against the uncharted waters of virtual reality as an option for writers and other creative people.
While warned off of doing something so untested and non-traditional, I chose to take the risk anyway. The seasons of life and of meeting the changes brought about by technology, science, popular culture, physical changes or political changes are just as real as the changing of the seasons from winter to spring. Our task as creative folks is to adjust our sails according to what works best for us at whatever season of our lives we’re in.
The most important thing you might want to remember that regardless of what others do or prefer, what works for you is what is best for you, if it allows your creativity to flow in pleasing streams from you to your creations.
“The seasonal urge is strong in poets. Milton wrote chiefly in winter. Keats looked for spring to wake him up (as it did in the miraculous months of April and May, 1819). Burns chose autumn. Longfellow liked the month of September. Shelley flourished in the hot months. Some poets, like Wordsworth, have gone outdoors to work. Others, like Auden, keep to the curtained room. Schiller needed the smell of rotten apples about him to make a poem. Tennyson and Walter de la Mare had to smoke. Auden drinks lots of tea, Spender coffee; Hart Crane drank alcohol. Pope, Byron, and William Morris were creative late at night. And so it goes.”
― Helen Bevington, When Found, Make a Verse of
