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Photography: Apple Picking

It’s my favorite time of year—apple picking, pumpkin patches, fun tights, caramel apples, popcorn, beeswax candles and costumes. It’s the time of year I’m happy to linger beneath a tree or chase the setting sun. It’s also a time of change, letting go, and setting new goals.

I won a pitch session with an agent last week, and it didn’t go as planned. In fact, I learned it’s impossible to sell middle-grade novels at the moment and on the fly I pitched my YA novel from years ago. She loved the idea and agreed to read it when it’s ready. I’m proud of how I shifted gears in the moment, with only a brief stumbling of my words, but that story isn’t where my heart is right now. Should I pivot anyway? Is selling my books the goal? What if it takes me another ten years to write anything?

Obviously, this sent me into a creative existential crisis for a few days, but with the help of my incredibly creative friends, I found my way back to the truth. I want to write cool shit that makes me happy. My middle-grade novel is for my daughter. If nobody else reads it, then it’s okay. It’s her story, for her. Maybe when it’s ready the industry might be interested, and maybe not. If I start trying to write what I think will sell, then I’m going to be forever chasing a shadow that’s moving quickly across the ground. No thanks.

So, while I’m forever reinventing myself and changing, I do know wonderful things are happening all around me. I hosted a Halloween party at my home for the first time in years and it was a blast! My talented friend, who I’ve known since her birth, will be releasing her book on Halloween (CHECK IT OUT). I’m making strides toward my new health goals. I just listened to a story that reminded me how much I love twisted fairytales and writing weird things. I’ve got a bowl full of fresh apples on my counter and I cleaned out my garage.

So come with me to the apple orchard. Let’s see how the light hits the apples and hear the crunching of the leaves beneath our feet.

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  • Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW

Here’s some bonus shots from my iPhone:

41 thoughts on “Photography: Apple Picking”

  2. Don’t talk to me about apples. Here it’s been a bounteous year for all fruits and berries. People can’t give fruit away. We had a great Cider Festival at Hamptonne a couple of weeks back. So from your pics I choose the cute entry sign, but also at #11 what I take to be gadgets for collecting apples out of the trees? Beats breaking your neck off a ladder 🙂

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    • Having an abundance of food is a great problem to have! A Cider Festival sounds so incredibly lovely. That is the little apple pickers. They are pretty fun to use.

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  3. Beautiful photos of apple picking! I’m curious why they said middle grade novels aren’t selling now. Did they give you specifics? I’m written YA, middle grade and picture books. I got an offer on one picture book and I declined the offer because I didn’t think it was “big enough!” I’ve kicked myself since then for 15 years and no other offers except magazines and newspapers. As for my YA and middle grade, I’ve been told my writing isn’t “edgy enough.”

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    • Thank you! Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond to this comment. What the agent said was that publishers are pressing pause on new middle-grade right now. It happened years ago with YA, but then it came back roaring forward. She didn’t say why, but I suspect it has to do with so many books for that age group being banned. It might just not be worth the risk for them right now. Regardless, keep writing your books. You never know what will happen.

      As for kicking yourself for the offer 15 years ago, you just weren’t ready then. Your time is coming! Keep going.

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    • It’s my favorite time of year too! So glad you liked these photos and thank you. I’m excited to keep moving forward in my writing career and seeing what happens next.

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  9. What beautiful photos. I love the light and colors this time of year, and you caught those colors beautifully. I love the bonus portrait of you! Congratulations on your pitch session, even if it didn’t go as planned. I really like how you phrased, “If I start trying to write what I think will sell, then I’m going to be forever chasing a shadow that’s moving quickly across the ground. No thanks.” That resonates. I would say #14 (all those water drops) and #7 (abstract colors and shapes of fall), along with the intro photo of the road and leaves are my favorite this week!

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    • Thank you so much, Anna. You know what’s funny…I almost just scrapped these photos. I can get so hard on myself and I wanted them to be more, or maybe different. I’m not sure. But it’s like my writing, it’s me. It’s how I see the world and how I interpret it. I need to start seeing that as a strength. Thank you for always encouraging me.

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  11. Publish it yourself. It costs nothing, money-wise … a bit of a learning curve, but the process is getting easier and easier all the time. And you don’t have to let other’s opinions of what is ‘good’, or what will ‘sell’ decide your book’s fate.

    Truth is there’s absolutely NO guarantee’s in this business, no matter what an agent or publisher will tell you.

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    • Thank you for the kind words. I did self-publish my short story collection and I’ll have a poetry book out in the Spring (also self-published). However, it’s hard to get books into the hands of the middle-grade audience without the backing of a publisher. Who knows though? Maybe the future of my Thor’s daughter book will be written through different means. I’m certainly not worried too much about it being a best seller, I just love the story and want it out in the world.

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  12. I agree with this paragraph.

    “If I start trying to write what I think will sell, then I’m going to be forever chasing a shadow that’s moving quickly across the ground. No thanks.”

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    • Awww, thank you! So glad you liked these. I’m editing some photos right now of a friend’s orchard. I have a feeling you’ll like them too. They spurred me to write a short story, so when it’s done, I’ll be posting both.

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