fall planning, what’s in my basket, and some fiction I’m excited about
These posts have quickly become my favorite to think about and write!
Having specific intentions set for my reading life each month has helped me stay more focused and engaged in my personal learning. Also the gentle accountability of sharing my list here with you keeps my overachiever ambitions in check.
Motivated by my learning, I have written related posts and I spent October building a 5-session class full of tips and actionable steps to help you design your personal curriculum. Can’t wait to share it!! 🌟
Hearing how you’re creating your own learning journeys and feeling energized again has been such a highlight for me. It’s wonderful to see your growth and excitement, and I feel grateful to be part of it.
Let’s jump into my personal planning for this month!!
[note: this post is NOT sponsored, I just want to share what I’m using and how].
Things I want to do just for my well-being and enjoyment:
- Try out some new cookie recipes – The weather is finally cooling off and I love having the windows open and the oven on while delicious smells fill the kitchen. 🍪
- This is also the perfect time of year in the Arizona desert to go hiking and exploring nature trails in our area. 🏜️{ I often overthink going out on a trail but then feel thrilled to be out there when I do it. So I’m putting it here so I will actually put some hiking afternoons on the calendar. 😜}
- Each room of the house contains fall-scented candles on a table or countertop. I often take a moment to light one if I plan to hang out in that space for a while. (Like having a mulled cider candle lit on the kitchen counter in the mornings while I journal and have my breakfast.) I adhere to the ground rule by Myquillyn Smith of “no dusty candles” and use fall scents to make the house feel warm and inviting. 🍂🕯️
- SOUP!! 🍲 Words cannot express how much I enjoy making soup in the fall. I savor browsing through soup cookbooks for ideas, buying ingredients at the local veggie market, chopping and prepping said veggies to add to my simmering pot, making homemade bread to go with it, and serving it to my family and guests.
- Check out this post by Meagan Francis: You don’t need a recipe to make soup
- and this super helpful podcast by Kendra Adachi: #54: The Lazy Genius Makes Soup
- Enjoying coffee shops and the library. I have discovered that having a few very low-key outings sprinkled in my month motivates me to make progress in my writing life and personal curriculum. When my household is too distracting or I just need a change of scenery these locations help me lock in and get the work done. 🍵
- Writing & publishing discussion 📖 – I would like to do something like this previous post: Cover Design Secretsand share with readers the messy behind-the-scenes of my writing process. I’m not sure what that will look like but I would love to know if you are interested. Loading…
It would mean so much if you shared this post!
So, what’s in my basket this November?
Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown— reading this book (and listening to the podcast), journaling things that come up, and also Commonplacing all my notes has been a highlight of my personal curriculum learning this fall.
It feels like really productive and helpful therapy, insight into human nature in a non-self-help way, and the comforting support of a knowledgeable friend. It’s funny to me that this book sat on my shelf and now is just the right time to encounter these ideas and process my learning. I’m glad that I can savor it and enjoy the many layers of her work.
{I don’t even mind mentioning it several times because it’s just that GOOD! 😉}
Strong Ground also by Brené Brown – her new book that just came out and looks like it just belongs in my basket! (description: This is a collection of actionable and tactical insights that make explicit the mindsets and skill sets we need to reclaim our focus and power growth while leading from a place of connection, discipline, and accountability.)
I’m not sure how much time I will have to commonplace this one but I will definitely be underlining and annotating notes in the margins.
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The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt — The subtitle of this book is: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. This book came highly recommended by several friends and fellow teachers. Just a few chapters in I am finding compelling information that will inform my parenting. I’m sure I will have more to say in my reading recap.
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My new reading log books & planner – this is my most recent Book-ish Reward purchase and I am excited to start using it! I got a hardcover reading planner from The.Book.Sisters. I picked the dark academia one and I can’t wait to set aside some time to write in all the pages and begin making all the lists!! 🤩📓
{Just thumbing through it has already led to some book-ish inspiration and personal curriculum post ideas. Yay!! }
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Journaling — I plan to continue my journaling habit and my Weekly Review in my Bullet Journal.
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin— this will be a re-read and used for journaling inspiration. It is written in such a way that you can pick it up, read a few pages, and then ponder and journal. The design of this book is so well done.
Write for Your Life by Anna Quindlen 🎧— a quick audiobook to read while doing household chores. Quindlen makes the case that recording our daily lives in writing is essential.
”When we write we not only look, we see; we not only react, but reflect. Writing gives you something to hold onto in a changing world. To write the present is to believe in the future.”
The Power of Writing It Down by Allison Fallon 🎧— another audiobook to reinforce my journaling habits. I will probably be tempted to read several of her other books if I enjoy this one; we will see…
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Everyday Sourdough by Lisa Bass from Farmhouse on Boone — I have followed her YouTube channel and recipes for over 10 years. She is my go-to expert on family cooking from scratch, and watching her videos taught me to relax in the kitchen and enjoy the process of making wholesome food for my family. I am excited to revive my neglected sourdough starter and do some baking.
Cookbooks from the library — My Fall Dinner Queue is hearty meals: soups, stews, roasts in the crockpot, and casseroles in the oven. I also enjoy taking on projects like: homemade applesauce, cranberry-pear sauce, and homemade preserves from fresh fruit. I love the smells of something simmering all afternoon in the crockpot. I usually get a stack of cookbooks to browse through for inspiration and ingredient ideas.
Seasons at the Farm by Shaye Elliott — Shaye’s beautiful photography and down-to-earth writing is so fun to return to in different seasons.
Okay, don’t laugh, but *in my mind* I have a 15-acre homestead in a rural town somewhere in the northwest (probably Oregon?) and this book helps me visit that place mentally (without all the mud, hay, and mess… obviously!)🐄🐐
Fiction that I am excited about:
I’ve been learning more about themes and tropes and so I included the ones for my November fiction choices here for you. It’s been fun to figure out what kinds of books I enjoy reading and what tropes draw me in.
I would love to hear from you what your favorite tropes/themes are!
Fiction that I am excited about:
- Better Than the Movies and Nothing Like The Movies by Lynn Painter— my teen daughter read these and has insisted that I add them to my TBR. She has promised me “no spoilers” discussions until I finish both of them. The other day she came downstairs and said “I neeeeed you to get to the second book because I want to talk about it!!” Okay, sheesh… working on it! 😜
- Themes & Tropes:
- 🎬 Enemies-to-Lovers (or Rivals-to-Romance)
- 🎬 The Boy Next Door
- 🎬 Friend Group Support
- 🎬 Writer/Creative Main Character
- 🎬 Rom-Com Obsession – Liz is trying to create her own “perfect movie moment.”
- Drawn Together by Juliana Smith – This is a fun rom-com type book that just came out in September. description: heartwarming, character-driven, slow-burn romcom set in fall NYC. I am looking forward to it!
🍂 You’ve Got Mail inspired (with a twist)
🍂 Enemies over email / friends in real life
🍂 Very quiet MMC x talkative FMC
🍂 Found family
🍂 two person book club (he annotates his books for her)
- Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery 🎧—I have started listening to this book inspired by this post: The 10 Best Houses in L.M. Montgomery Novels. I haven’t gotten to the Prince Edward Island part yet, but I can’t wait. It just feels perfectly fall to me.
- 🏡 Idyllic Small Town / Found Home
- 🏡 Misunderstood Parent
- 🏡 Sheltered Protagonist Experiencing Freedom
- 🏡Coming of Age / Self-Discovery
- 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff — This month I’ll be reading this charming collection of letters between a New York writer and a London bookseller. It’s a cozy, bookish story that feels perfect for autumn and was selected by Leah Boden for her online book club (now called The Mind Gallery).
- ✉️ The Bookshop as a Sanctuary
- ✉️ Postwar England vs. American Optimism
- ✉️ Time Passing / Change and Loss
- ✉️ Unspoken Affection / Emotional Restraint
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Okay, Okay… I can feel a bit of judgment aimed my way…
You may be rolling your eyes after reading all the stuff in my basket and all my fall-season-inspired-ambitious-plans… but, hear me out.
These are flexible plans!
I do plan to simply dabble in a few of these resources and I am only planning to write my Commonplace notes on Atlas of the Heart.
And yes, it is November, so I will be hosting a Thanksgiving celebration, my college kids will be home for a long weekend, and I am still in the midst of some major writing projects… so I am holding these plans loosely.
If there is anything I don’t get to this month, I can roll it into my December planning or put it on the shelf for another time.
That is one of the beautiful things of a personal curriculum:
I get to decide what to spend time on.
{Also being an overachiever / recovering perfectionist means that I still like to make ambitious plans but I have more self-compassion if I don’t get it all done. 😉}
So, how about you??
Leave a comment
I’d love to hear what’s working for you in this fall season!
Please share your tips and ideas in the comments.
And I hope that your month is full of lovely moments of reading and new ideas.
📒🍂 Happy November Learning! –
📝Save these helpful posts for later =
