Mythic March 2015!!!

By Amanda Clark  Link

Oh my dear loveys, I have missed talking to you all.  I've been lost in snowblindness, going through a dark night of the soul this winter season.  I've been quiet here, but I've been busy with Faerie Magazine, creating some stories I'm quite proud of in the Winter 2014 and Spring 2015 issues (which you really should obtain, through a subscription or by going to Barnes & Noble).  But this blog has been quiet.  So quiet.  Too quiet.  In fact, it has been so quiet here, I almost forgot my favorite blog event of the year is coming up in just THREE DAYS.  Just this morning it dawned on me that it's about to be time for MYTHIC MARCH to come around again on Domythic Bliss.  And I was elated to remember.  It was like remembering a birthday party will be held for you just days from now, with tea and scones and cake and flowers and presents. 

Mythic March, for those who may not be familiar, is in its third year this year.  It started when my friend Lisa Stock and I were lamenting how awkwardly timed the National Novel Writing Month of November is...since November is an extremely busy time in both of our lives, during which it is nearly impossible to schedule a massive endeavor such as writing a 50k word novel.  We agreed that spring was a marvelous time to break out into new projects, and Mythic March was born.

Now, I don't know about any of you, but it seems to me that I especially need Mythic March this year.  This winter has been a terrible one in Ohio (and even more so for my dear Boston friends for whom I am sending a sympathetic hug).  I've felt extremely depressed and anxious, fixated on every little small thing (and large thing) that is wrong with my lovely home where I've been trapped for the last four months or so.  The days have been so cold that I've wanted nothing more than to huddle under a blanket on the couch watching Netflix and drinking tea, and yet some part of me has been furious with myself for not creating much of anything or doing anything worth noting for that time. 

Spring is on its way.  Tomorrow night's low is forecast to be -10 here, but the days are getting longer, and more kinds of bird song are in the air each morning.  By the end of Mythic March, the world will look quite different than it does now, and new creations are a marvelous way to mark this beginning.  Our modern society has far too few rituals to celebrate changes in life and in season.  This is one that I feel I am trying to create, both in my own life and for all of you.

So please join me.  Spend Mythic March resolving to create something.  Make a playlist of songs that inspire you to dance.  Write a ritual to celebrate the end of the bitter cold weather.  Write a story, draw a picture, create a collage, invite friends over and make a fruit pie...the point is not what you do, necessarily, but just that it is done with a spirit of imagination and an eye toward new beginnings. 

And when you have started working, please come back here (or to the Facebook group) and share your progress.  I promise I'll be elated to hear from you no matter what you're doing!