I’d Rather Be Reading

Okay, that’s not completely true, but it is kind of true. Usually, I spend the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas reading holiday stories, or just catching up on my reading. For instance, for the last few years, I’ve been working my way through a massive collection of Christmas mysteries that my daughter gave me several years ago, called THE BIG BOOK OF CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES. It’s been great fun to pick it up each year and short stories are well suited to holiday reading. I see that I am at 43% and I’m itching to move that dial some more, while at the same time glad there is more to read.

Why am I not reading it right now? Well, I’m writing. I don’t usually write during the holidays because there are a lot of distractions, but I decided to give it a try this year. Sort of my version of NaNo (if you don’t know, each November authors commit to writing a whole book. I didn’t sign up because I knew life would push back on me. And I was right. All I did was mention thinking about it and life pushed back on me.). So in my version, instead of 50,000 words, I have about 15,000. 

And I’m in a hard part where the story is pushing back on me, too. It’s super annoying. My brain wants to slide away into some good books instead of having to work out hard plot points. 

This is one of the pages on my Kindle.

And my Kindle is not helping. It is loaded with temptation. You can see my BIG BOOK OF MYSTERIES there urging me to dive back in. And two books by Veronica Scott I’m dying to read, plus Laurie Green’s STARDOG, also dying to read! I got the Andy Weir book for free through Prime, and I always like anything by Greta Van Der Rol. Corine Kilgore and Vicki Hinze are both wonderful writers and I’ve been reading Lindsay Buroker’s series, so of course, I had to grab the latest one. And that’s just the first page of my Kindle!

Another page of my Kindle!

Look at all that goodness! Yes, I’m behind on Lindsay Buroker’s Star Kingdom series because I’ve been writing my own books (but it has been super fun, so I keep buying the next installment). Another Veronica Scott book! Happy sigh, but it should be on the first page! Monette Michael’s book should be on the first page, too! She’s a wonderful author. And some impulse buys that I want to check out. I need longer days. And weeks!

And now look at those Takamo Universe books! You can’t see it, but the big book bundle is called Galaxia, INOUYE is super fun. I had to put it down to…write! It’s not that I don’t like writing. I do! It’s like reading a book REALLY SLOWLY. lol But right now I want fast!

I promise, this is the last screenshot, but by now you should see my problem. It’s not just putting down my project and diving in. It’s which book to open! They are all clamoring for my attention, saying, “Read me!” “No, read me!”

Right now the wind is howling outside, but it’s cozy and warm here and I can see a lovely reading spot if I turn from my desk. And right next to me, my characters are tapping their toes and letting me know they will trouble my sleep if I don’t get them out of the fix I wrote them into. Sigh.

What will you be doing this week? I will get one guilt-free day to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and then it’s back on the guilt-train! Either way, by writing or reading, I’m going to get lost in a book! Here’s hoping your week is a wonderful one and I’ll see you back here in December! (Where the heck did 2019 go????)

Perilously yours,

Pauline