Tag Archives: Diana Gabaldon

Inspirational Quotes on Autumn by @PatriceWilton

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Everyone of us know the beauty that abounds in the glorious season of Autumn.
When asked, the most common answer is: It’s my favorite time of the year. Even the
great poets and writers have offered many inspirational quotes on the season.
Inspirational quotes
Here is a few of my favorites quotes, from names you will know and others you may not.
Enjoy!
“It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could
drown in it.” – Diana Gabaldon, Outlander
***
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” – Emily Brontë
***
“Autumn leaves are falling, filling up the streets; golden colors on the lawn, nature’s trick
or treat!” – Rusty Fischer
***
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about
the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
– George Eliot
***
“Dancing of the autumn laves on a surface of a lake is a dream we see when we are
awake.”
– Mehmet Murat Idles
***
Living in Florida, I don’t see the miraculous change in the foliage, but I lived the first
thirty years of my life in Vancouver, Canada, and then six years in New Jersey in the
nineties–so it is still very vivid to me. I also just returned from a short trip to Maine
where the leaves were starting to burst with color–a truly beautiful state that was a
pleasant change from the heat and humidity we Floridians experience almost every day!
Enjoy the beautiful photos from wherever you are!
Happy Autumn to all of you.
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Diana Gabaldon and me

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Is there someone in your life who made a huge difference even though you’ve never been introduced? Well, I have and her name is Diana Gabaldon.

Photo courtesy Variety – Terrence Patrick

How did she impact my life on such a grand scale? It started with a gift. My eldest daughter gave me a paperback book for Christmas. On it was a little handwritten tag. ‘The story of the most perfect man in the world.’ Yup. Outlander, the story of a time traveler and the man she fell in love with.

The story reignited my fascination with time travel that H.G. Wells had lit when I was a teenager. When checking her website to see if she had more books, I noticed we were born the same year and both attended the same university at the same time. I wondered if she had endured the same jerk I had for Freshman English. Until he came into my life, I loved writing. What stuck with me, though, was her declaration that if you love to write, WRITE!
My passion to create stories had returned. What would happen if I fell into Outlander? I couldn’t get that idea out of my head. Little themes kept sprinting through my head, twisting through forests of elaborate scenarios, bumping into encounters between her fictional characters and mine.
So, overcoming the literary passion-gutting of my Western Literature professor at NAU thirty years earlier, I started to write again. Working full time and with a daughter in school, all I had were late nights and stolen moments for my new obsession. Of course, I couldn’t use Outlander, so I created a different fictional time travel story. The premise remained the same, though: an older woman is rejuvenated and awakes in a different time, interacting with fictional characters from her favorite romance novel.
I didn’t publish anything for a long time, but I did keep writing. Did I even want to be published? Well, sort of. I wanted my novels to be available to my daughters and granddaughter (no male heirs). Being published had to be the best way to do that. Photocopies and journals were easily lost. Searching library systems for Nana’s name would be easier.
I had four books written before I published my first one. The first two in the series still weren’t ready to be shared and I knew it. I cringe when I look back at my early drafts. But you know what? The passion kept me going. Now if I reread my stories, I smile with pride. I didn’t give up. I didn’t think I’d ever finish that first book (now free), Naked in the Winter Wind but I did. Right now, I’m working on number thirty-one. Take that, NAU Professor!

No matter who inspires you, take that kernel of desire and work toward your dream, revel in your passion. Do no harm and be respectful, and who knows, maybe you’ll be an inspiration to others, too!
Thanks, Diana!

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