The afterghosts of spectacular summer sunsets are stealing through the woods, leaving residues of light. Greens are turning incredibly deep in the dews and damps, and you can smell the vitality. Every silhouette seems vivid in the crystal air, and yet if you try to focus on the green it starts to glow and pulse like foxfire. Autumn has its magic, doesn't it?

What is the most perfect and pure thing you did this summer? My moment of purity was kneeling in a storm. It was a cleansing storm. A healing storm. The rain came down like broken glass, and I knelt in the mud letting all the pain I’d ever felt bleed out. Some of the pain returned with the moon that night, but it seemed purified and sweet somehow. There are hurts you should never give up, because they are the flip side of everything you will ever know about life's high water marks. Save your wounds and rekindle them now and then when you dare to dream or hope.

For all that, it's been a summer of joys and laughs. Many, many adventures – full-spectrum. Hope yours has been as meaningful and energetic.

Hey, wanna great way to lose weight? I can recommend flying over the handlebars of a bike, which I have now achieved at some cost to my sternum, ribs, wrists, knees, elbows, hands and chin. Trust me, once you have accomplished this, you will not feel like cooking for a while. Trouble is I didn't need to lose weight. Amazing coincidence, last year rocker Tommy D crashed his bike 100 yards from where I flipped mine and broke his wrists, plus drove a tooth through his jaw. Ah, this too shall pass. Physically, I heal really, really fast.

Last month's Q&A column over on StorytellersUnplugged brought in a large amount of mail, so I'm doing more of it this month. Feel free to send in your question(s) – mn333mn@earthlink.net . Any kind of question is fine, and I won't use your name. The ones sent so far range from fundamental writing topics to queries hotter than two rabbits having sex in a sock. I'll try to take them all on. The title of this month's column is SEX & ROMANCE, BORING BINGES, and WHY MOSQUITOES SHOULDN’T HAVE GUN PERMITS. Here's the link: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2011/09/15/thomas-sullivan-sex-romance-boring-binges-and-why-mosquitoes-shouldn%e2%80%99t-have-gun-permits/I like to canoe to the lip of a small waterfall behind my house. Three of the photos below capture that approach and the quick turn at the edge of the drop. The photo of the twin princesses flanking the ogre was shot at my adoptive family's house – Norby Nation. That's Julia on my left and Emma on my right. Three other photos are taken inside my house. I am sporting an outback hat sent as a gift by my Aussie friends, interviewer Grant Soosalu and Fiona, following their recent visit. And after receiving many e-mails about a picture taken from a 10 m diving platform that went with my August column over on StorytellersUnplugged, I've decided to include a Blast from the Past photo each month. The one below where I'm wearing the cowboy hat is a favorite from a few years back. That's a real champion rodeo cowboy next to me – my dear amigo the illustrious Fred Bean, grandson of renowned Hanging Judge Roy Bean. The photo was taken at a poker game hosted by writer Loren Estleman at his house in Whitmore Lake, and, yeah, Fred is reaching for my winnings…

Wishing you some perfect moments this month. It's in your power to seize that magic. You just have to return to the freedom you were born with. If you feel captured by a world you have grown into, you can at least carve out a sanctuary for yourself every day. That's what I started doing years ago when I realized that I was living a life by force of will that my heart rejected. Often that's the way it is. The world brainwashes us in order to dictate what we should keep faith with, even against the wishes of our heart. Seems to me, if your heart's not in it, you're not really living. So I gave my heart a seat at the table just so that I could survive. And that's when a funny thing happened. My brain thought that made sense. That made my heart feel fearless and honest. And that in turn made my brain more free and independent. After that, the magic just grew and grew. Like I said, wishing you some perfect moments…

Thomas “Sully” Sullivan
www.thomassullivanauthor.com
http://twitter.com/thomassullivan

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