It's November and that means ...

Good morning Bookaholics. I trust you are all having a fabulous day. Today I am going to talk about the month of November. What's that got to do with reading I hear you ask. Well, it has a lot to do with reading, and writing of course. 

This morning my little corner of Scotland had its first snow of the year. Admittedly, not enough to build the cheery wee chappy above, but snow nevertheless. Along with snow comes very cold weather. I'm cuddled up in a blanket writing this. The heating is on, but my office used to be a garage and it's not terribly well insulated.

November also brings the first Christmas songs of the year. Personally I would rather these waited until December, but that's life as the saying goes. It also brings the first Christmas adverts and the kids go into overdrive. Everyones thoughts turn to buying Christmas presents. 

November also brings long cold nights. It is dark in Scotland by 4 pm. The curtains are drawn and the heating is on and all of us readers know what that means. Yes, it's more time to curl up with a good book. I have a reading pile which is so huge it is threatening to fall over. I've decided on a bit of eclectic reading this November. Here is a small section of what I will be reading. 

To writers November also means NaNoWriMo. This stands for National Novel Writers Month. This month writers, from all corners of the globe, will be writing up a storm. They will be counting words like a demon, and every word counts. They will update their word count daily on the NaNoWriMo site as they work towards the 50,000 they have pledged to write in November. They will be checking their buddies total and wondering how they are doing in comparison. Novels will get written during this month and the winners will rejoice. It is a time of elation, and a time of despair. Despair if you are not meeting your target for the day. Despair as you realise that you have to make that superb word total into a manageable manuscript. I am storming ahead with my fourth book in the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries.

This year, November also sees the arrival of the third book in the series, Killer's Cross. It will be launched in Waterstones, Dundee on 16th November. It is available from Amazon on the link to the right. In the UK signed copies are also available from my website and would make a fabulous Christmas present. See, I'm also solving your Christmas present problems in this blog.

Bodies with crosses carved on their chests! All left outside Dundee Churches! All members of the religious community! DI Shona McKenzie has to find the common factor linking the deaths, and catch the killer before he strikes again. Is her latest case as simple as it seems?

So November means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Whatever November means to you, my wish is that it brings you lots of lovely books to read. If you are a writer, and doing NaNoWriMo, my hope is that it is going well. My wish is that you will see that winner's video. I am off back to the writing. I will see you all back here soon. Have a great, fun filled, November.