And so I’m settling in for another Berlin winter. Last winter was tumultuous and kinda miserable, but this winter I’m more excited for getting cosy with friends and letting my introvert rule with lots of time spent at home enjoying my own company. Here’s what I’m planning in my diary for November.

Writing goals

Helloooo, NaNoWriMo! November is National Novel Writing Month, and this year I’m planning to go at it, and hard! I’ve been working on the idea for a new fantasy novel for ages, (actually, the idea has been bobbing around in my brain for over a year) and now is finally the time to buckle down and write it. So the big November goal is to write 50 000 words.

It’s a massive goal but I’ve done it before and I know I can do it again. In the meantime, I might put Brew Books 2 to the side while I’m focusing on the big fantasy kahuna.

Reading goals

This year on Goodreads I set the overly ambitious goal of 60 books in the year, and now that we’re coming to crunch time I’ve realised that I don’t want to spend the rest of my year desperately binging books just to reach a fabricated goal. So I’ve cut it back to 50 (I’ve currently read 45 books so that’ll be a cinch) and now I can just enjoy the last few books of the year that I’ll be reading. Here’s what’s coming up next on my reading list:

A Gathering of Shadows – V.E. Schwab

The Bad Beginning – Lemony Snicket (I’m planning to reread the whole series because I never read the ending)

Circe – Madeline Miller

Milkman – Anna Burns

Wonder Woman – Leigh Bardugo

Travel goals

No travelling happening in November. It’s cold, I want to save money, and I want to stay indoors and read and write all month. But December I’ll be popping off to a brand new country, so that’ll be exciting!

What are your plans and goals for this month? Let me know in the comments!