We hoped you enjoyed both our September issue about banned books that included our special tribute to Jay Speyerer and the encore edition of our first issue about bosses.

Welcome to the October edition of This Awful-Awesome Life. We’ll be talking a look at Halloween and all things fall, especially those delicious apples. Did you know October is officially apple month? October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2008, so this month holds special significance for me. We’ll take a quick look at the lives of the breast cancer survivors from my 2011 book, Dancing in the Rain. Where are they now, and what have they learned?

Linda Cahill is back with some great tips and recipes for you.

Terry Kish has a review of a local restaurant and a funny thing happened on the way to her brewery review – spoiler alert – she never got there, but managed to come up with a story everyone should read.

Terry, Linda and I are excited to announce our writing family is growing. Orlando Bartro has agreed to become a regular contributor to This Awful-Awesome Life. He’s an amazing talent and he always finds a new way to look at any topic.

Author Wayne Wise has joined us as a guest contributor – something we hope will become permanent. I’m a big fan of his books and his blog, Notes from the Playground at http://www.wayne-wise.com/.

Best-selling author Alice Wheaton is also joining us all the way from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I’m so pleased to bring you the first article of her four part series on forgiveness which is so important this time of year.

In this issue, we’ll take a look at the autumn harvest and a few of the fruits and vegetable you should try at the peak of their freshness.

We’re also talking about black cats and all things Halloween. How much do you know about the 1987 horror classic, Halloween? Find out by taking our quiz.

Do you work from home or do you live where you work? I thought I knew the answer until I gave it some thought.

Next month, Corey Flynn will be joining us as a regular contributor to discuss how to be a good steward to the only planet we have, nutrition, and an active lifestyle. Whoa! That’s a lot of knowledge to share, and Corey will entertain and enlighten you –I promise.

I want to thank these talented writers and dedicated experts in their fields who contribute articles and brainstorm ways to help us make the most of this awful-awesome life.

Please check out the information about the upcoming fundraiser for Maddy Johnson, a Peters Township High School student who is recovering from a serious car accident, in our Events section.

As always, we have some amazing free use photos from Pexels.com and Pixaby.

Enjoy and please share This Awful-Awesome Life with your friends.

All my best,

Fran Joyce