November is coming to an end. For a month with only 30 days, this one has seemed almost interminable, while zipping by at the same time. Also, it’s the Monday after a looong holiday weekend for those people are working. Well, I work, but I don’t have to get up, get dressed, face rush hour traffic and actually have to…you know…PEOPLE out there in public. I sympathize with them. I do actually remember what that’s like. This also means that the rush to Christmas has turned into a mad dash. My Christmas tree is up. (I haven’t taken it down in like…six years?) I need to get some light holder ground spikes before the outdoor lights go up. I won’t bore you with the details but I’m swithing out the rope lights on Nessie and then stringing the old lights along the front walkway between the driveway and the front door. Next up is dealing with gifts. Gift cards anyone? 🤣

In critter news, I kept hearing a thump on my office window and would catch a fleeting shadow. Birds occasionally land on the sill so no biggie. Until I saw a fuzzy tail. Yup. Squirrel! It took him awhile but he finally figured out how to get from the sill to the flat feeder outside the window. Where was Loki when this new catevision show was playing? No clue. He often lays i the window watching the birds but totally missed the furry critter.

Speaking of holidays, Thanksgiving happened. The five of us (LG, Only, Stormy, Baseball Boy, and me) went to Uncle Fix-It and Aunt Hooey’s house, along with her extended family. Yes, we were totally outnumbered. Not many leftovers, though we did have a little pecan pie left to go with our turkey sammiches. However, the only reason we HAD turkey sammiches is because I’d bought a 3 lb. turkey breast roast and I cooked it Friday. We had a nice time but I suspect the James Gang all went home and took naps. I certainly did!

Let’s talk college football. Wow. What a crazy weekend! All the sports folks were touting Rivalry Weekend (or Rivalry Saturday, depending on the outlet). There was certainly a lot of that to go around. There was excitement. Frustration. Outrage. Close calls. And my favorite: UPSETS! OSU and OU certainly lived up to the Bedlam hype. It was a crazy game but my Pokes held on and we beat Big Red 37-33. Michigan finally beat that other OSU (you know, Ohio State, that wants everyone to call them “The…”). I’ll give you three guesses who I was rooting for–and no, the first two don’t count. 😉 Michigan State then beat Penn State. #2 Alabama was almost upended by unranked Auburn. Four–count ’em–FOUR overtimes. They won by 2 points. There were other upsets (*koffLSUoverTexasA&Mkoff*) so the polls should be interesting. And they are. AP and Coaches polls rank my Pokes at #5, and that other OSU at #7. Playoff Selection Committee doesn’t hit until Tuesday but I’m not holding my breath. My Pokes never get the respect they deserve–when they deserve it. Anyway, moving on…

Writing. I did some. I have until tomorrow night at midnight to hit 50K words. As of typing this, I have 2251 words, which puts me at 45,720. Bare minimum of 2140 for the next 2 days puts me right at 50K. This book will not end at 50K. Nope. It’s a complicated story and that’s okay. There are a lot of couples and each one needs attention, but I’m still convinced this LONG book will be better than dividing the story up into short tales that get convoluted due to the concurrent time/plot line. Anyway, I AM writing new words and that’s the good news after a couple of weeks *koffmonthskoff* of drought.

Reading–not sure why I call it reading when I’m listening to audio books but whatever–has also been slow due to the above news abourt writing. I can’t listen to other authors’ words when I’m writing my own. I’m still in the marathon of Jayne Castle’s Harmony/Ghost Hunter/Dreamlight/Rain Shadow series. Yes, master/mistress of plots that Jayne is, she’s able to pull a whole raft of series into one cohesive whole! These are fun books for me and there’s the treat of a new release at the end of the marathon. I just started CANYONS OF NIGHT (Rainshadow, #0; Ghost Hunters, #8; Looking Glass Trilogy, #3; Arcane Society, #12). See what I mean? Anyway, I’m just managing to stay on track to meet my 200-book goal for my 2021 reading challenge.

Not much else going on in my world. Work. Naps (still NOT vibing with the time change!). Family. Life. Work. I truly do need to get focused on writing again. It didn’t used to be this hard and I keep looking for ways to make it easier because I’m happier and y’all are happier when I’m putting out books on a regular schedule. Anyway, cheers to a new and productive week ahead. What’s up in the corner of the world you call home?