I don’t know why I’m surprised every year about how quickly November arrives. It’s a truism that time accelerates as one ages, but it’s still stunning to see it in action. I have 10 months of my sabbatical left, but that means that 5 months have passed already! Meanwhile, my to-do list gets longer rather than shorter.

Activities fall into three categories: 1) writing and writing-related (which includes querying), 2) reading and reading related (which includes blogging), and 3) everything else:

1. WRITING: Sporadic querying in process, while trying not to be distressed by each rejection. Organizing latest WIP for NaNo, which means a bit of writing and a lot of creating folders, jotting notes on random pieces of paper, and long-range planning (i.e., staring out the window).

2) READING: As books make for a great escape from reality, these times have encouraged a lot of reading. I can recommend Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Conch Bearer, OUP’s Victorian Fairy Tales (ed. Michael Newton), Paul Theroux’s The Happy Isles of Oceania, Milorad Pavić’s Dictionary of the Khazars, Henry Adams’ The Education of Henry Adams, and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Ashes (vol 3 of her Seeds of America trilogy). Maybe I’ll post something about these someday; for now just know that they’re each well worth locating and reading. Proust will be my December reading, along with a French version of Harry Potter.

3) EVERYTHING ELSE: Nothing to see here.

This blog’ll be fairly quiet (as if that were something new) for the next couple of months. I may check in to report on NaNo progress in November; I may check in to report on Artist Residency progress in December. Or I may just continue lurking. Whatever the case, happy Yuletide to all!