Celebrations and #giveaway

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News Flash: Janet Anderson-Murch won the author apron! Congratulations, Janet, and please check your email.

Edith/Maddie writing from a frigid – but not snowy – north of Boston.

I am a firm believer in celebrating blessings, victories, and milestones big and small, mine and those of others. Barb has done a great job of bringing us together about our gratitudes this month for Wicked Wednesday posts. Let’s also celebrate what we’re grateful for! Read down for a special giveaway, too.

So what am I celebrating today, three weeks into November, when it’s ever colder and darker here in New England?

A – Staying healthy after a weekend of hugging and eating and drinking with author pals and fans at the New England Crime Bake. It’s a major victory to celebrate, especially when the weekend was capped off by lunch with four of the Wickeds (and missing Sherry terribly)!

B – Toasting Susan Oleksiw and Leslie Wheeler for each receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at Crime Bake. Leslie has a long history of editing great short stories, writing her own books, and heading up the Al Blanchard Award. Susan has several series under her belt, is also a long-time short story editor, and has been a mentor to many writers, me in particular.

I was delighted to write a paragraph of celebratory tribute that was read while Susan received her award.

C – This time next week I’ll be celebrating turning in Murder Uncorked, my first Cece Barton mystery. Right now I’m nearly done polishing the manuscript, and I’m feeling much better about it than I was a couple of weeks ago. And while this isn’t an official cover reveal and the book, out next October, isn’t even up for preorder yet, to celebrate I’m giving you all a sneak peek at the cool new cover.

It shows the wine bar patio, the adobe buildings, and Cece’s vintage sixty-six Mustang. What do you think?

D – And then there are birthdays to celebrate. Yes, it is my birthday month, and last night four dear friends threw me a belated party. We had food, wine, cake, and most important, we celebrated decades of sharing with and supporting each other through joys and sadness and everyday life.

I try also to celebrate a pretty leaf I see on the ground, an arthritis salve a friend made and sent, the taste of my dark roast coffee, and the joy of seeing the favorite young people in my life, plus so much more.

What might you celebrate this month? I hope you at least have a bite of delicious food to celebrate on Thanksgiving! I’ll send one commenter a celebratory author apron.

Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

83 Thoughts

  1. I’ll be celebrating spending a week with my grandson the week after Thanksgiving.

    2. I made a delicious chicken stew with dumplings for a belated celebration of my friend’s birthday yesterday. Happy tummies and big hugs.

  2. Happiest of birthdays to you! My husband and I will celebrate Thanksgiving with a small dinner at home. My kids live out of state, but I will be seeing them next month, another reason to celebrate! This time of year when days are short and nights so cold, I celebrate a nice warm fireplace, a good book,, and hot tea!

  3. November is the month when I gave birth to my only child 44 years ago which still seems just like yesterday. It’s also the month of my sister’s birthday, she is my best friend. My grandmother was also born in November and though she has been gone for many years I still think of her on her birthday. I think of all the many Thanksgivings spent in MA with my family and all the yummy food my parents fixed with such love.

  4. Hope you have a great birthday month Edith!

    I don’t know that I’m celebrating anything in particular myself.

    But I do love that cover for MURDER UNCORKED!

  5. Happy BD, Edith! I’m celebrating 41 years of marital bliss this month.

  7. Happy Birthday month!! Mine was October. I will enjoy the day with my “family by choice”. I will do a bit of extra work this week so my co-worker can enjoy time with her family in FL who recently moved from NY. They needed to be together.

  10. First, happy birthday! This week we will celebrate Thanksgiving, my husband’s birthday, and my birthday. Then, two weeks before Christmas, we will celebrate our only son’s wedding to a wonderful young woman!

  11. Having lived so many years where instead of snow we got ice and then more ice, I’m celebrating the three snows we have gotten so far this year. The old wife’s tale is the day of the month you see the first snow is how many snows you will get means we might be in for 8 more snows.

    Celebrating with great thanks the many prayers and the many specialist I see hitting the right combination of procedures and medicines to give me some much needed relief from pain. Although not gone, after what I’ve lived with for many years, it’s definitely something I can live with. Praying it’s not a temporary fix, but more long term.

    Celebrating the migration of the American Eagle with a trip to see them at a refuge where by the time we get there after Thanksgiving will be in the hundreds if not over a thousand along with several hundred thousands of snow geese.

    Although Thanksgiving is a reminder, I try to celebrate each and every blessing every day. That includes the wonderful authors who give me such enjoyment through the books they write and I’m fortunate enough to get to read. So for that I say THANK YOU!

    Love the cover on “Murder Uncorked”! I’m sure it will be just as fabulous as all your books. Love them all!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    1. Blessings on your pain relief, Kay. That is huge.

      We have eagles who migrate south to here in northeastern MA and fish on our beautiful Merrimack River.

  15. I am thankful for the dirty dishes in the sink, the laundry waiting to be folded, the books on my side table, the dog hair on my floors, my friends, new and old, whom I spent time with, the bedrooms and bathrooms I have cleaned for my sister’s family who are coming to stay this Thanksgiving. All of these things means I have lived another year. Due to the scientists who worked so hard to develop the COVID vaccine. To those involved, thank you.

  16. First of all, I am grateful for knowing you and being able to wish you a Happy Birthday. The Wickeds have become a welcome part of my life.

    I am extremely grateful (beyond words) that my husband survived a very serious medical crisis and should be coming home tomorrow. Talk about a Thanksgiving to remember!

    I am grateful that our daughter has moved nearby (from across the country) so she could be with her dad when it was so important and for all she did to help me out.

    I am grateful for my dear sister-in-law and brother-in-law who have been here to help however they could. They are all the family I have.

    I am grateful for the life I live and how very fortunate I am to be surrounded by so much love. I am truly blessed.

  18. No way! You’re not 70.. I’m excited to read a new series.. yes celebrate !! Enjoy life and great memories

  19. My grandchildren for certain. Also, the fact that at 72 my health allows me to do pretty much what I want to as long as no strenuous activity is involved. Then, I’m not sure if it’s arthritis or I’ve just gotten lazy. 😉

  21. I am grateful for knowing who the Wickeds are! I look forward to the launching of Murder Uncorked and meeting Cece Barton.

  22. Celebrating Thanksgiving with my son and his family. Thanks for your great generosity. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

  23. Happy birthday, Edith! It’s fantastic you have so much to celebrate this month. I just self-published a short story on Amazon, so I’m celebrating my first foray into self-publishing! Cheers!

  24. Two healthy new babies born to nieces, and one more on the way. Life goes on, beautifully!
    Also, as a wise elder told me, any day I see the grass from THIS side is a good day. <3

  26. I will be celebrating Thanksgiving at my sister’s, very special because she was diagnosed with cancer & is undergoing chemo but still feeling well enough to cook, bake & host. The following week I’ll be off to see my son, dil & 3 year old grandson, so lots to be grateful for!

  28. My husband and I are celebrating Thanksgiving together… just the two of us. We will share the cooking and clean up. I’m thankful for the energy and ability to prepare the meal. I have pretty severe rheumatoid arthritis, so I celebrate opening a jar, baking a pie, etc. happy 70th birthday. I love your books!

  29. I’m thankful I get to spend time with weekend with my family. Always great to see them for the holidays.

    Love that new cover the way it is. Have wait to see the finished version since it can only get better.

    (No need to enter me in the giveaway.)

  30. Happy 70th birthday! I will be celebrating Thanksgiving and having the kids home for fall break at the same time.

  31. Happy Birthday. Looking forward to your new series .Great cover. I have reached 6yrs of being cancer free .So much to be thankful for

  32. Happy Birthday month and Happy Thanksgiving! Looking forward to your new series. I’m grateful to celebrating Thanksgiving with my Sister and friends in Michigan.

  33. We are celebrating Thanksgiving. I am also celebrating that I have been approved for an electric wheelchair. I am celebrating my amazing husband who has become my full time caregiver. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  34. We will be celebrating with my husbands family and my son and his new wife (married 10/29). Definitely looking forward to good food and fellowship with family

  35. Happy Birthday to you! Thank you for the reminder to be great full for the little things.

  36. Happy Birthday and many more. We do celebrate Thanksgiving but with ham instead. Mainly stay home but once in a while we take in a movie. We are just happy to be around still.

  38. Happy Birthday month! 🎂🎉🎈
    Love the cover for the new series. We’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday and Friday since some folks can be at mom’s on one day but not the other.
    Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

  39. November is a great month! My grandfather’s birthday was 11/4, mine is 11/17, my beastie’s is 11/24, and my dad just missed it–his birthday was 12/1! Happy Thanksgiving to all the fantastic cozy authors!

  40. Wasn’t Crime Bake wonderful? This has been a month of gratitude–grateful for my sister Kristen, who celebrated a birthday on Nov 1; grateful to take my arts admin students to NYC for a weekend of learning and inspiration; grateful for an amazing group of students in my Guppies class; grateful that I’ll see two of my nieces this weekend and will celebrate Thanksgiving in several stages with different people. Like you, it’s my favorite holiday.

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