Novem is Latin for nine. Before Rome’s King Pompilius created January and February, November was the ninth month. The Leonid meteor shower peaks in November, and chrysanthemums bloom despite the cold. Sometimes we treat November like just a lead-up to December, but it’s full of signs and wonders: colored petals in the snow, flashes of light in the night, and the reorganization of time itself. Enjoy November.

Most of us thrill to the story of the Phantom of the Opera. But Colleen Gleason, who is writing a book using the character, actually went to Paris and toured the real-life Opera Garnier, in all its gilded, red-velvet splendor. Enjoy the pictures and learn what accident really happened with the infamous chandelier.

Valerie Parv is Australia’s queen of romance writing. Sydney’s major library has been collecting her personal papers since 1994, and the media turn to her when they need information on romance publishing. This is because she has sold 20 million books in 24 languages. That alone would make her a SuperHeroine in our eyes, but she also owns a coffee shop, volunteers at the Canberra Zoo, and is pursuing an advanced degree. Noodler Pam Payne tells about the amazing Valerie.

As the weather cools, meals change from grabbing a salad between the soccer game and filling the swamp cooler, to actual cooked things. The Noodlers give you six comfort-food recipes to make things easy until Thanksgiving. Chicken and Dumplings, Cube Steak, Pot Roast with Roasted Vegetables, Bread-Maker Raisin Bread, Dressed-Up Mac and Cheese, and the most decadent microwaved potato you will ever eat.

With the time you save making our easy recipes, you can whip up some of Maureen Hardegree’s Thanksgiving napkin rings. In just eight simple steps, Maureen shows you how to dress up your table with wired ribbon and embroidered fall leaves, eliminating all need for hand turkeys.

Terrible things happen to good people, and if you’re one of those people, you have some post-traumatic stress to work through. Dr. Debra advises a family who was forced off the road and attacked. The immediate hurt is over, but emotional healing takes time, and is helped by both mental and physical therapy.

Looking for an exercise that lessens stress and strengthens your heart? Something low-impact that tones muscles? Anne Mallory recommends swimming, and gives you the pros and cons to decide if this is the exercise for you, along with aquatic alternatives to plain old laps. Water yoga, anyone?

Awwww… Look at your new puppy! Look at the little puddle on the floor, and the little teeth marks on your hand, and the little chewed wad that used to be a leather purse. Would you look at that?! Luckily for you, Stephanie Rowe has ten wonderful tips for training your dog not to take food off counters and scramble over safety gates, along with other horrible things you never dreamed Pookums would do. Stephanie knows dogs.

Discussions among writers can grow heated when people ask a simple question: Do you plot your story out or write by the seat of your pants? In the process of giving a workshop with two other well-known authors, Dianna Love Snell discovered that plotters and pantsers are not two sides of a coin, but part of a continuous spectrum. Where do you fall?

Noodler Jenna Ness isn’t sure how many books she’s written — is it eight, or nine? If you’re still struggling to find your process, you might want to read about hers, which is very streamlined. Jenna became a mother in 2005, but she still finds 90 minutes a day to write, and has landed the agent of her dreams.

Parlez-vous français? Sprechen sie Deutsch? The Noodlers’ Faves this month are three languages we wish we spoke in addition to the pause-filled, incoherent English we stammer when we’re talking to our kids and typing at the same time. Habla toddler?

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