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Hello from sunny Chicago! Really, it's sunny in Chicago! I just arrived and am excited to see all of the fabulous librarians that will are joining me in the Windy City for ALA Midwinter 2015.

There is a lot going on at ALA Midwinter and Quirk is certainly well-represented at the Penguin Random House booth.

There are a lot of amazing literary events scheduled this week, and hopefully the harrowing blizzard being forecasted will not interfere. There are celebrations for debut novelists, discussions of craft and process, and wise words from some literary “doctors” at stake. If the weather gets you down and traps you inside, there’s always the amazing bookish podcast, The Catapult, to get you through the storm.

New Year’s has come and gone, with the requisite silly hats, warm champagne, and half-hearted midnight well wishes. You promised yourself 2015 would be different, that you’d stick to your resolutions, but real life picked back up and, well, things fell by the wayside. All your good intentions got buried in the daily shuffle, but hey, it happens. There’s no need to feel guilty about it, and here at Quirk we’ve prepared a reading list especially for you, to make you feel better about your—understandable—lack of follow through.

The holidays are over and New York City is getting back into the swing of things with a plethora of amazing literary events. This week brings the opportunity to hear stories at The Moth, celebrate exciting new historical fiction, and party with BOMB magazine.

Despite the rapidly approaching holidays, literary events in NYC show no signs of slowing down. This week brings opportunities to see legends like Neil Gaiman and Robert Gober, applaud the sartorial choices of awesome teen girls, and celebrate the power of the selfie. Rounding out the week will be the epic reading of A Christmas Carol by some of New York’s most beloved writers.

November, mostly known to Americans as That Time When the Family Gets Together at the End of the Month to Awkwardly Eat Lots of Food Revolving around a Mythical (and Most Likely Inaccurate) Meeting of Two Cultures, is also a season for writers. Yes, you're correct: along with raising awareness for not shaving, banana pudding lovers, and sweet potatoes, November is National Novel Writing Month.

Interested in writing a 50,000-word novel and you're intimidated by the time limit? You're not alone. Thousands will join you in the pursuit and feel as though their fingers cannot chitter-chatter at the keyboard quickly enough. It's nerve rending.

Unless, of course, you regard those writers among us that take a helluva long time on their work.  With your permission, I'm going to explore some of the leisureliest (yep, that's a word) writers that decided to grace the page, either by pen or typing contraption.

Let's begin. Permission granted?