It's a Christmastime Reading Challenge!

Did you have a happy Thanksgiving? My family and I certainly did. Good food, a movie marathon, a friend popped in… it was a grand ol’ time! Tell me about yours in the comments, if you like.

December is nearly upon us; can you believe it?! It’s so hard to imagine how quickly this year has flown by. Before the year is out, we’ve got one more reading challenge to go.

For this challenge, any book that has at least one Christmas scene works.

The reason I’ll leave this pretty wide open is because I can only read so many Christmas-themed books before I get burned out. I actually prefer books like Dear Mr. Knightley (by Katherine Reay) or A Season to Love (by Nicole Deese) that have one or two Christmas scenes but are otherwise not overtly holiday-oriented.

Yet, I have many friends on Goodreads who absolutely love Christmas books and read them throughout November and December. Nothing wrong with that approach. To each their own, and I’m happy for them. They may have the lion’s share of Christmas books this season.

For me, I’ll stick to small doses.

Please don’t misunderstand this.

Thanksgiving Disaster - a short story

In honor of Thanksgiving, here is a short story that was so much fun to pen. Happy Thanksgiving!

Copyright 2018 Andrea Renee Cox. All rights reserved.

Thanksgiving Disaster

a short story

by Andrea Renee Cox

Smoke billowed from the open oven and filled the matchbox, galley-style kitchen. With a growl, Sarah swept a cookie sheet swiftly through the air around the raging fire alarm. She’d already turned off the appliance, but she couldn’t find her broom to nudge the battery out of the alarm. If she didn’t get it shut up soon—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She jumped, dropping the cookie sheet with a clatter. Her poor attempt at a grand jeté didn’t produce anything close to the splits she’d seen the ballerina do in that ballet she’d seen last month, but it did get her over the pan and into the living room. When she flung open the door, she stumbled backward.

The Purpose of Shame - Guest Roseanna M. White (Part Two)

As I told you last week, a couple of articles by Roseanna M. White have touched my heart and inspired me to re-post them (with permission from the author) so that you, my dear readers, may also enjoy them. Here is part two:

The Purpose of Shame

by Roseanna M. White

I'm by no means the first person to tackle this subject, and no doubt others have done it better than me. But last week when I wrote about "Actions, Reactions, and Being Better," I had an anonymous comment accusing me of "woman shaming/blaming." Another of those phrases that has been tossed around and turned into a fad, but which I think is often misunderstood.

But you know what? Part of the goal to #BeBetter is to know what shame is and why sometimes we need it.

First, let's cover where shame is bad and where you will NOT find me doing it.

Actions, Reactions, and Being Better - Guest Roseanna M. White (Part One)

Not too long ago, I read a moving article by Roseanna M. White. This article and its follow-up were important to issues prevalent in today's society. I appreciated Mrs. White's perspective and wanted to share it with you, my dear readers, so I requested permission to re-post these two articles. Thankfully, Mrs. White granted permission. What follows is the first of the two articles. The second is yet to come here on Writing to Inspire, so please revisit the blog again next week.

Actions, Reactions, and Being Better

by Roseanna M. White

One of the reasons I love writing historicals is to show that the heart of humanity has never changed. No matter whether you're talking about ancient Egyptians or modern Americans or anything in between, there are a few things that we will always seek--our dreams, our goals, our pleasures, family, love, escape from the things we fear.

But we think we've changed. Evolved. Graduated out of certain things. I wonder though. I wonder if we have.