Edits for A Secret Santa Mystery: I'm nowhere near finishing, but I made progress, so I'm going to put it in the "win" column.

I realised that, in my effort to improve the blurb (book description) for Your Knowledge Or Your Life?, to better represent the vibe of the book, I made it... boring. Actually, beyond boring, and, unfortunately, that's reflected in the sales numbers. So I added an item on my to-do list, to rewrite it, again.

A big win (for me, at my tiny author level), is that the large print edition of A Slice Of Mystery is selling, and much better than I'd anticipated, but I'm not going to lie, while it makes me very happy that new readers are discovering Abigail, I'm also completely, absolutely, utterly terrified. What if they don't like her? What if they think the book is boring? What if they regret their purchase? What if they don't like the small sapphic romance subplot? So far, the reviews are good, although there seems to be a divide between the readers who connect and "get" Abigail, and those who think something is "off" with her. Maybe she's like Marmite. You either like her, or you don't.

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I finally read The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. A beta reader had suggested it after she read Your Knowledge Or Your Life?, and I can see why, even though there's no magic in YKOYL. Both are slow burns, where we spend time with the characters just living their life, both have multiple points of view, both have a pairing of opposite personalities who hate each other at the beginning and have to join forces to succeed, and both make the reader reflect on the importance and cost of knowledge. That said, I still prefer YKOYL (I know, I'm biased). The Atlas Six vibe is darker, while YKOYL has more cozy moments than darker ones, and I think the pace is a little bit faster. Also, it's a standalone novel, while The Atlas Six ends on a cliffhanger (something I dislike).

One I was really excited about was Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick. I'd seen it recommended in a Reddit thread, and bought it immediately without thinking about it, on the basis that it was "the cosiest sapphic Christmas love story". And it is, it's lovely, but (there's always a "but"), I've read another novel by one of the co-authors before, and I had the same problem with this one. It's supposed to be YA, the two main characters are supposed to be 17 and 18 (and yes, the 18 yo is a child actress so she had to grow up fast, I know), but they act and think like they're in their mid- to late twenties, so I found it jarring every time I was reminded that they are supposed to be teenagers. If that doesn't bother you, and you're looking for a no-spice, super cute, non-heteronormative cozy romance, then this is going to be your next read (and special mention to the Hanukkah moments sprinkled throughout the book)!

To paraphrase Shakespeare, a bed, a bed, my kingdom for a bed! The day job has been all consuming, with a huge backlog of activities left by the person I'm replacing, and it's taking all my brain power, all the time. Leaving work at work isn't how I'm built, so my brain keeps churning through problems twenty-four hours a day.

I fall asleep thinking about work, and it's the second thing I think of after I wake up (the first being, "why am I achy?" - answer: because the cat got cold in the night and nestled against my legs, which probably led me to being too hot, so I shifted, and on, and on, until he's curled up where my feet used to be, and my body is all twisted...)

Taking about the cat, here's a math problem for you:

If the cat is fed at 7pm every day, but usually asks for his dinner around 6pm, what time is he going to ask after we changed to winter time (where the "old" 7pm is now 6pm)?***

One thing I've really enjoyed these past couple of weeks is the leaves turning. I live in a tree-heavy neighbourhood, and this time of year is absolutely gorgeous, with some trees turning golden yellow, others a deep red, with a lot of rust-coloured scattered in between. I love it. The leaf-raking coming in a few weeks? A lot less!

***Answer: A friend phrased it perfectly: "as early as he thinks he can get away with", so... 4.30pm *facepalm*

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