Happy Halloween! Here is a free horror story called Munchkin.

This month, Philip Pullman returned with the first instalment of The Book of Dust, the follow-up to my favourite books of all time, His Dark Materials.

I was therefore incredibly distracted by before, during and after its publication. It has been 17 years since HDM concluded and I never expected The Book of Dust to happen, despite Pullman's teasing promises.

Returning to the magical world of daemons was a dream come true. Pullman remains the master of trusting young readers with adult concepts. Organised religion naturally gets a good kicking but the antagonist Gerard Bonneville stands out as his creepiest villain to date. Also, Pullman drops the F-bomb, like, all the time!

I must say, I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. I needed one more chapter to wind down and see the characters reunited with their friends and families. I also cannot see how this is Part One of a trilogy. Currently, it feels like a standalone prequel. But I trust in Pullman. Bring on the next two instalments.

Daemons aside, I did manage to get some writing done. I started writing a novella set within the world of Nephos. I need to get it finished asap because it's the final (and titular) story for my next collection, which I hope to publish before Christmas.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. Perfect motivation to get those words written. Let's do this.

What else have I been up to?

• I hosted a debate with my writer's group about whether my Nephos novels should be targeted at children, young adults, or adults. Responses were inconclusive. I've therefore decided to stop worrying about target audiences. I figure I'm a self-published author so I don't need to fall into a neat category.
• I won a writing competition! It was set by the Chair of my writers' group, which challenged us to finish a short story started by his Nan.
• I ran my 13th half-marathon in 1:38:24.
• Finally, author AA Abbott used my quote on the revamped cover of her novel After The Interview. Looks great!

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The biggest game-changer this month was my foray into Facebook advertising.

I spent £4 on my first ever paid advert and it generated 241 clicks, 9 likes and 24 people offering to review The Sheriff. I'm trying to reach 50 reviews by Christmas.

Normally my Facebook posts gain little to no interaction, so clearly a tiny bit of investment allows for greater visibility and a welcome boost in engagement.

My first advert was so positive that I paid for two more £4 adverts: one to encourage people to sign up for my newsletter (17 clicks, 14 likes, 3 new sign-ups) and one to promote my interview on Margaret Egrot's blog (24 clicks, 15 likes).

Based on these results, Facebook adverts have mixed success but I will continue to experiment.

What else have I been doing?

• I read and loved The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark. This is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy, with detailed world-building and an original, almost poetic, narrative voice.
• I also read and reviewed Cast Off by Margaret Egrot, an ingenious collection of stories inspired by the women in Shakespeare's plays.
• I continued to edit Breadcrumbs 2. It will contain 18 stories, of which 17 are pretty much good to go. However, I still need to write one final novella, which will share its name with the real title of the collection.
• Finally, I was interviewed by author Margaret Egrot on her blog, Writing and Breathing. I talk about The Curse of Besti Bori and give advice for aspiring writers.

If you would like Simon to review your book then check out his Review Policy for more information. Sign up to Simon's newsletter to hear more about his reading and writing projects.