NaNo November

Hey friends! Can someone please tell me where August, September, and October went? I won’t even give you the countdown to Christmas, but I’m sure it will be here in no time. 

This morning I was in awe of the beauty all around. Isn’t autumn so pleasing to the eyes? Yellows that I’m not sure what to compare them to, and captivating popping oranges. Oh, and the reds, the deep, dark reds. Just lovely! Have you ever been standing outside, minding your own business when the leaves start falling all around you, like raindrops? Large, colorful raindrops, of course. It’s an exhilarating experience! I hope you take the time to truly experience and enjoy autumn in all its glory. 

So, our care group has taken the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of September and October to study the book of James. One chapter each time we meet. It’s very casual which promotes group discussion, and I love that! Our final discussion will be on November 3rd, my parent’s 55th anniversary. Happy anniversary mom & dad! 

Anyway, I have always found the book of James to be fully loaded with beautiful gems. Beautiful, life-applicable gems to help me live more like Jesus. If I am a Christ-follower, shouldn’t I apply the Word, not just read it? James 1:22-25 NIV “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it–not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it–they will be blessed in what they do.” 

Friends, the world needs more Word-applying Christ-followers. This is the only way we can set ourselves apart from the world. Lost, broken, hurting people have had enough of the world. We need to show them a living example of Jesus and the best way to do that is to live out the Word of God in our life. Let’s be a light!

In the month of October, I was honored to speak at the Friends of the Library First Thursday program. It was an exciting experience and I learned some things for the next time I speak. I was a guest speaker for the North Side Virtual Writing Club. It’s always a great time when I can pour into children. It is still new, but hopefully, more students will join and get their stories out there. I participated in Dewey’s Readathon. So fun. I did not read quite as long as I wanted. Still, I did get through Aggregate, A Poetry Chapbook, by Diane Puterbaugh, The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, Hugs For Pet Lovers, by Korie & Willie Robertson, and I started Release Day, by Ryan Matthews. I put my progress and a few thoughts on my Facebook Author page and I met my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2022! To finish up the month, I went back to my favorite coffee shop–Selah Coffee–in Savannah, TN on the 29th for a book signing for Gidesha City. We met some wonderful people. It’s always a nice visit.

One last bit of business. November is here! NaNoWriMo is here! Briefly, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it’s when tens of thousands of people around the world set out to write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. Sounds fun doesn’t it? It’s an exciting, but dreaded time. So I will hunker down and have a finished rough draft of book 3 (hopefully) by the end of November. (You can keep up with my NaNo journey on my Instagram or Facebook Author page which you can find here.) Then the revising, editing, crying, and such will happen in December, then by mid-January, I will have everything back from my friend who double-checks the accuracy of all things spiritual and provides other feedback. After any corrections, book 3 will be ready for Shelley’s Editing Service in February! We will see how all that looks in the real world come February.

Thank you all for hanging with me to the end of this longer-than-usual message!

Til next time. . .