November flew by. We had a great Thanksgiving, and aside from some significant work events for me, I don’t really remember what happened last month.

Our 11-year-old dog has been moving slowly, and we finally learned he has arthritis in his hips. A couple medications have him as perky as ever. We haven’t finished putting up our outdoor holiday decorations, and this week we’ve finally gotten a bit of the rain that the Mid-Atlantic has sorely needed. I’ll just need to wait for a clear day.

Last Month’s Goals

1. Read three books.
2. All the routines, but more.

Read three books?

No, but I still made decent progress. I finished An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays and Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj, and I continued my long journey through George R.R. Martin’s A World of Ice and Fire.

I’m also listening through the first volume of a collection of stories by Clark Ashton Smith, a fantasy author who wrote during the 1910s, ’20s, and ’30s. I’m still deciding which series I’m going to dive into next, and I’m hoping to do so this month, when I have a week off work around the holidays.

I’m not on pace for my Goodreads challenge of 36 books this year, but I’m not that upset about it.

All the routines… but more?

Meh. I’ve been a bit more consistent about working out, but I still haven’t dedicated the time to it I had really intended. But it’s definitely making a difference to just do something on a regular basis.

Writing did not progress much in November. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been terribly absent from this site as well. I’m definitely still interested in my current routine of haiku, book reviews, and the occasional “blog” type update, but nothing more at the moment. I’ve found it difficult to sit down at my laptop for a dedicated amount of time, for a variety of reasons.

So, I’m just keeping it in my mind for this month without explicit pressure.

Goals for December

1. Read three books.
   • Current reads: A World of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, and The End of the Story, Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Book 1.
   • Likely next reads: I’m eyeing The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar in my Audible library. Not a series, but an intriguing fantasy novel nonetheless.
2. All the routines, but more. Again, just trying to develop more consistency with exercise and writing. A continuous work-in-progress.

Steve D