November is always a weird transition between the colorful autumn and the bleak days of cold but snowless early winter. And a time that affected my hobbies, though this year, some things were a bit different.

Reading

I’ve finished R.K.Lander’s sprawling The Silvan series, which took me a while. The final book was a long book at 900+ pages that closed things nicely while also leaving some questions about the worldbuilding itself open for a potential return to the series.

After that, I delved into beta-reading Rebecca Alasadir’s second book in her in-progress series, where I finished the first section and started the second. Getting back to a story I’ve read three years ago while also keeping in mind the changes I’ve been told about but haven’t yet a chance to read as the first book is still in draft stages, is definitely challenging, especially in the beginning.

Writing

Especially the beginning of November was hectic for me at work, leaving me with no writing time. Things eased off mid-month, but I then focused on the abovementioned beta-read and so my “progress” was mostly in noting down changes I’ll need to make and trying to figure out what, exactly, to do with some passages that are either drawn out or tell too much while showing little. At this point, I presume December should give me some writing time, though I’m leaning towards serious work on the book being done in January. Hopefully. I guess I’m stuck in the stage where I’m finding what and how to do in a way that hampers my motivation to write.

Hiking

November is typically an awful month for hiking. Often rainy or at least foggy, with cold winds and little sun, I tend to be glad for two short hikes. Also, fatigue from the whole year has typically accumulated quite a lot, which has me taking things easy. 2022 was a major surprise in this regard.

The first hike of the month fit that description perfectly – light but persistent rain in temperature barely above 0°C, visibility down to fifty meters – but at least the hills were empty. What was different – surprisingly so – was that the fatigue I’ve felt in October seemed to be gone, and I managed almost 25km, which is quite rare for me this late in the year.

The next two hikes became a pleasant surprise. The mid-month hike had me experience surprisingly nice weather, even if chilly – and the mid-November sun felt like it still had a lot of warmth for the time of year. The third hike, to make things different, was done with a sprinkle of snow, giving it a winter atmosphere. In all three cases, they were just a bit short of 25km. This, eventually, led to the fact that I beat my so-far seasonal best from 2019 – back then, I finished the year at ca. 1054km. This year, by the end of November, I was at 1066km. Which, given the several setbacks this year, is quite a surprise.

I’ll share more about these hikes later.

Other

When it comes to small, random things – I replaced my old computer after some five years, which also took me a while, given that I was moving some parts from the old PC to the new PC, then upgrading to Windows 11.

Also, as I said, things were a bit hectic at work, which led to me spending more time playing games to let my mind rest, which wouldn’t be as easy when writing or doing any other activity that requires using my brain.

At the end of the month, I also had my fourth COVID vaccine – and while the headache I tend to have the day after wasn’t as terrible, I instead ended up feeling lightheaded and slightly confused after waking up.

And, finally, I got in touch with my sister and we talked about what gifts to consider for our parents with the approaching Christmas.

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I hope November was nice to you – and that going into the more festive part of year will be free of stress and struggle. There’s always so much to prepare and so little time that finding some time to relax is important.