“Some days you are not a salmon. Some days you can't keep swimming upstream. Some days you have to turn around, let go, and just flow with the river.”

I wrote that line a year ago. It was November and I found myself in a complete reading slump. I was stressed, tired and had a hard time staying with something. However, I also had just finished one of my first big writing projects, Smutory. And to this day, that is one of the things in my life of which I am most proud.

A year later, I have been keeping up SMUNTH and have expanded it to a newsletter. I have been working on a separate, massive project with my best friend and business partner Kiley, and I have exponentially grown my community on social media, in addition to keeping up my part-time job. I also went through a deeply emotional time with writer's block.

My reading count for the year is 82 books and counting.

I stand here today remembering my cheesy line about being a salmon. During my darkest moments of writer's block this summer I really wasn't sure what to do. I knew I needed to change something but I had promised monthly themes and wanted to complete the year.

The summer month blogs were brutal. I persisted tooth-and-nail through August and by September the clouds started to part. By October, I was revving with a full engine again. And as I started this month, I wanted to be ready to give you my holiday reading list early so that you could go into December feeling prepared.

Unfortunately, life seems to be cyclical, because in early November I spent 10 days on one book. (which may not seem like a big deal but when there are only 30 days in a month it affects your outcome tremendously!!!)

However, in the end SMUNTH is about listening to your heart and following your joy. My November Reads have made me happy, even if they don't fit into a perfect theme.

I read the holiday book that I was most looking forward to, Good Spirits by B.K. Borrisen. If you read one holiday book this year please make it this one! I read Book 3 in Sierra Simone's Priest collection, Saint! And I am currently having the time of my life re-reading Rachel Reid’s Game Changers and Heated Rivalry (my favorite book of all time) in preparation for the new Heated Rivalry show that came out on Friday, November 28, on HBO!!!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, PEOPLE!!!

So I guess the purpose of this blog is to reiterate something very important to me! I don't ever want reading to be a chore. And I don't want you to experience it that way either. Reading is a gift. It's a moment when we get to learn something. Whether that is a real historical life event or a scientific phenomenon or the way the character learned to accept love.

When reading stops feeling like a gift and more like a punishment, take a step back and let go of any “should” statements. Just enjoy!

But don't worry! I still have a list of holiday books for you to take into December: