Autumn's Going Strong--and GIVEAWAY!

Do you love the fall? What's your favorite season?

We've lived in Ohio for 19 years. For most of those years I've looked forward to September since it was always my favorite month, weather-wise. 

I now realize that October in Ohio equals September on Long Island. (It only took me a decade and a half to get it!) But now I know. My favorite month, weather-wise, is  OCTOBER. 

How about you?  Leave a comment telling me your favorite season or month and why, and I'll enter you in a drawing for a free DVD, "Becoming Jane." (Christmas season doesn't count--we're talking weather-wise--unless that season's weather is your favorite.) For a bonus entry, send a friend to the blog! When she/he mentions you, you'll get another entry. 

DRAWING ENDS NOVEMBER 9

"Becoming Jane" stars Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy, and I found it delightful. I don't necessarily like it when filmmakers play with Jane Austen's life, but this flick works. It's both intelligent and joyful. 

Unlike "Miss Austen Regrets"--another film supposedly about Jane's life--this script did well at capturing Jane's sense of fun as well as her sharp wit. "Miss Austen Regrets" missed the mark, showing Jane as a bitter spinster, when in fact, her letters and even her books do not convey a sense of personal bitterness. 

Admittedly, there are letters we've never seen, as Jane's sister destroyed many of them. But Jane was writing until only a few months before her death, and I just don't get a sense of bitterness in what she left us. 

This is a great DVD to have in one's collection of period flicks!  

  But first, enjoy another Autumn poem.

 Bits and Pieces

By Joan Leotta

Cool, crisp air and its brilliant

fire hues

are hard to find where

heat simmers until well

into December.

Here, long still-hot

days of October and November

allow early darkness to eat

out the green,

leaving mottled brown

arrayed on branches until

storms wash them

down onto my lawn.

Yet, now and again,

bits and pieces of

autumn glory appear—

a vine, a baby tree hiding

in my palmetto grass,

burst into red

or bright yellow,

defying heat,

                                                                    proclaiming, 

“Fall is here.”

Joan Leotta is an award-winning writer and spoken word performer who lives on the North Carolina coast. Her chapbook, Languid Lusciousness with Lemon is available on Amazon. Please check out her blog, What Editors Want You to Know at www,JoanLeotta.wordpress.com

"Bits and Pieces" originally published in RPG Digest; used by courtesy of E.B.(Gene) Alston, and the author. 

Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the drawing! 

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SAVE 50% OFF THE PRICE OF INDIVIDUAL BOOKS

Please note: Due to mailing costs, giveaway is for US residents only, sorry. International commenters can win an ebook, choosing from any of my books.  

Devo Monday--Words Are Wonderful Things

I saw the following little poem in my email one day and saved it. I don't remember who sent it to me.  (Thank you, whoever you are!) I'm big on saving things; snippets of poems, quotations, web links, book titles, and so on. Now and then--miracles never cease--I even go back and look at what I've saved.

I'm glad I found this, again. 

It's a reminder we all tend to need from time to time, and written in sweet old-fashioned language. I found the full text of a book this poem appeared in, Morning Exercises For All the Year, (A Book for Teachers) from the Cornell University Archive Library on-line. It was sobering to see what was included in this book for public school teachers, which is so often absent, now: Morality! Biblical principles! Goodness and Righteousness! 

With election day looming before us, it reminds me how far our country has fallen. (Anyone else wish for the days when prayer was allowed in school? When teachers could openly share their Christian principles?)

Well--back to the poem I want to share:

Words Are Wonderful Things

Keep a watch on your words, my darling,  

For words are wonderful things;

They are sweet like the bee's fresh honey,
Like the bees they have terrible stings;

They can bless like the warm, glad sunshine,
And brighten a lonely life;

They can cut, in the strife of anger,
Like an open, two-edged knife.

Mrs. E. R. Miller

  Scripture reinforces the idea of the poem:

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

(Proverbs 12:18)

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

(Proverbs 10:19) 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

(Ephesians 4:9)

Did you find this little reminder useful? May we all keep our talk wholesome and helpful! 

Warmest Blessings,

Linore

PS: CONTEST STILL GOING ON for a prize of 5 Books! See the details here. Entering is EASY!

Time For A Good Book. Enter my contest and you could win five of them!