Last night, I finally finished the second round of editing a new novel, allowing the veil of mist to clear from my eyes, to notice the Christmas tree is up and the house is decorated – when did I have the time to do that?

I was keen to get this round of editing completed before the arrival of my daughters from university tomorrow, as time, head-space, and peace will all disappear for a month. They will come home and prod the presents under the tree, enjoy some mulled wine and chocolate, and revel in home comforts and being mollycoddled – which I will delight in doing!

I will still grab snippets of time to work on the dreaded synopsis, aided no doubt, by a few glasses of mulled wine or toffee vodka. I will miss my accustomed writing time – although lately I’ve been getting up at 6 am to edit, so I could still do this before the house erupts into a hive of activity. I won’t be alcohol fuelled at this time of the day, needless to say.

Under the tree, I’ve wrapped more books from my wishlist, to add to my already burgeoning TBR pile. But books are an addiction, and I only feel happy when I have a wide variety of books at hand to read – a safety net for my sanity.

So, have you set your stop-watch ready to countdown to the madness before Christmas Day, where we all run around buying gifts, and too much food to store in your fridge? I hope we can all find a moment to read in peace and allow our frazzled minds to unwind.

I guess this may be my last post before Christmas, as I still have stocking fillers to wrap, so I would like to thank each and every one of you for reading my blog, sharing it, reading my novels, and writing reviews. I’ve met so many wonderful readers at book signing events this year, and I look forward to meeting more of you in 2017.

May I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and may it be a peaceful and loving time for you all.