The Southern Tablebook

There are seasons in a woman’s life when she feels something shifting beneath the surface—quietly, softly, insistently. A nudge toward becoming someone fuller, braver, more aligned with who she was always meant to be. For me, this season began when I finally gave myself permission to step into my creative life with both feet planted and my heart wide open.

Living Beautifully, the novel I’m releasing in February, isn’t just a book. It’s the story of a woman on the edge of transformation, written by a woman who feels that transformation unfolding in real time. Blair Montgomery, my protagonist, may be fictional, but the emotions that shaped her journey came straight from the truth of my own life—moments of reinvention, moments of quiet reckoning, and moments where I had to choose myself in ways that felt both tender and courageous.

I wrote this story because I believe beauty isn’t something we chase; it’s something we cultivate. It’s in the small rituals—the morning light hitting the kitchen counter, the scent of a candle drifting through the house, the way a familiar room feels different when we choose to see it with softness. It’s in the pause before a decision, in the breath that steadies us, in the way we hold our dreams even when life feels heavy.

For so long, I lived a life that was full but not always beautiful. I gave, worked, and pushed, often forgetting the parts of myself that needed gentleness. But writing Living Beautifully reintroduced me to my own voice. It reminded me that the life I desire isn’t found in noise and perfection—it’s found in intention. It’s found in grace. It’s found in the quiet corners where we rediscover ourselves.

As I prepare to share this novel with the world, I’m also choosing to share more of the woman behind it—the mother, the educator, the creative, the Southern woman building a life rooted in elegance, warmth, and emotional truth. I’m stepping into the sunshine with a renewed sense of purpose and a full heart, ready for whatever comes next.

Living beautifully is more than a story. It’s a way of becoming.

And this is only the beginning.

— Nicole