I adore November. It’s a downshift into winter, which I’ve learned to approach as a season of quiet and dormancy in order to prepare for the explosion of growth to come in the spring. I take my cue from the trees, who slowly drop their leaves to brace for the cold. The tree sends all of its resources inward, to keep it alive, but in order to do that it becomes quiet.
What are some ways you can prepare for wintering this month? Are there pockets of dormancy and quiet you can begin to build into your life as the days darken early and the temperature drops?
One-Word Feeling Check-In
How are you feeling right now, in one word? I’m feeling quiet. In November, we move into the winter season, which feels like hibernation, blankets, hot drinks, cat-on-my-knee, reading, sleeping, creating. I love the feeling of gearing down. Resting. Trying to add fewer entries on my to-do list.
How are you feeling right now? If you take 3 deep breaths, and look inward for a moment, what do you feel?
2025 Creative Nurture Retreat for Women!
How would you like a two-day restorative retreat focused solely on nurture and creativity? One where you can indulge in spa treatments like massage and facials while eating nourishing yummy meals that you haven’t had to prepare? How about walking around the lake or sleeping in and reading in a beautiful, quiet spot? And talking with other women about self-care and nurture and the importance of rest to fill your creative well?
If your soul is crying out, “Yes please!” to any of these questions, please send me an email at julianne@rubyfinchbooks.com and register for my first creative nurture retreat at beautiful Loon Lake Retreat Centre in Maple Ridge, BC from May 20-22, 2025! More info and FAQs at my website. There are only 8 spaces available! Please come join us. Prioritise yourself this May. You are worth it.
Book Corner
The Wedding People by Alison Espach was such a charming story. A recently divorced woman goes to an expensive hotel with a plan to end her own life, but she meets the bride and the groom and their eccentric wedding guests and she becomes absorbed into the wedding itself.
A student in one of my Author Nurture sessions recommended Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey to me and it blew my mind. I’ve been speaking and writing about rest for a few years now but the connections Hersey draws here and the invitation she offers to imagine a well-rested future has given me so much to think about and reflect on.
My daughter read The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and immediately read it a second time and begged me to read it too. I’d been waiting for a copy at the library since the book was published this summer, and it did not disappoint. Moore is amazing with setting, and juggling multiple timelines and characters in this spellbinding novel about two children from the same family who go missing in the woods.
Intuitive Courage Podcast!
Episode 6 is a reflection on the book Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. I can’t stop thinking about it since I read it, and my commitment to building in rhythm for increased rest has now taken on a deeper significance when I consider that my rest is actually disrupting systems like capitalism and white supremacy. I love imagining a new, well-rested future where we dream together of ways to embrace our own humanity instead of working like machines until we are burned out.
Have a listen and I’d love to hear your thoughts! The work of rest as resistance requires all of us, and requires discussion and support.
Writing & Nurture Classes
I began the PLAN section of my newest online Write Your Novel or Memoir class in October, and it’s everything I ever dreamed an online class could be. Every week, we discuss a craft element, a process focus, a creative practice, and we do a one-word feeling check-in. We’re building a flexible online literary community together, and learning from one another while working on our own full-length writing projects. It’s inspiring, meaningful, and fun.
We still have a few spaces open, so if you want to join us on January 5th for the START section, please reach out at julianne@rubyfinchbooks.com and come be part of our supportive literary community!
I’m continuing the monthly zoom author nurture sessions through Alexandra Writers’ Centre which are incredible and growing every month - please come join us! The next one is about How to Say No, a topic I started teaching on during the pandemic when many teachers who attended my conference sessions asked for more help in this area!
Process Notes
I recently crossed a milestone of 10,000 words in my new murder mystery manuscript A Body at the Fair. I’m loving how the story is unfolding, surprising me in ways I never could’ve predicted.
As we’ve been talking about in our Write Your Novel or Memoir online class, there’s a big difference between thinking about writing and actually writing. In the thinking part, the book is perfect, but that’s because it doesn’t actually exist. It’s just an idea. When we are brave enough to start writing (even if we worry that it won’t be good enough or we won’t be able to sustain the writing process or we’ll get blocked or we won’t have enough time or a million other distractions), we discover that the writing is where the joy is.
It’s messy, and it’s scary, and it’s freeing, and it can be utterly joyful it we practice getting out of our heads and into the work itself. I’m learning how to increase my belief in my abilities. I’m learning not to expect perfection. A first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be anything. All it needs is to exist, outside of our brain and on the page. Here’s to mess, and to discovery, and to joy while writing!
Post Civ Library Events!
I’m wrapping up my fall Post Civ library discussions this month and you are invited! I’ll be at the Port Moody Library on Friday, November 8 from 2-3 pm and at the Clearbrook Library on Saturday, November 9 from 12-1 pm (followed by the Local Author Fest from 1-4 pm). Please come and share your ideas for a better, kinder, fairer world for all of us to live in. Dates and info are on my Events page.
And when I checked on Post Civ in the Fraser Valley Regional Library and Surrey Libraries catalogues, I was blown away to discover the circulating ebook had wait lists in both places! I’m so honoured people are finding and reading this book which means so much to me. The print copies are being processed in several libraries now and should be available to patrons this month. Please request the book if it’s not in your local library. Your support means the world to me - thank you!
TV Recs
I’ve had October 31st on my calendar for a while, not because of Halloween, but because all episodes of The Diplomat season 2 dropped that day on Netflix. What a ride this show has been, and season 2 ups the game.
For some new sitcoms, we breezed through English Teacher on Disney+ and Nobody Wants This on Netflix. Both are sharp, funny, and full to the brim of heart and sincerity.
And then there’s Blue Lights. I’m fascinated by all things Northern Ireland, so when I first heard about this new BBC police procedural set in Belfast with Sian Brooke I put both seasons on hold at the library and after a six month wait, it finally hit the shelf. Everything about the show is crackerjack - tense, gallows humour, heartbreaking. I felt bereft when we finished season 1 and can’t wait to dive into season 2. Absolutely brilliant all around.
The Best Kitten in the World: Pippin (+ Ted, of Course!)
Well, by the time we went to visit our new female kitten Daisy when she was 4 weeks old, it turned out Daisy was actually male. Ava kept trying to convince us to choose one of the other adorable farm kittens who were girls, but the cat I initially chose with the adorable little white “fingerless glove” front socks (as Ava coined them) stared up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and I was utterly smitten.
So I changed the name from Daisy to Pippin (which is a synonym of Daisy and still honours our cats Flower and Little Rose while appealing to Ava’s musical theatre background and William’s LOTR fascination) and we bring him home to join our family on November 12th! I’m unbelievably excited, buying him new beds and toys and food and treats and counting the days until I have a new baby to spoil.
In January, we’ll have an empty nest when William goes to university, and I’m happy to fill that nest with another cat! Next month I’ll let you all know how Ted reacts to the new arrival. I really hope it doesn’t take long for them to bond. Pip is growing so fast and spending the holidays with a kitten sounds like a lot of fun to me.
Libraries forever,
Julianne and Ruby Finch Books