Autumn is my favorite season of the year. Chilly mornings bring out the nesting instinct in me. I just want to bury myself in a warm fuzzy blanket with a good book and a hot cup of coffee. As I watch the leaves turn all different shades of yellow, orange and red on the Maple tree out behind my house I have to fight the urge to crank up the old wood stove in the basement. 

Another great thing about autumn is it brings all kinds of festivals to the area. There’s the Pumpkin Festival, Sweet Potato Festival, Apple Festival, Wooly Worm Festival and, The Autumn Leaves Festival. These are just a few that come to mind. While attending the Pumpkin Festival in my hometown of Elkin, North Carolina this past Saturday I was amazed at the number of people who are still interested in my first published novel, “Guardian Spirit.” Even after being available for two years it’s still selling quite well.

I was thrilled to have a draft of the cover of my next novel, “The Color of My Heart” to display. I’ll be sharing it with you when it’s finalized. But the best part of the day was meeting new people and visiting with old friends. In a crowd of several thousand you find all kinds of folks. Some rush to your booth because they want to meet a real live author. Others try to avoid you because they hate to read and could care less about you or your writing.

It takes all sorts of people to make up this world. How boring if we all looked the same and thought the same thoughts. When I was young I wanted to be a country music singer. I dreamed of standing on stage at The Grand Ole Opry. There was, and still is one huge problem. I can’t remember the words to songs or carry a tune!

Each of us has been given a talent, some to teach, others to draw or paint beautiful landscapes and portraits. And there are those who can actually sing and play instruments. Then there are those like me who try to make up stories and put them down on paper.

Like the different seasons we are all unique and different. While I enjoy the slowing down of life that autumn brings, you may look forward to the hustle and bustle of summer, or the snowy days of winter or maybe the newness of spring.

People ask me all the time how I come up with different stories. It’s easy. All I have to do is look around. Watch nature, the sun as it sets and rises, animals, and the different phases of the moon while it spins around the earth. Stories are everywhere.

A writer is an observer of all things, especially people and their habits. Every human being is a one-of-a-kind piece of art designed by our Maker. There is a story, song, or picture in every one of us. God has given each of His children a special gift. It is our choice to use it or let it sit on a shelf collecting dust.

Romans 12: 6-8

6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

7) Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;

8) Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.