Happy November!
I know it’s a bit of a cliche, but I love fall. November seems to embody the idea of fall to me. While the above picture isn’t actually of my leaves, I do have piles of leaves that look a lot like that in my yard. (Thankfully, the people who mow our yard during the summer also do leaf removal, because while I love looking at the fallen leaves, I don’t adore raking them. Sometimes I feel a little bad that I’m not making my kids do it — rite of passage and all that — and then I get over it. We do spend a good bit of time making big piles of them and jumping in, so they’re not completely missing out. But we do skip the backbreaking bagging and carting to the yard bit. The professionals can do it in about five minutes with all their powered gizmos. And I will happily exchange my money for time in this instance.)
I spent all of yesterday at a local writer’s conference. It’s always fun to be around other writers — they just seem to inherently “get” you. I was one of the scheduled teachers, but only two people showed up for my session. Those two ladies and I had a lovely time chatting though and I think (hope!) they got some great, personalized information out of the deal. I’m grateful they came — it would’ve been lonely in there all by myself. :)
With November, lots of my Facebook friends are doing 30 days of gratitude. I don’t generally partake, but I’m thinking this year might be a good year to bust out the thankful tree in our kitchen and let the boys make handprint “leaves” to write things they appreciate on and hang on the branches. That’s always fun and a good focus for the season.
Do you have any favorite fall activities?
If you’re a winner, you should have received an email from the author in charge of the giveaway. If not, please email us at
prizes at inspyromance dot com
Winners of the monthly gift cards from October were Renate and MH!
Andrea B Brooks is the winner from Brenda S. Anderson’s giveaway!
Don’t forget… every comment you make qualifies you to win one of the monthly Amazon card giveaways!
Last Week:
Monday: Krista Phillips brought us the making of The Engagement Plot
Tuesday: Annalisa Daughety asked about your reader preferences
Wednesday: Ginger Solomon talked about how God has a sense of humor
Thursday: Marion Ueckermann brought us A Time to Love and a box set giveaway
Friday: Heather Gray talked about writing through the ages
Saturday: Alexa Verde talked about gratitude
Coming up this week:
Monday: Cecelia Dowdy
Tuesday: Liwen Ho
Wednesday: Autumn Macarthur
Thursday: Janet Ferguson
Friday: Elizabeth Maddrey
Saturday: Deb Kastner
New Releases:
October 2017
Wise at Heart (Romance from the Heart 2) (Arcadia Valley Romance 10) by Lee Tobin McClain
A Tidbit of Trust (Taste of Romance 5) by Elizabeth Maddrey
A Waltz for Amber (Melodies of Love 3) by Kimberly Rose Johnson
Candy Lane Christmas (Madison Creek novella 2) by Jackie Castle
November 2017
Rooted in Love (Garden Grown Romance 2) (Arcadia Valley Romance 11) by Valerie Comer
A Time to Love (Hope Series 2) by Staci Stallings
Love’s Choice (First Street Church Romances) by Liwen Y. Ho
A complete list of InspyRomance books by our authors is always available on our BOOKS tab. Find our audiobooks and our permanently free e-books, as well as new releases, on our NEWS tab.
Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.
Hi Elizabeth. Congrats to the winners:) It is Spring here, with the past week feeling more like winter weather! Today however, was a glorious Spring day, so we went biking and canoeing:) I love Spring- seeing the garden come to life again is always special- our fruit trees are loaded with fruit! however, I also love Autumn, warm days, cool nights, BBQ’s in the evenings soaking up the last of the sun before winter comes. Enjoy the autumn leaves:)
Blessings:)
I love crunching on leaves and drinking hot cocoa with the kids!
Spring is my second favorite! I have a friend in New Zealand who I was chatting with the other day and it’s always fun to picture life on the other side of the world while she talks about what’s going on. Although in this case, it was her spring allergies…I don’t envy her those :)
Stomping crunchy leaves is the absolute best! At our church, we also get lots of acorns and they make a most satisfying pop if you step on them just right.
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for the gift card win. I replied to the email I received. Gift card will be used on my Inspy Romance author wish list. A nice autumn surprise. Danke, gracious, thank you from an avid reader.
My favorite fall actives are road trips to see the changing leaves, even though this fall with our unseasonably warm, wet Midwest weather the leaves refuse to change color and cling to their branches. I also enjoy taking the granddaughters to our neighborhood pumpkin patch. Biting into a luscious sweet Honey Crisp apple. Enjoy a scrumptious pumpkin pie from the Flour Shop, our local bakery. Drink hot mulled apple cider. Shopping at various craft fairs. Fall is a favorite time of year. So much to be thankful for. Blessed Sunday to all.
Fall activities are different since we moved from VA to SC. People are still wearing their bathing suits and shorts here in SC. I am ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I enjoy seeing the leaves changing colors in VA and the cool crisp air. Here in SC, the palm trees don’t change colors. There are some great church activities and we are enjoying learning about our new area. There are blessings in each state and we are thankful for the change of seasons and the new ways to enjoy those changes. :-)
We took our boys to the pumpkin patch — that’s always so much fun. I kinda hope they never out grow it!
Congrats on the gift card win! If you haven’t heard back, I’m sure you will by end of day tomorrow, Ginger is usually very on top of that.
Oh I remember that from the time we lived in SC. It is definitely a different climate. But still fun once you adjust :)
when our kiddos where young we had a blast in the back yard. somehow we made raking leaves fun. And as they got older and really didn’t want to do it, we made raking leaves a chore they could get paid for. From the begging I always took our kids to others homes on our block who could not rake. It was learning responsibility and caring for others. They took to it like ducks to water. They are now 32 and 30 and are still like that.
Sounds like you did it just right. We have a lot of chores that they have to do — some are paid some are simply because everyone contributes in the family. They are very helpful kids. If we get snow, it’s often a race to see if they can get the neighbors’ walk and drive before them :)
I’m enjoying sitting in front of a nice warm fire in the fireplace, baking pumpkin pies, and actually enjoying the sun on my back when I go for a walk (instead of wishing it were cooler) :-)
Ooh, that sounds lovely. Especially the pie :) mmmm. Pie.
That thankful tree sounds very cute and doable for my grandkids! Thanks for the post on thankfulness.
Thanks for dropping by! The thankful tree is super fun and easy.
I must say that October is my favorite part of fall, with the colorful leaves and cooler temps. Right now we are in the 70’s for a couple days before it dips lower. Right now, hubby just blew the leaves off the roof and gutters again. We live in a heavily wooded area and will have to do it at least another time before winter sets in. Fall is probably my favorite season. The calm before gearing up for the holidays.
Love that gratitude tree idea!
I wish our leaves turned colors in October, they’re just now getting red and gold here. It’s so lovely.
Thanks!
We love to make apple cider, go through corn mazes, have a bonfire, and go on a hayride. We have done the Thanksgiving tree many times, sometimes with making different colored leaves, and sometimes with drawing the kids’ hands and making them different colors.
Ooh. I have never made apple cider but we drink a lot of it in the fall. Homemade sounds like fun!
Congratulations to the winners! And the thankful tree is such an awesome idea!
Thanks, Alexa! The kids always seem to enjoy it, which is nice (sometimes my celebration activities are met with rolling eyes :) )
Happy SONday Elizabeth! I don’t have to deal with fall leaves, thankfully. But I remember when we did, what hard work it is to rake them and get rid of them. I would have gladly paid someone else do it!
I’ve also seen on FB where people are posting the 30 days of gratitude. I think it’s a great idea though I’ve never participated in it myself. I think if we look, we can always find something to be thankful for :-)
So true, Trixi, if we’re looking there are blessings all around us!