Welcome to November, the month of NaNoWriMo and American Thanksgiving! As a Canadian, I’m legally obligated to specify American Thanksgiving, as Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving the second Monday in October (former American Columbus Day and now Indigenous Peoples’ Day).

The lovely weather continued through the first two weeks of October—I got out onto the deck again!—but over the Thanksgiving weekend, we had tonnes (again, Canadian, therefore metric) of rain and below seasonal temperatures. But no snow, thanks the powers that be. Well, there was snow, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground.

This was followed by another stretch of above-seasonal temperatures, though with persistent cloud cover and often rain. Phil put away the patio furniture by this time and put the garden to bed for the year.

Life in general

I’ve continued to struggle with dysregulation. I think I’ve been walking on the thin edge of burnout since summer. Also, what I thought were brand new seasonal allergies was, in fact, a persistent sinus infection. It went subclinical over the summer but came back with a vengeance at the end of September.

I was quite sick over the weekend of the 14^th and tried to make an appointment with my doctor on Monday, but he was booking in-person into November, so I went to the walk-in clinic and came home with antibiotics and a corticosteroid nasal spray. I may also have brought home another virus from the crowded waiting room.

What followed was a miserable stretch of days while the meds took hold and started to do their thing. I worked (day job and writing), though slowly. The nights were the worst. Gravity works, and infection drains everywhere (ears, bronchus, etc.). I tested for covid twice this time. Both negative, but damn. This was the sickest I’ve been in years.

And then I gave it to Phil 😦 Fortunately, he recovered in a day and a half.

The month in writing

For most of the month, I was once again focused on my new inside outline for Reality Bomb. Having finished writing it out by hand, I then transcribed it. And adjusted the cause-and-effect flow still further, ‘cause I can’t seem to get it nailed down the first (or even fifth) time. Once that was done, I moved onto my next submission.

I’ll have to circle around to do revisions next month (for my NaNo Rebel Combo).

Before the illen truly took hold, I also managed to write 8 poems and 1,392 words on a short story. I’ll take the win!

I applied for a mentorship microgrant from The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) and the funds were approved in time for them to be applied to my next six-session package with Suzy. While I’ve paid my next session, I won’t meet with Suzy again until November. This is a good thing. I’ll need the rest of October to get RB reorganized and in shape to resume coaching.

I delivered my fiction writers in the schools visit early in the month. I think it went well. A few students shared their ideas and some of what they’d written. And they asked questions. Mrs. Belanger was helpful and accommodating. I dared to be imperfect, and it paid off.

I submitted some poetry to Polar Starlight and Polar Borealis and two of my new poems were accepted for publication in 2024. Grateful to Graeme and Rhea for their continued dedication to Canadian speculative poetry.

I received edit notes for the short story that was shortlisted. The publisher still has final say, even after I’ve done the requested revisions, so there’s no guarantee, but I’m hopeful.

Filling the well

The vine new moon in Libra was on October 14^th and I observed it with a guided meditation. The day was cloudy, so I didn’t get to see the partial eclipse (all of the annular eclipse we’d see up here in northeastern Ontario), but I watched the NASA broadcast.

The full Hunter’s Moon in Taurus fell on October 28^th this year. There was also a partial lunar eclipse. Of course, it was overcast again. And I watched the partial lunar eclipse on the Time and Date YouTube channel.

And Samhain (my birthday) was three days after that. It was, as usual, a quiet day. I took it off, Phil made me a full breakfast (pancakes, eggs, and bacon), and we had a Greek feast (souvlaki, lemon potatoes, rice, tzatziki, pita, and salad) in the evening. Phil made me a banoffee pie. We invited my mom.

As usual, we had no trick or treaters. The are I live in is on the commercial side and kids don’t see it as a viable source of candy. More importantly, their parents don’t see our area as a convenient on to take their kids to. There is a subdivision not far away, and they tend to pack up their kids and go there.

Still, Phil bought a box of chocolate bars “just in case,” and now I’m trying to consume them before he eats too many of them.

Because we received our retro pay, I got myself a new computer. My old one was giving me a CMOS error message every morning on startup. So that’s what I spent the three days leading up to my birthday doing—setting up my computer and making sure all of my documents and pictures and music were transferred over.

Well, the pictures weren’t an issue, because they were backed up on the cloud, but the rest had to be zipped and backed up and copied over. But, in the process, Phil set up a back up server for us. Now, everything’s sorted, and I have a lovely new computer that should last me for a few years.

I started Finnish classes through the Sudbury Finnish School in anticipation of drafting The Fenwoman’s Tale. Eight weeks through October and November. I also returned to the free version of Duolingo to supplement the classes.

I attended the DAW Library Fantasy Book Buzz with Julie Czerneda and Bradley Beaulieu on the 5^th. It was a lovely discussion.

The next and final Free Expressions Donald Maass webinar, “Narrative Drive for Sagging Middles and No-plot Novels” also took place on the 5^th. Due to timing, I watched the replay. It was a helpful webinar, because my protagonist in my current work-in-progress is trapped in one way or another for a good portion of the book. It’s challenging to maintain agency, but it’s a challenge I set myself.

I registered for a TWUC webinar, “Three Things Agents and Publishers Must See in Your First 30 pages” on October 11^th. Barbara Kyle is a great presenter and has a lot of knowledge to impart.

I attended the virtual version of Can-Con from the 13^th to the 15^th. I didn’t catch all the virtual sessions, but I watched everything I could. An excellent con, as always.

The FOLD Academy offered another webinar on “Writing from Desire and Body” by Linh S. Nguyen on the 14^th. Because it was on the same day as Can-Con, I watched the replay once it was posted. It was more of a workshop than a webinar, with practical exercises to encourage you to be present in your body and write what you feel.

I attended Waubgesig Rice’s Sudbury book launch for Moon of the Turning Leaves on the 16^th. In person, even! I got a signed copy of the book!

I had registered for the Anne Szumagalski Lecture with Joshua Whitehead back in September, but it was rescheduled to October 20^th. A compelling presentation about paranoia as an effect of colonialization and marginalization.

I signed up for “Writing Characters Who Practice Non-Standard Religions” by Nisi Shawl from Writing the Other. The course ran from Oct 28^th to Nov 5^th. It was a good refresher of being respectful of everyone’s spiritual beliefs.

Thanksgiving was a relaxed affair at my mom’s and the immediate family gathered for ham, scalloped potatoes, turnip puff, jellied salad, and Greek salad. There was apple and blueberry pie for dessert.

I signed up for another Pat Tallman event on mastering motivation. It was mostly practical information and familiar, but it’s always good to refresh and rededicate.

Later in the month, she offered a bonus workshop on forgiveness. Forgiveness is hard, especially forgiving yourself.

What I’m watching and reading

I’ve had a realization. The less I write about something (book, movie, or series) the more I want y’all to experience it for yourselves.

I watched The Whale (Amazon). A lovely, but desperately sad movie that gave me similar feels to Leaving Las Vegas. Charlie is a morbidly obese virtual college instructor who is dying of congestive heart failure (what my father died of, so extra feels there) and refuses to go to the hospital. As the days pass, more and more clues about Charlie’s trauma are revealed. I won’t spoil it. Brendan Fraser earned his awards.

Phil and I finished watching the first season of One Piece (Netflix). Phil says it’s pretty faithful to the manga and anime. It was fun and kind-hearted, which we can all use more of.

We also finished watching the second season of The Wheel of Time (Amazon). They took us on a journey. It was excellent, in my opinion.

The first book I listened to was Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, narrated by Michael York (BBC). The last time I’d read the book was in high school and, to be honest, I didn’t remember much of it. It’s a scathing commentary on a society that is technically utopian but as is usual with utopias, if you scratch the surface, there are flaws. While I appreciated the ending focusing on the tragedy of John Savage, I was left wondering what the ultimate fates of the other two main male characters were. And I was somewhat disappointed that Huxley focused on the dissatisfaction or difference in his male characters only. It seems that there are no alpha females dissatisfied with the utopian world they have been given.

Then, I read A Crown So Cursed, by L. L. McKinney. It’s the third in the Nightmare-Verse series and an urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I really enjoy these books, even if they are young adult. McKinney has made the protagonist’s mother a feature rather than a bug, and in this novel, her grandmother gets in on the action, too.

Next was Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse. A tragic tale of two sisters in a world shaped by angels and demons. When fallen Mariel is accused of murdering one of the virtues, her sister Celeste becomes her advocatus diaboli to defend her. Celeste sacrifices everything to prove Mariel innocent, even when it becomes apparent that Mariel did everything she is accused of and more.

I read Alaya Dawn Johnson’s Library of Broken Worlds. It was a challenging read (in the best way). A lot of dense ideas and rich world building in this tale of a secondary artificial intelligence created to kill a god.

Finally, I listened to the Audible production of Jim C. Hines’ Terminal Alliance. This one was a lot of fun. In a post-apocalyptic world in which humans have gone feral and have been given a second chance by an alien “cure,” Lieutenant Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos leads a rag-tag team of human janitors to clean up after a nefarious conspiracy leaves them the only crew capable of sorting out the mess.

And that was the month in this writer’s life.

Until next month, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!