November 2025

Trust...

Nov 07, 2025

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This month, I’m leaning into trust. For the process of growth and change—no matter how slow it feels or how bumpy the ride. When we practice intentional connection to our intuition, that inner sense of knowing what is real and true, we have to learn how to trust ourselves again.

When that trust has been skewed (due to the influence of social media, corporate marketing campaigns that pronounce truth to us when it’s actually only messaging designed to get us to buy or use a product, or any other distractions we face in our modern online world), we often struggle to even hear our inner voice, let alone trust it to guide us.

But our intuition is our most important human feature. AI, digital algorithms, and programmed machines cannot accurately replicate this unique human trait. Trust is required, to tap back into our own value system and inborn sense of right and wrong. For a long time now, we’ve looked outside of ourselves for wisdom, guidance, and truth. These things live in the quiet; in the deepest ground of our own souls. We need to trust our own intuition, now more than ever, in these chaotic and unsettled days.

What are some ways you can trust yourself and your own intuition?

One-Word Feeling Check-In

How are you feeling right now, in one word? I’m feeling invigorated. It’s been such a struggle for the last few months. I’ve had a hard time accessing my hope or even my will to fight for what’s right when so much of the news cycle serves up non-stop horror and fear.

But I’ve begun keeping a new journal of my inner experience as we live through this historic time period where hate and propaganda flourish while truth and empathy diminish. Writing a record of how I feel right now is saving me. It’s breathing life back into my soul and reminding me why we need to fight to save what we love most.

How are you feeling?

Book Corner

I’ve had a few stops and starts when it comes to books this past month, but I did enjoy the creepy suspense of Middle of the Night by Riley Sager, Cal Newport’s thoughts on the necessity of time spent alone without the interference of other ideas in Digital Minimalism, and the introspection and character development of Liz Moore’s Long Bright River.

Write Your Novel or Memoir Online Class

My 20-week online writing class is underway now with the Plan section finishing up next week. I love this class, because it’s about the craft of writing but every week we also focus on a creative practice and a process around how we write. We also check in with our feelings and work to support one another to write the project we most long to write.

Our Start section begins January 4th, and we still have room in the class if you want to join us to make a long-held dream come true of writing a full-length book in a supportive community environment. More info is on my Classes page and please email me if you have questions or would like to sign up!

Intuitive Courage Podcast

Episode 18 is called Grief is at the Centre. For the last six months, I’ve been drawn towards volunteering at a hospice to work with people who are dying. I downloaded a volunteer application and filled it out, but I haven’t submitted it yet because I’ve been wrestling through some grief as my kids moved out of our home and I tried to come to terms with the end of a stage.

Grief is built into our human condition. It’s at the very centre of us, because from the moment we are born we begin to die. We all know this, but our culture is fixated on pretending that it will never happen to us. The deep meaning of our brief human existence is lost when we refuse to reckon with our own grief baked into the real fact that our time here on earth is finite.

Please have a listen on November 21st. What does grief look and feel like in your life? Do you feel safe to acknowledge your own grief, to yourself and also with others?

Process Notes

I really wanted to be finished writing the first draft of A Body at the Fair by the end of 2025, but between teaching, jumping into a new journal writing project that’s helping me stay sane and process my feelings with the world so chaotic and distressing, and putting together a 33-page application for a library writer-in-residence opportunity, I can see that I’m going to push the completion of this book into 2026.

This is one of my favourite elements of running Ruby Finch Books and publishing my own work: I get to be flexible. No one is breathing down my neck or setting a deadline for me. Traditionally, I love taking the month of December to reflect on the past year and dream into the next year. Thinking about my creative goals for 2026 helped me realise that I don’t want to rush this novel. It’s been a joy to write, but when I finish writing, the editing process might be longer because I haven’t written a murder mystery before.

So it will take the time it takes. I won’t rush. I have other projects on the go, and I’m committed to loving the process of writing as much as the end product.

TV Recs

Two comedies are giving me so much life and joy right now. The first is weekly, on HBO, and Tim Robinson is note perfect as a businessman who becomes obsessed with a broken chair and the shadowy company who made it. If you love I Think You Should Leave, The Chair Company is a must-watch. I laugh all the way through each episode.

If you enjoy charming sitcoms with non-stop jokes and an adorable dog-on-wheels at the centre, please check out the Australian gem Colin from Accounts. This show features a real-life couple as the creators and stars, and I love it so much. I’m more of a cat person than a dog person, but Colin from Accounts has stolen my heart.

I thought the first season of The Diplomat was good, and the second was even better, but the third is in a category all on its own. The writing and the performances have reached a new high. The subtext in particular is absolutely brilliant. Every relationship is complex, and what they don’t say matters just as much as the dialogue. A first-rate season, from the opening scene to that bombshell ending.

Library Events

My fall events at libraries have been so inspiring and soul-filling. Talking about nurture and climate and writing are some of my very favourite things, and libraries are some of my favourite places on our planet!

Only one class to go in 2025, and that’s Write Your Novel or Memoir at George Mackie Library in Delta on Saturday, November 22 from 1 to 2 pm. Hope to see you there!

The Best Cats in the World: Teddy & Pippin!

We’re going to put up our Christmas tree at the end of November and I’m already realising that I must brace for a battle royale with Pippin this holiday season. Last year he was too little to do much damage, but I can anticipate a lot of tree-climbing, ornament destruction, and a series of escalating wreckage this year.

Pip must be going through a growth spurt because he has a hollow leg for the last few weeks. He sits in the spot where we normally give him wet food once per day, and meows plaintively until either Jason or myself (usually me!) takes pity on him and feeds him. But then along comes Ted, looking for extra food, so we try to be as stealthy as possible when offering extra food to the hungry baby.

I’m loving the weather turning colder because Pippin is even cuddlier. All night, while we sleep, he gets as close as he can, and every once in a while he’ll settle on my blanketed lap while I’m reading or watching TV or writing (which means a lot of juggling with my laptop!). He still purrs loudly whenever we come near to pet him, even if we wake him from a sound sleep.