If I could live in a bookstore Novel Bay Booksellers in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin might be home. Really big bookstores like Indigo Books and Music, Prairie Lights, The Strand are awesome places to spend time, but the coziness of small, local bookstores in my area like Novel Bay, Next Chapter Booksellers or SubText offer comfort plus excitement. Even though I have cat allergies, I could happily dig for hours through the stacks of E. Shaver Booksellers in Savannah which four cats call home. Sorry, there isn’t room to name hundreds of other beloved bookstores, but feel free to add your favorite.

November 20, I have the opportunity to talk with book lovers at Novel Bay Booksellers about writing books like The High Cost of Flowers and 40 Thieves on Saipan. We’ll have a pile of those signed by Joseph Tachovsky and me. Approaching winter holidays open floodgates for purchasing books as gifts or personal comfort.

I have a complicated pattern for how books are physically purchased, virtually purchased, or checked out or downloaded from the library. Books sometimes enter my reading queue in one way and earn a physical purchase. The exit queue from my crowded bookshelves to friends or a good used bookseller is a whole different discussion.

Late in 2022 a tough physical issue pushed me off the daily writing wheel. For a couple of years, I regained my direction by writing short stories. Now two novels in the drawer (or the cloud) and one filling my thoughts are drawing me back into the challenging publishing world.

If you live in Door County, I’d love to meet you at Novel Bay Booksellers on November 9 from 5:30 to 6:30. Come for a visit and leave with a gift for yourself or someone else. Thank you for your readership.