Ugh, I don’t know about you but I am just generally bummed out. Heather and I did an Instagram Live with another author earlier this week and she asked me what I was doing to make myself happy during this time and I was like, “NOTHING.” (Then I felt like a grinch and said that I suppose exercise helps and also I’ve been text-banking and that at least feels productive.) I think one of the reasons I feel so sad — in addition to the obvious — is that it feels as if summer was essentially stolen from us. Here in Los Angeles, at least, we could do nothing that one normally does to make the most of summer. (Well, I guess a lot of people set off fireworks.) No baseball games, no pool parties, no Hollywood Bowl. And now we’re in autumn — one of my favorite seasons, so cozy (well, not usually that cozy here until the end of it but whatever, it’s usually emotionally cozy) and full of decorative gourds — and we’re still in the same damn boat. I was laying in bed last night wallowing, and it occured to me that surely there had to be some things a person could do to at least make things feel like they sucked less. Like how I spent a lot of the summer working on my patio and it’s very nice and I enjoy it a lot when California isn’t actively on fire. I also — on the recommendation of one of you! — took up paint by numbers, and it’s been soothing and fun. So I thought it might be nice to brainstorm ways we can make ourselves feel autumnally enthused even if we can’t go to, say, Halloween parties. Your turn!
