Part 9 of an Ongoing Experiment
When I wrote about the first month after my Solar Return, my conclusion was straightforward: despite having traveled to Colorado during the Solar Return itself, the year still felt overwhelmingly like Tampa. The dominant themes were structure, productivity, systems, administration, and catching up on work that had accumulated over time. Month Two began to introduce some new elements, particularly increased public visibility and a gradual expansion of my creative output, but the underlying foundation remained the same.
Month Three feels different.
Not because the foundation has changed. It hasn’t. I’m still spending enormous amounts of time building systems, improving workflows, editing projects, and organizing the infrastructure that supports my writing life. What has changed is the size of the circle around that foundation. More people are entering the picture. More connections are being formed. More of my work is reaching beyond my immediate sphere. For the first time since this Solar Return year began, I can see a meaningful argument that the Colorado influence is becoming more visible.
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The Productivity Foundation Holds
The most obvious continuing theme has been productivity. I spent much of the month working through administrative tasks, editing projects, website improvements, and workflow restructuring. Thanks to advances in AI tools and automation, I have been able to accomplish work that I was literally years behind on. Some of that progress involved website fixes and content organization. Some of it involved analyzing my work logs and identifying ways to make my writing and publishing processes more efficient. I also attended several webinars and training sessions that introduced techniques and tools that should save me significant time and effort over the coming year.
What strikes me most about this work is that it doesn’t feel exciting in the traditional sense. It isn’t flashy. Yet it may ultimately prove more valuable than almost anything else I’m doing. The cumulative effect of these improvements is that every future project should require less friction, less repetition, and less wasted effort. If Tampa represented structure and systems, those themes remain very much alive.
An Expansion Outward
At the same time, there has been a noticeable expansion outward.
Over the past several months, I have found myself serving as an expert source for New York Times reporters covering stories related to my professional expertise. During Month Three, those conversations continued. The resulting articles received enormous public attention, including attention at the presidential level, and became part of larger policy discussions. While I wasn’t personally affected by the controversy surrounding some of those stories, it was fascinating to watch information and context that I had helped provide ripple outward into the public sphere.
This is one of the strongest indicators I’ve seen so far that something beyond pure Tampa energy may be emerging. The work itself remains largely behind the scenes, but the reach of that work is expanding. The audience is expanding. The influence is expanding. Whether that is Colorado beginning to express itself or simply the natural consequence of decades spent building expertise, I can’t say with certainty. What I can say is that it feels different from the first month of the year.
More Connection, Less Drama
Relationships also occupied a larger place this month, though not in the dramatic way I originally expected from a chart with such a strong 7th-house emphasis. There were no major partnership developments, no life-altering encounters, and no relationship crises. Instead, there was simply more connection.
I enjoyed visits with family members as well as three friends I’ve known since my teenage years. I attended a Journey concert with my daughter. I found myself having more enjoyable interactions than usual with the staff at some of my favorite local establishments. None of these experiences would make a dramatic story on their own, but taken together they created a month that felt noticeably more social and interconnected than the months preceding it.
That may be one of the lessons emerging from this experiment. Astrological symbolism doesn’t always manifest in the most obvious way. A relationship-focused emphasis doesn’t necessarily mean romance, conflict, or dramatic turning points. Sometimes it simply means that people occupy a larger and more meaningful place in the landscape of daily life.
Branches of the Same Creative Tree
Creatively, the month was equally satisfying. I created a soundtrack for one of my books and produced several music video clips to accompany my creative projects. I continued editing a nonfiction guide while also beginning to plot a romantasy project. What I find interesting is that these endeavors don’t feel disconnected from one another. Instead, they feel like different branches of the same creative tree. Writing, music, video, publishing strategy, and audience development all seem to be converging into a more unified vision of what my work can become.
Health continues to be an encouraging area as well. Several medical tests produced informative and reassuring results. Just as importantly, I have continued assembling a support structure that includes both medical and legal professionals where needed. Once again, the theme is infrastructure. The work may not be glamorous, but it creates stability.
One of the most significant developments this month involved decisions about future book distribution. I’ve spent considerable time evaluating how to position my work so that it reaches a wider and more appreciative audience. This isn’t merely a marketing question. It touches everything from publishing strategy to platform selection to long-term career direction. It feels less like chasing growth and more like creating pathways for readers to find books that are already waiting for them.
Where the Experiment Stands
So where does that leave the experiment?
After three months, I no longer think the answer is simply Tampa or Colorado.
The foundation still looks unmistakably Tampa to me. The year continues to be built upon structure, systems, productivity, health management, organization, and strategic execution. Those themes remain dominant.
What has changed is that Colorado is no longer merely peeking around the edges. It is beginning to express itself through expanding visibility, growing influence, broader creative expression, increased connection with others, and a widening audience for the work I’ve spent years creating.
The terrain hasn’t flipped.
It has expanded.
If Month One was about building the foundation and Month Two was about noticing the first signs of growth beyond that foundation, Month Three feels like the beginning of a larger circle forming around everything I’ve built.
The structure remains.
The reach is growing.
And for the first time since this Solar Return year began, I can clearly see both influences operating at the same time. That’s bizarre to me and a little thrilling because I’ve always been told it’s one or the other. I never thought it could be both.
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