It’s the first Sunday in Advent. I remember how interesting it was as a child to open one window of the advent calendar each night as we proceeded toward Christmas. I wasn’t religious at all, nor was my family, but perhaps it was cultural: my mother’s German-American heritage made her always want to make Christmas special for us.

On a more secular note: Canadian writer Anastasia Vitsky (who specializes in FF spanking fiction…) has put together a fun monthlong event on her blog, Governing Ana. Check out the FAQs for Ana’s Advent Calendar 2013 here. I’m very pleased that Time of Grace is one of the book prizes—but there are many prizes, and not only books. The event runs Dec 1-25, 2013, with new giveaways each day. I’ve not been involved in an event like this, besides a Goodreads giveaway, so it’s a new adventure for me.

And speaking of countdowns, Connecting the Dots, my AD/HD memoir, is on preorder at Smashwords right now. It will be officially released on Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Kobo on December 28. Read a sample on Smashwords, then reserve your copy early, if you can: sales will be recorded on the day of release, and it would be wonderful to get that little bump in sales around the end of the month!