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Turning In: Fall Focus Reflections

Turning In: Fall Focus Reflections

Fall: the most beautiful time of the year! (alongside winter, spring and summer).

Kamilla Milligan
October 18, 2025

Working With Change

Steadily and ineluctably, fall has surrounded us. Fall is beauty and fall is also grief as I have to abandon my dreams of perfect summer rejuvenation. I didn’t fully manage it this past summer. Life and my own stuff got in the way.

However, I continue to harvest what I did manage to plant: swimming and rock-wading in a perfect river bend with my family; the misty beauty of a Juan de Fuca beach; the feeling of sun on my shoulders from my frequent walks—all of these memories are helping me feel alive and satisfied with the efforts I made.

Another harvest? Fruit. The Asian pears that we vigorously pruned have provided a bumper crop of enormous, juicy deliciousness, so many that we have to give some away.

And now, one more gift I can harvest from summer is the knowledge that even if circumstances aren’t perfect, taking time to do the lovely little things that speak of a season is a good use of time, even when things feel too busy. Hot baths, delicious soup, a walk to enjoy fall leaves—winter me will be glad for how those choices will bloom when winter surrounds us.

How do you manage the shifts between seasons?

Asian Pears, ready to harvest.

Our first plums, from a sucker that eventually grew true.

Apples! Our first year of apples, 3 varieties.

Writing Update

I’m grateful that I’ve been able to keep writing through a transitional fall. I’ve got two pictures books I’m very excited about: a non-fiction lyrical nature story and a sensory cultural tale. My new middle grade is slowly, slowly making its way into being as well, and there are a few other things in the works. I hope to have more news to share soon about my stories. In the meantime, here’s some of my reading in support of these manuscripts: