Next Month in This Awful Awesome Life - December 2026 by Fran Joyce

Thanks for reading the November 2026 issue of This Awful Awesome Life. I hope you try the recipe for Buckwheat Chia Bread in our “Twelve Months of Grain.”

Previous issues of This Awful Awesome Life are available to read on our website. Go to www.thisawfulawesomelife.com and start scrolling or you can enter specific search criteria.

If you voted in the U.S. mid-term elections, THANK YOU! Keep voting in every election and hold our elected representatives accountable. We must be the change we want to see and the way back to government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

December is our end of the year round-up. We’ll have articles about the holidays, smart and thoughtful gift-giving, and the year in review. Plus, where do we go from here?

Orlando Bartro, Tony Valerino, Sheila Kirk, Scarlet Carter, and I will be back with more interesting poems, stories, and articles for you.

Our featured birthday will be American writer and journalist, Joan Didion. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, a style of news writing and journalism developed in the 1960s and 70s using literary techniques that allow journalists to immerse themselves in the stories.

Author Lexi Miles will be our featured author. You’ll love her Q&A, and I’ll be reviewing her book, Custom Fit.

We’re moving some of our regular features around to shake things up a bit and keep you on your toes. I’m also hoping to expand our Artist Page to feature more talented creatives. Some people manage to elevate their work to the level of an artform, and we want to support their efforts.

I’ll have more streaming and reading recommendations. “Dare to Believe” will be back but we’ll be alternating some of our content. We’ll continue the monthly quizzes to exercise our brains, and we’ll continue reviewing books.

For the time being, I’m holding off on a new subscription-based Patreon account featuring short stories and chapter installments of my books as I write them. I also hoped to provide opportunities for book discussions and narrations of short stories. It’s something I want to do, but pesky life keeps getting in the way. When and if this happens, it will remain separated from our online magazine which will always be free and available to everyone. I’m considering the Patreon option because traditional and Indy publishing have changed so drastically in recent years. Now that AI has entered the equation, more changes are coming.

Stay safe. Stay well. You are important, and you are loved.

All my best,

Fran

Answers to the November 2026 “It Happened in the Eleventh Month” Quiz:

1. November 1:

1. The first medical school for women opened in Boston on November 1, 1848.

2. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought November 1-3, 1863. (False – the battled occurred July1-3, 1863)

3. The European Union came into existence on November 1, 1993, as a result of the Maastricht Treaty.

4. All Hallow’s Eve, also known as All Saint’s Day, occurs on November 1 each year to commemorate all those who have no specific feast day.

2. November 3:

1. The Euro, a unified currency for European countries was introduced into public circulation on November 3, 2002. (False – January 1, 2002 – it would eventually be adopted by 19 European countries.)

2. On November 3, 1957, Soviet Russia launched Sputnik II, the world’s first inhabited space capsule which carried Laika, a dog.

3. King Henry VIII became Supreme Head of the Church of England after the passage of the Act of Supremacy by Parliament.

4. Following a revolt engineered by the United States, Panama declared itself independent of Colombia on November 3, 1903.

3. November 5:

1. On November 5, 1932, Walt Disney debuted the first American animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (False – the film debuted on February 4, 1938)

2. Guy Fawkes Day in Britain to remember the anniversary of the failed “Gunpowder Plot” in 1605 intended to blow up King James I and the House of Parliament.

3. American author and poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox, known for the famous lines “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone,” in her poem “Solitude,” was born on November 5, 1850.

4. Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmitted radio waves across the Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to England on November 5, 1911.

4. November 8:

1. Irish author Bram Stoker was born November 8, 1847, in Dublin.

2. On November 8, 1519, Cortes conquered Mexico after landing on the Yucatan Peninsula in April and advancing inward to the Aztec capital and capturing Aztec emperor Montezuma.

3. On November 8, 1900, inventor Fred Wolf patented the first refrigerator for the home. (False – the patent was issued on April 7, 1913).

4. Operation Torch, the Allied Landings in North Africa began on November 8, 1942, as 400,000 soldiers under the command of General Dwight D, Eisenhower landed in Algeria and Morrocco.

5. November 11:

1. The signing of the Armistice between Allied and Central powers took place in Marshal Foch’s railway car in the Forest of Compiegne put an end to World War I at 11 a.m. on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

2. The Church of England voted to allow women to become priests on November 11, 1992.

3. On November 11, 1744, Abigail Smith was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts. After marrying John Adams in 1764, she became his closet advisor and the first Second Lady during his vice presidency and second First Lady during his presidency.

4. The ASPCA was formed in New York City on November 11, 1922, to advocate for better treatment of animals. (False – it was formed on April 10, 1866, less than a year after the end of the American Civil War).

6. November 15:

1. On November 15, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.

2. Public outrage after the November 15, 1905, fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in Chicago, Illinois, which claimed the lives of 145 workers, led to labor reforms and safety laws to protect vulnerable workers. (False – the factory was located in New York City and the fire happened on March 25, 1911).

3. The largest anti-war rally in U.S. history took place in Washington D.C. on November 15, 1969, as 250,000 people protested the Vietnam War.

4. On November 15, 1980, Pope John Paul II visited West Germany during the first papal visit to Germany since 1780 (200 years).

7. November 17:

1. On November 17, 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building. (False – the break-in occurred on June 17, 1972)

2. On November 17, 1558, Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne of England at the age of 25 following the death of her father, Henry VIII.

3. New York weekly Journal publisher John Peter Zenger was arrested and charged with libeling the governor of New York on November 17, 1734. During his trial, Zenger established that his words were true and could not be considered libel. This was an early step toward freedom of the press in America.

4. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on November 17, 1993.

8. November 20:

1. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

2. The Nuremberg War Crime Trials began on November 20, 1945. Twenty-four former leaders of Nazi Germany were charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against peace, and conspiracy to wage wars of aggression.

3. Operation Just Cause, the code name for the U.S. Invasion of Panama began on November 20, 1985. (False - the invasion began in mid-December 1989 and continued until late January 1990.)

4. On November 20, 1910, Francisco Madero launched a social revolution in Mexico calling for honest elections after calling out Mexico’s political dictatorship.

9. November 21:

1. On November 21, 1920, the IRA (Irish Republican Armey) shot and killed 14 British soldiers in Dublin on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

2. French author and philosopher, Voltaire, an advocate of human rights, was born in Paris on November 21, 1694.

3. American baseball legend, Stan Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1920.

4. On November 21, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. (False – it was signed on January 1, 1863).

10. November 25:

1. Ireland voted to legalize divorce by a margin of less than one percent on November 25, 1995.

2. The reign of British monarch, Queen Victoria, known as the Victorian Era, began on November 25, 1837, and lasted until her death on January 22, 1901. (False – Her reign began on June 20, 1837)

3. On November 25, 1783, the last British troops left New York City after the end of the American Revolutionary War.

4. The Parliament in Czechoslovakia voted to divide the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics on November 25, 1992.

11. November 30:

1. The Tet Offensive, one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War was launched on November 30, 1968. (False – The Tet Offensive was launched on January 30, 1968.)

2. In the Winter War, Finland was invaded by more than twenty Russian divisions on November 30, 1939.

3. On November 30, 1995, Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit Northern Ireland.

4. Samuel Clemens (1835) and Winston Churchill (1874) were both born on November 30.