Our
fearless leader has suggested that we spend this month’s blog post discussing
our recent reading adventures. In years past I have been a voracious reader,
consuming anywhere from 50-80 books a year. You can imagine with numbers like
that there would be a fair few stinkers in that group, a hefty number of
average reads, and a handful of delicious and worthy stories that I simply had
to add to my bookshelves to be consumed again later. Unfortunately those
numbers are things of days past. My Goodreads account is woefully inaccurate
and neglected. But this last year has been a whirlwind of adjusting,
stretching, and growing to meet the changing needs of my family and my career.
Yes, I
can now say career because Xychler publishing has picked up a short story of
mine for publication in their spring anthology (look for it April 30th).
I am an author!! It is the biggest baby step I have ever taken; putting myself
out on the limbs where the published leap about. It feels effervescently good,
and totally unnerving at the same time.
All
this new territory, and I’m mostly talking about the changes in my family not
my writing, has hampered my reading time. I’m lucky if I get through my book
club selection every month. When I am unlucky I manage to find the time to pick
up something I have been looking at for a while, only to find it lackluster at
best. Of the last five books I’ve read, only two where worth their ink, and one
of them was Charles Dicken’s, A Christmas Carol. To own the truth, I think all the writing,
reading about writing, learning about writing I have done in the last few years
has made me a finicky reader.
It used
to be that even when I found something that wasn’t great I could still read
through it and embrace the bits that were good while acknowledging that it
wasn’t high literature. Now if there are more than two typographical errors
anywhere in the first five chapters I have to walk away. I am hyper aware of
anything that feels stilted, muddle, or contrived, and more often than not I
end up putting the books aside rather than getting angry at the authors for
wasting the English language.
I
genuinely hope that this is a phase, because I miss reading with that naïve
bliss of just following the story where it takes me. Of course, there are a few
benefits to my new palette. In my pickiness I am no longer spending time
finishing books that just aren’t worth the read. And though this is a new
phenomenon, I have found myself being more judicious about what I even pick up,
what I put on my computer’s kindle app, what I suggest for my book club’s
reading list. I’m not saying everything I read needs to be high literature,
certainly what I write wouldn’t be considered such, but it does need to have
worth. It needs to show awareness of its craft. It needs to have something to
say.
I’m not
sure that everything I write meets all or most of those qualifications, but I
hope that my evolution as a reader will continue to bring those elements into
focus with each new WIP. And maybe next time I pick up a tome to pass the time
with I can say something better than, “Of all the books I’ve ever read, this
was one of them.”
So what
are y’all reading these days? Anything good?
CONGRATS!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have also been a voracious reader. As my reading time is limited these days I get most of my fix through audio books. Most recent listen Scarlet by
Marissa Meyer. In the middle of reading and listening to 8 or so others.
Thanks Anika!! I love to read too after the first 25 years of my life were spent avoiding it. I too listened to Scarlet by Marissa Meyer while driving around delivering newspapers about 10 years ago.... loved it.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could do the whole audio book thing, but I just zone out picturing the story unfolding rather than getting stuff done. Maybe some day I'll get that particular multi-tasking ability.
ReplyDelete