I agree with Anne of Green Gables in saying I am so glad I live in a work with Octobers. We’ve had beautiful color in the area and mostly moderate temperatures. I love this respite between the extremes of summer and winter.

I mentioned at the end of September that we had a few more social occasions than usual on the calendar for October. A couple of them fell through for various reasons–the illness of one friend and another traveling from OH to SC had to take a different route due to damage from Hurricane Helene in NC.

We did have one couple from church over along with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. And Jason’s family and my youngest son, Jesse, went with us to the Medieval Faire about an hour a way. It was the first time we had done that, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Otherwise, it’s been a fairly quiet month.

Partly due to anticipating company, I got some little “extra” jobs done around the house that felt good to accomplish.

A year ago this month, Jim had prostate surgery which turned into a bigger ordeal than we had planned when the doctors found an undiagnosed hernia in his abdominal wall with some of his intestines poking through. (He had felt a bulge there and asked two doctors about it, but they said it was just a fatty deposit.) He had a long, uncomfortable recovery, but, thankfully, has not had any long-term problems since then.

We didn’t have any family birthdays this month, so I didn’t make any cards. So I’ll plunge right into this month’s reading round-up.

Reading

Since last month, I’ve completed (titles link to my reviews):

• Be Alert (2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude): Beware of the Religious Impostors by Warren W. Wiersbe
• Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know For Sure You Are Saved by J. D. Greear. Excellent resource for anyone struggling with assurance of their salvation.
• Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate, fiction. Kate goes to hold down the fort and keep things safe at her forgetful grandmother’s house until the rest of the family can come for Christmas and make arrangement for Grandma’s care. But Kate begins to wonder if they are making a mistake.Very good.
• Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson, fiction, audiobook. A fictionalized diary of an army wife in the 1930s. Amusing in places.
• Written on the Wind by Elizabeth Camden, fiction, audiobook (This was finished at the end of September but not reviewed until October). A man heading the Trans-Siberian Railway project witnesses violent crime at the hands of soldiers, and escapes from Russia to share with the world what happened. The only person he cam trust is the woman at the bank in New York that has been financing the project. Very good.

I’m currently reading:

• 2 Corinthians for You by Gary Millar with our ladies’ Bible study
• Ezekiel: The God of Glory by Tim Chester
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper. Making progress!
• What’s a Disorganized Person to Do? by Stacey Platt. Reading this in spurts.
• The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper. I’m just reading a few pages of this at a time.
• Mrs. Tim Carries On by D. E. Stevenson, audiobook
• The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron
• The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

• After the Storm. Thoughts on the destruction of the hurricane.
• To Confront or Cover? Scripture tells us sometimes to confront people when they sin against us, and other times to cover over an offense. How do we know when to do which?
• Jesus, Our Example and More. Jesus is more than just a good example, but there are places the Bible holds Him up as an example to follow.
• Will You Be Thankful for Your Elected Officials? The Bible tells us not only to pray for but to be thankful for our leaders. How can we do that when they oppose God’s truth?
• Silence, Shouting, or Singing. The Bible has instruction and examples to worship God in all these ways.

Writing

I’ve started another piece for Christian Devotions, but have not gotten back to my manuscript’s rough draft. Since I’m in the stage of revising my first draft, I feel like I need a large swath of time available to work on it. But then I can only do that kind of revising for an hour or so before decision fatigue sets in.

However, I did listen to a few writing-related videos.

The Christian Writer’s Institute hosted a Zoom Q&A with literary agent Bob Hostleter that was enjoyable and informative.

Living by Design hosted a Zoom call as well for training in writing for the internet (for their site specifically, but much of the instruction would apply generally as well).

Thankfully, both these Zoom meetings were recorded. I wasn’t able to to attend either “live,” so I appreciated being able to watch them later.

I had bought a course on Writing Nonfiction on sale from Serious Writer some time ago, but had not watched it yet. They sent a notice that they were closing down that side of their organization, so we’d need to finish courses before the end of the month or lose them.

So I made time to watch them. I was a little disappointed. The course had eleven different “modules,” but each was only two to six minutes. The material could have been put in a couple of blog posts–and, honestly, I would have preferred it that way. But it did have some helpful information.

Looking ahead to November, it looks like it will be a fairly quiet month until Thanksgiving week. I have an eye doctor appointment and the last of our church’s “Connect Four” get-togethers (where we divide up into groups of four women each and meet once a month over four months to get to know each other. So far, we’ve met for lunch each time). I also hope to get together for lunch with my friend who had to cancel earlier this month.

How was your October? Are you looking forward to anything in November?