Octobering in the Yukon: Losing the Light, Finding the Words
Snow, swans, soup, and shrinking daylight in the Yukon, with a bonus October writing prompt about noticing.
Dear Vi,
In the Yukon, October is not a lady of leisure. Her sole purpose is to harden off for winter, and she moves fast.
October is the month we go from admiring the last of the autumn colours to bemoaning the first snowfall.
It’s the month we stop and look up, through the bare branches of birch, aspen, and willow to a V of swans flying overhead, Our Lady October chasing them south with no time to spare, ice and snow nipping the tips of their wings.
It’s the month we start noticing how quickly we’re losing the light. October 1st arrives with 11½ hours of daylight. By October 31st we’re only getting 8½. So much gone, so fast! This is the time of year we put a living room light on a morning timer to signal our brains to wake up. This morning, it was almost 9:30 before the sun came up. It will continue to get darker—this is only the noticeable beginning.
First Snow in the Yukon
The snow that will stay until spring is always here by Hallowe’en. In fact, it’s here now. It came a couple of days ago—just enough to make you walk carefully on the sidewalks after it’s melted and turned to ice overnight. Can you spell Slip-ery? At least it was when we went for a walk yesterday, husband and I stepping from bare spot to bare spot on the sidewalk as if we were playing old people hop-scotch.
Getting Ready for the Cold
Part of hardening oneself off for winter is adjusting one’s mindset (and wardrobe) to the coming cold. In fact, this morning Bella had to wear her pink fleece dog sweater when she went out because it was -10°C (that’s 14°F for you Fahrenheit folks) and she doesn’t have a very thick coat of hair (even though -10°C isn’t really that cold, relatively speaking).
It’s also possible that because she so exuberantly sheds her hair all over the house, she simply doesn’t have enough left over to keep herself warm on outdoor excursions.
This is the time of year I’m impulse buying yarn to knit sweaters when I really need to be shopping for boots. My mind tells me I need new winter boots—my feet were cold last year because I waited too long to shop, and by the time I was in need, the shelves were empty of my size—but my body has yet to respond to the prompt with a shopping trip.
More Writing, Less Cooking: Butternut Squash Soup
Because writers have to eat, too.
October is also the first month I start making soup, and this is what I’m having for supper tonight. There’s enough to feed your small army, enough to last a week if it’s just you, and it freezes well, too.
Oil a sheet pan and arrange:
- 1 butternut squash (cut in half lengthwise with seeds scooped out), skin side down
- a handful of carrots (no need to cut up)
- an onion (cut in half if you want. Or not.)
- a handful of Roma or cherry tomatoes (or whatever leftover tomatoes you have in the fridge)
- a head of garlic
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle over top: ½ tsp. smoked paprika, ½ tsp. ground cumin, 1 tsp. oregano, and a few twists of salt & pepper.
Stick it in the oven at between 375°F and 400°F for about an hour. Vegetables should be fork tender. If the vegetables are caramelizing, all the better – so much flavour!
Tip: use this hour to write!
When it’s cool enough to handle, scoop the squash out of the shell, squeeze the garlic out of the papers, & use a spatula to push the rest of the veggies into a big soup pot. Add chicken or vegetable stock (I used 1½ boxes of store-bought stock).
Use an immersion blender or your Cuisinart to zip it up nice and smooth.
Easy and delicious. Let me know if you try it!
Creative Walking for Writers: An October Writing Prompt About Noticing
Notice What’s Leaving
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it: take a twenty-minute walk somewhere you’ve walked a hundred times before.
Pay attention and find three things that are different from this time last month. What has changed? What has left or is leaving? What is new? What is arriving? What is missing? Has something been revealed that was hidden the last time you walked here, or visa versa? Can you take a picture of it? Can you smell it? Does it have a taste or evoke a memory or emotion? What does it remind you of? Were you warm enough? Cool enough? Should you have worn different shoes?
When you get home, write for fifteen minutes, beginning with the sentence “This October day I walked to…” and follow it wherever it goes.
Now try giving this noticing exercise to your manuscript. What would your character see, smell, hear if they took the same October walk you did, today?
Not all novels take place in October (lol) so…what time of the actual year is it in your novel? How have you placed the reader in time and show the season through your character’s eyes or behaviour or daily decisions? If it’s chilly, has she grabbed a sweater? If it’s hot, does she lift the hair off the nape of her neck? Is a fan buzzing, or has she forgotten her mittens in the car?
Is there something she notices about her surroundings in this season that you might not notice in yours? Is there anything she is careful not to notice?
Mary Oliver’s instructions for living a life apply perfectly in this exercise: pay attention, be astonished, tell about it.
What do you notice in October where you are? Tell me in the comments, or send it to your character and let her tell me herself!
All my love,
Nita
PS: I’ve been turning over the idea of a creative walking series for writers. If that sounds like something you’d want, let me know in the comments!
PPS: This article first appeared on my Substack, October 25, 2026
