When I was a little kid, my small-town newspaper published a serialized Christmas story for children every year, starting at the end of November and going right up until the 24th of December.

For at least two Christmas seasons, I read those stories out loud every night at bedtime to my younger brother and sister — with the finale arriving on Christmas Eve when we were already so excited.

That was my introduction to serialized novels. I had no idea great authors like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain used to serialize their novels in newspapers before publishing them in book form.

I just knew I really enjoyed the daily anticipation.

And I still do! :-)