November to Remember - Jenny O'Connell

I've always felt that November is an odd month. Fall feels like it's over but winter hasn't really begun. The hype about Christmas is already in stores but it feels too early and kinda forced. Yesterday we had a snowstorm that left 4 inches of snow on the ground. Monday it's supposed to be 69 degrees.

Just plain odd.

November is an in-between month to me, a stop-over. It's the lead up to a season of parties and celebration and decorations and festivities but it doesn't really own anything itself.

My latest book starts in November. And it never occurred to me until now that it's the perfect month for Haley, the main character. She's in-between, on a stop-over. Ending one phase of her life but not yet sure how to begin the next. Looking back, I don't know why I started Haley's story in November. I wish I could say it was all premeditated and planned, infused with meaning and symbolism. But I have to admit that most of the time, the cool stuff in my books that look and feel like symbolism later actually just start as an idea that seemed pretty neat.

Even if I can't put my finger on what November means to me, I like it. I like that it's the pause after a summer and fall, before the holidays and the new year. And sometimes a pause is just what we need.