Bountiful, Beautiful November

Reflections from an author: writing, reading, and island life

“Marsh Hieroglyphics.” When Spartina grass looks like abstract art. Photo by Edisto Vito.

Glamorous November has arrived, festooned in her colorful wardrobe. Plumes of feathery rosy pink Muhly grass, flashes of orange as monarch butterflies migrate. Goldenrod and tall stalks of native sunflowers, helianthus augustifolius, glowing vibrant yellow in ditches and meadows. The scarlet and gold pinwheels of Indian Blanket decorating dunes. So lovely!

Gaillardia, also known as Indian Blanket, loves sun and sandy shorelines.

The Body Speaks: How Gestures & Expressions Reveal Character

Knitted brows, a tightened jaw, rigid posture. In fiction, gestures and body language work with remarkable economy to reveal character. Here are a few examples:

“He looked people in the eye not because he was interested in them but because he knew it made them feel he was interested in them.” —Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An arrogant and charismatic character nailed in one sentence!

“She put her arms around her daughter’s shoulders. Lulu received this embrace with the regal bearing that was her trademark.” A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Lulu’s mother is beholden and slightly intimidated by her adolescent daughter, whose popularity and confidence both delights and intimidates her. Lulu “receives" her mother’s hug, as if bestowing this queenly favor to a commoner.

“Vernell was Norwood’s sister. She was a heavy, sleepy girl with bad posture. She was old enough to look after herself and quite large enough, but in many ways she was a great big baby.” Norwood by Charles Portis

From the opening paragraph of this comic novel, we learn Norwood resents having to get a hardship discharge from the Marines after his father dies in order to persuade his 20-something sister ( “a great big baby”) to look after herself and get a job. He sees her as lazy, passive, and spoiled. (Heavy, sleepy, bad posture). But the joke is on Norwood: after he pesters his sister to work as a waitress, she takes to the job, she stops crying, her health and posture improves, she flirts with customers, and makes more money than Norwood.

“Now Robin Abbott was smiling, sort of, agreeable without admitting anything: calm, brown eyes gazing through the tinted glasses set against a pale fox face, her brown hair sleeked back into a single braid she would sometimes finger and stroke, a rope of hair, holding it against her breast in the cotton sweater.” Freaky Friday by Elmore Leonard

A flirtation, and oh my, how the sexual chemistry crackles with Robin’s erotic gesture: she fingers and strokes her braid, and holds it against her breast.

The Buzz on Buzzards (and Why They’re Not Technically Buzzards)

I recently observed a wake of vultures surrounding a deer carcass in their patient, dignified fashion. They were polite and took turns feeding at the carrion cafe, in an “after you, I insist,” kind of way. With their hunched posture, black plumage, bald heads and ceremonial air they resembled somber undertakers performing the last rites for the deceased, returning the carrion to the earth.

A wake of black vultures at a local churchyard cemetery. Cool, huh?

Vultures are often referred to as buzzards, especially in the South, but this is technically a misnomer. (True buzzards are actually hawks.) The more you learn about these ecologically important, federally-protected birds, the more you will respect them. Vultures can’t actually make vocal sounds like other birds; they only hiss and grunt. But turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell - unusual among birds - and can detect the gas produced by decay from over a mile away.

Their stomach acid is incredibly powerful so they can safely digest bacteria that would kill other animals. Hence, their role in quickly consuming carrion, which prevents the spread of numerous diseases, such as rabies, anthrax, botulism, and cholera.

Cherokee tradition holds the turkey vulture as a symbol of renewal and purification, a necessary part of the cycle of life and death.

They pee on themselves…on purpose! The uric acid helps kill bacteria from walking through carcasses. Vultures are monogamous and share parenting duties equally, with both parents regurgitating food for their young.

If I were reincarnated, I’d want to come back as a buzzard. Nothing hates him, or envies him, or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything.— William Faulkner

Recommended Reads

Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian When two married creative writing professors at an elite university both stray toward infidelity—he with a department assistant, she with her graduate advisee—their seemingly perfect marriage unravels. Or does it? The story takes a clever meta turn as the graduate student, Robbie, fictionalizes her mentor’s marriage in her MFA thesis, creating a novel-within-a-novel. A clever, spare page-turner.

Audition by Katie Kitamura An accomplished stage actress meets a troubling young man for lunch in Manhattan—someone who may or may not be her son—in this psychological puzzle of a novel that unfolds through two competing narratives. I admired Kitamura’s precise prose and serpentine sentences, and how masterfully she conveys the interior life of the protagonist.

The Bookclub for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick Set in 1963 suburban Virginia, four housewives form a book club that begins with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and evolves into a catalyst for personal revolution. Through their reading and deepening friendship, these self-nicknamed “Bettys” discover their shared longing for independence and purpose beyond marriage and motherhood. If your bookclub reads this, I’d suggest a companion read of The Feminine Mystique, credited with sparking second-wave feminism.

📺🍿What to Watch: Recommended TV Shows📺🍿

• Murdaugh: Death in the Family. Hulu. I'm fascinated with this eight-episode true crime drama miniseries, and not just because the murders happened up the road from where I live. Patricia Arquette and Jason Clarke are superb as Maggie and Alex Murdaugh, who enjoy a lavish life of privilege as members of one of South Carolina’s most powerful legal dynasties. The series traces how the family’s connections to multiple mysterious deaths and financial crimes ultimately led to Alex’s conviction for murdering his wife and son. The hero in this sordid tale is journalist Mandy Matney, who doggedly uncovers Alex’s corruption, cruel chicanery, and drug-fueled desperation.

• Task. HBO. From the creator of “Mare of Easttown,” this seven-episode crime drama stars Mark Ruffalo as a former priest turned FBI agent who leads a task force investigating violent robberies of drug stash houses in working-class Philadelphia suburbs. The stellar acting is impressive in this well-written series.

• Black Rabbit. Netflix. When Jake Friedken (Jude Law), the successful owner of New York City’s hottest restaurant and VIP lounge, allows his chaotic older brother Vince (Jason Bateman) back into his life, he opens the door to loan sharks and criminal underworld dangers that threaten to destroy everything he’s built. This eight-episode series, though uneven, features some great Manhattan scenery. And Jason Bateman is terrific, playing a role so different from his usual buttoned-up characters.

• The fifth season of Slow Horses on Apple TV is fantastic as usual. The Diplomat’s third season on Netflix hits its stride. Season 2 of, Platonic, on Apple TV, starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne brings welcome comic relief.

Need a lift?

Reginald Dwayne Betts was locked up as a teenager for carjacking. While in solitary confinement, a smuggled book changed his life. Books became his escape, and he went on to be a poet, lawyer, and founder of Freedom Reads. This article from the Washington Post (gift link) is inspiring, and will lift your spirits:

“Betts said that for people in prison, books offer more than comfort or distraction. They offer possibilities, allowing people to imagine new lives for themselves. Betts also said that reading cultivates empathy by letting people put themselves in someone else’s shoes.”

“Whether I was reading Walter Mosley, or when I finally got into fantasy novels, or when I read Sophie’s Choice,” Betts said, “books gave me a pathway into the world.”

Prisons are the largest censors in the United States. They ban tens of thousands of titles, more than public schools and libraries combined. Reginald Betts has built 500 prison libraries so far.

Food for Thought

This is the month for cranberries, so I’m sharing one of my favorite recipes!

This cranberry sauce is tasty, super easy to make, and looks impressive.

Red Wine Cranberry Sauce

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup dry red wine. If you prefer alcohol-free: Substitute pomegranate juice for the red wine and increase the sugar to 3/4 cup.

1/2 cinnamon stick. Or sprinkle in cinnamon if you don’t have a stick.

One (12-ounce) package fresh cranberries (about 3 cups). Or use frozen.

2 long strips orange zest

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, wine and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the wine has reduced slightly, about 4 minutes. Add the cranberries and the zest. Simmer until the cranberries soften and the sauce thickens, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; remove the cinnamon and the zest. Set aside to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Garnish with strips of orange peel. You can make it ahead and refrigerate up to two weeks. Adapted from A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider (Artisan, 2001).

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for spending your time with me! Whether you’re a longtime subscriber or newly discovering Creative Currents, I’m grateful you’re here. Until next time, y’all stay curious!

About Mindy

Mindy Friddle is the author of The Garden Angel (St. Martin's Press), a SIBA bestseller, and Barnes and Noble's Discover Great New Writers program selection. Her second novel, Secret Keepers (St. Martin's Press), won the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction. Regal House published her third novel, Her Best Self, in 2024.

Her short stories have appeared in LitMag, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Southern Humanities Review, Hard to Find: An Anthology of New Southern Gothic, storySouth, and other journals. Recent essays have been published by Writer’s Digest and Necessary Fiction. Mindy earned her MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson. She has worked as a columnist and book reviewer. She lives on gorgeous Edisto Island in South Carolina.

Words of Wisdom:

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world. But then you read.” —James Baldwin