October News!

The fifth monthly newsletter for those who value intuitive courage, wellness/writing, and creative practices

Oct 08, 2023

It’s October! Cooler days, Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie, leaves changing and falling, snuggling under blankets to read and watch TV. It’s a cozy time of year.

It’s also busy, with the launch of my first YA novel, Jamesy Harper’s Big Break, happening each weekend this month and next at a variety of different local libraries. And my online writing classes begin at the end of October (yay!!!). My next novel, Post Civ (my thesis project at UBC during my MFA), goes into editing and cover design this month. Plus my new writing project has begun, a memoir called The Negative Space.

I hope you’ll join me for some of these fun classes and events coming up. I’m also hoping to meet with the hotel where I plan to host creative retreats as early as spring 2024. There’s lots of forward momentum at Ruby Finch Books these days and I can’t thank you enough for being involved and for your support! It means so much to me!

One-Word Feeling Check-In

This summer, at a routine doctor’s appointment, my blood pressure was high. We put it down to stress, and I came back in for some follow-ups after our Europe trip. It was still high, and in fact getting worse. I’ve always had ideal blood pressure so this was upsetting.

I’m trying a lot of different things to manage it, and checking it regularly at home. My doctor says I may need medicine which hasn’t helped with my stress. So much of life involves trying to make peace with factors out of our immediate control. I hate this. As a child from an alcoholic family system, control was my lifeblood. It was my key survival tactic. But now, at the age of fifty, I’m trying so hard to acknowledge that I cannot control everything. Some things are hard, and stressful, and cause us pain.

For now, because I still have quite a few unanswered health questions and concerns, my feeling word is anxious. How are you feeling in one-word right now?

Book Corner

I’ve mostly been re-reading favourite novels this past month as I was in need of some comfort reads (September by Rosamunde Pilcher, The Firm by John Grisham to prepare for the new sequel coming out this month called The Exchange, and Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty) but I did read a couple of library books that I enjoyed.

We Are Too Many by Hannah Pittard is a really unique memoir. She writes using several different POVs and structures to tell the story of the end of her marriage. I felt a little bit outside of the narrative itself because I was so intrigued by the structure, but it’s a fascinating read.

I wanted to try Straight Man by Richard Russo since I enjoyed the Lucky Hank TV series on AMC+ starring Bob Odenkirk which is based on this book. Russo has a very funny literary voice, and he skewers academia in a delightful manner.

Writing/Wellness Idea

It’s helpful to know what your identity is as a writer (or a person). Our concept of ourselves changes over time, for sure, as we evolve and grow, but in my undergrad years a writing professor suggested writing down who we are and what we plan to focus on in the immediate future on an index card.

It’s a small space, and forces you to be specific. I use her index card method for my annual goals, but I’ve found myself using other index cards for the key areas I’m focusing on in my personal life as well as my professional life. For Ruby Finch Books, I have one where I wrote the 6 key words or phrases I’ve built the company on. And for my personal/writing life, I have another one reminding me to be gentle, that I can’t fix everything, that I’m doing enough and I deserve rest and care.

I put these up by my desk where I look at them daily. Who are you right now at this moment in time and what are your biggest priorities? Writing them down will help to keep you focused on your main goals and provide a sense of renewed purpose.

Library Writing Classes + Jamesy Harper’s Big Break Fall Events!

I’m excited to announce that my Saturday afternoon library schedule for in-person writing classes and my YA novel book celebration events are now full! The schedule is below. Please join us for the class, the interactive book event or both, at a library near you.

I’ll have copies of the book with me, hot off the presses, and we’ll be discussing some of the themes in the novel together. I’m looking so forward to it, as I love meeting other writers and supporting their projects, and I’ve been longing to try a new format for a 30-45 minute book celebration (beyond a traditional reading and signing). Please come give it a whirl with me! And if you come on October 14th to the launch in White Rock, there will be a delicious book-themed cake!

For more info, please see the Events page on my website, or the Books page to find out more about Jamesy Harper’s Big Break. I’m thrilled to get this book out into the world and I’m in the process of getting her into library systems right now. If you love libraries and use them like I do, please request my book as that will help to get it in even more collections. Thank you and see you this fall!

TV Recs

Since my stress has been a tad high, we’ve been keeping it light with some of our viewing this month. We’re finishing up a rewatch of 30 Rock, which always makes me laugh, and we added in a couple of new comedies.

Breeders on Disney+ is helping me wait for the next season of Trying. It’s British, with Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard, and it’s joyfully irreverent and inappropriate in that dry manner so common to UK comedies. I’m loving it. We’re also watching Platonic on Apple TV+ with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. It’s offbeat and a little weird, but quite funny at times.

And after devouring Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, I’d been wanting to try Scott & Bailey, Sally Wainwright’s first big show. We just started season one and while some of the crimes are dark and grisly, the dialogue, pacing, and chemistry between the leads is so fabulous and I’m in with both feet for all 5 seasons.

Creative Practice Spotlight

I started meditating in 2018, and it’s made such a huge difference to my mental health. I use the app Insight Timer. It’s so easy to choose a short timed meditation that fits for what I’m feeling. I lay on my bed, close my eyes, pet Teddy who usually comes running when he can sense I’m about to settle down, and focus on my breathing for around 5 to 7 minutes.

Meditation helps to calm the mind, relax the body, and over time you learn how to notice your thoughts without obsessing over them. This short daily practice has helped me to be less afraid. It’s done wonders for my obsessive need to control everything. Through it, I’ve learned how to stay present and in the moment. I can’t recommend it enough. Give it a whirl, using an app or on your own, and please let me know what meditation does for you.

Online Writing Classes

We now have a schedule for the online writing classes! (INSERT CHEERING HERE.) The Plan section starts October 29th. For more details on the class itself, including FAQ, please see my website.

I still have a few spaces left in each class that I’m hoping to fill with my in-person writing classes at libraries this fall, but please reach out ASAP if you have a full-length project you want to write (or develop, start, or complete!) and come build your confidence, craft skills, and creative practices in our supportive and fun community!

Flower & Teddy

Both cats are sinking into the cooler weather like I am, so every picture I’ve taken of them lately involves cuddling together and dozing. So I’ll just add one of those, and fill out the photos with my daughter Ava cuddling a bunny and feeding goats when she came home from university for a long weekend and we went to Aldor Acres pumpkin patch, where we saw baby piglets that were less than one day old. Aww!