Footnotes:: November
Slowing down the rush to the end of the year
Fare thee well, November
We are reaching the point when everything feels like it’s speeding up, racing into the holidays. The end of 2024 is coming, but it isn’t here yet. There is still more to savor before we say goodbye.
I’m working on a book proposal at the moment, and a solid chunk of this morning had me tinkering with two or three sentences to crystallize an idea. Far from frustrating, this felt soothing and satisfying. Bring the focus in for a moment. Try one thing at a time. I felt my muscles unclench from the effort of attempting to make too much happen before the year ends.
Can you relate? There is a frantic teeter-totter effect in late November and December, where we fling ourselves back and forth between overexertion and collapse, wanting to put it all away until the new year begins.
As we come to a point when many people turn away from regular work schedules in favor of family rituals and celebrations, many of us set writing aside. Still others relish a shift in routines to dive in deeper. What’s your wish, this season?
Over the past weeks, I’ve been getting more questions about how to wrangle the chaos of the creative mind into something resembling a sane schedule. If you’re feeling flooded by the muse or your obligations, I’ve got you covered.
The much-loved Your Writing Year planner is almost finished, and will reach paid subscribers next week!1 This year, we’re pairing it with a live workshop to help you review the lessons of the past months before diving into 2025. If you haven’t yet upgraded your subscription, this is a great time to dive in to join us. Full details below.
There have been a lot of challenges this year, but this week, when the US celebrates Thanksgiving, there is also much I’m grateful for.
Thank you for caring about books and writing. I feel so lucky to live in a time when so many wonderful things are being written, and to spend my time immersed in the world of words. I’m grateful you share this love of writing, and that you’re part of this community.
I’m so grateful to those who’ve become members this year. Thank you, truly, for your support and belief, which allows me to keep writing here, and to dream up new ways to keep us all inspired and writing more. It means the world.
Stay tuned for more in December about how I intentionally put projects to bed before a break, and for events and workshops coming soon.
And now, let’s look at some delicious treats from this month.
Lots of love,
Caroline
November comforts
I have been curled up with so many books this month and have been delighted that the colder Berlin weather has meant more cozy cat company while I read.
Favorites from November:
- released the third installment of prime notebook voyeurism celebrating ’s second anniversary. I recommend all three parts.
- shared numbers and lessons from a year’s experiment living off writing income only.
If the upcoming holiday season or the state of the world makes you want to scream,
has been test-driving a way to do it discreetly.- inspires again, looking at women taking up space with art.
- brought a post from the early days of Writing in the Dark with timeless advice on writing so readers (and editors) connect with your words.
- took me back to my bookselling days (with a threat to some innocent toes) in her latest Receipt from the Bookshop.
Books I’ve loved this month
Orbital, Samantha Harvey. This isn’t exactly a surprise recommendation, given that it just won the Booker, but this slim book packs so much wisdom into its pages. I sipped it over days, entranced.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea, TJ Klune. If you haven’t yet read The House in the Cerulean Sea, start there, but if you were unsure if the sequel lives up to the original, fear no more. Even the acknowledgements made me tear up.
Turning, Jessica Lee. In this memoir, Jessica Lee takes us with her as she swims year-round in a different Berlin lake for a year, even when she has to break the ice with a hammer. 2025 will begin my own swimming year.
A Sorceress Comes to Call, T Kingfisher. A suspenseful fantasy follows a mind-controlling sorceress as the people she overpowers begin to fight back. Couldn’t put it down
I reread
’s beautiful Wintering to celebrate its triumphant return to the bestseller charts in multiple countries, and it was every bit as good this time. If you’ve never read it, or it’s been a while, it felt exactly right for this moment.
What have you loved this November?
We’re built up an incredible list of cozy reads in the monthly chat thread — come add your recommendations!
You might have missed…
From Book Alchemy, and guest posts from elsewhere:
- and I relaunched , our show about living abroad, and I shared what moving abroad can and can’t do for you
- and my Writing and the primal voice: Ape Mode out now
Enjoy this reading and more treats to come soon…
lots of love,
Caroline
PS Interested in membership? Get all the details here.
Member news:
I’ve begun monthly lives just for you! The first replay is available here.
You have access to the video versions of my series with Claire Shaw. Watch all episodes here
Novel Possible wraps this week, but hopefully the daily habit has you in the swing.
Your Writing Year Planner + Workshop
Your Writing Year 2025 is nearly here! Paid Members get access the first week of December, plus the December 11 workshop.
We’ll reflect on our progress over the last year (There will be more success to record than you think) and start laying out our writing intentions for 2025.
Save the date for:
8am PST / 11am ET / 16:00 UK / 17:00 CEST for 90 min on 11 December
Zoom link coming the week of the event.
Access for free subscribers will begin just after Christmas.
Will the 2025 workshop on 12/11 be recorded for paying subscribers who cant make it?
Thanks for the shout out! Also--I want to read all the books you recommended, while my cat curls up beside me :)