It’s been a continuously busy few months, moving from project to project without pause, a run fueled by caffeine and occasionally chocolate. Things have started to slow down now, just in time for holiday shopping and parties and extra baking and road trips, so that works out pretty well.

As I gear up for wall-to-wall holiday merrymaking, I’m taking a moment to express gratitude. I appreciate the authors who trust me with their words, the editors who depend on me for content, and the people who are willing to share their stories with me for print. I appreciate that I can do the things I love for a living, and still have time to help out at school holiday boutiques and on class trips. And I appreciate my critique group and my writer friends who are helping me on my journey. I hope I’m as helpful to them as they are to me.

Merry everything, and may we all find time to read this month.