Saturday, October 12, 2013

Tidbits About Books and Reading and the Writing Life

I just finished reading William Kent Krueger's novel, Ordinary Grace, and cannot say enough good things about it. I like Krueger's Cork O'Conner mystery series a lot, so when I spotted this standalone novel at my library, I had to give it a try.

You can go here to read the synopsis and reviews. If you like mysteries, coming of age novels, kids trapped in grown up worlds, and/or standalones, I think you'll like Ordinary Grace.

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A habitual book buyer with a fear of running out of things to read, I own way too many books. I'm trying to get rid of all my paperbacks now. I prefer to read hardcovers or use one of my ereaders. One of these days I plan to box up everything that won't fit in my two biggest bookcases and donate them to our local Friends of the Library for their annual book sale...which I always attend...to buy more books.

I returned three books to the library today, including that copy of Ordinary Grace. I never got around to reading the other two because I was working on novel edits.

I have to decide what to read next. That 15-60 minutes at bedtime is when I get most of my fun reading done. I'm not sure it's the best time, however, to start Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining. I'll have to think about that.

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I'm not sure how I got myself into the position of working on editing/revisions for three novel manuscripts at the same time, but that's what I'm doing. And now I have plans to start a new project November 1st by jumping into another experiment with NaNoWriMo. I may never get published again. I'm too busy writing and revising.

Wouldn't that be the ideal life? We just write and by some magic or miracle, we get published? I wish.
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As you've probably noticed, I'm not posting at this blog on a rigid schedule. I'm turning into a real "go with the flow blogger," and I kind of like it that way. I want to free myself up to do more reading and commenting on other folks' blogs, more writing, get back into photography and water colors, do a little baking, and maybe (and that's a big maybe) get more exercise. I'll post a couple of times a week plus feature a guest author.

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What are you reading? Anything you'd care to recommend (to feed my addiction)? Are you spending enough time on your writing? What favorite things have you been neglecting because you don't have enough time?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pat - I'm glad you liked Ordinary Grace as much as you did. One thing I liked very much about it was its depiction of life in 1961 in small-town Minnesota. I thought it was really authentic. And I wish I had more time to devote to reading and writing, too...

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I own a lot of books too and I'm afraid they're going to outlive me. I haven't been reading much in spite of having the time to read. I'm currently reading a vintage western about three young brothers on a ranch. A story for both young adults and adults.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'm actually looking into putting more me into my blog. Although I cut back this past summer and rather enjoyed the free time it provided.

Unknown said...

Pat? You tire me out just reading about your to-do list, and you didn't even mention all your amazing work on the RMFW blog! Phew!

I too have become a go-with-the-flow blog writer. I enjoy it more when I'm not stuck in some rigid schedule or idea of posts. And I like the reader response when I'm a little less rigid too.

All the best to you in NaNo. I know you'll surface for air eventually!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Pat - I've always blogged as I get to post .. ie when and whenever! I meant to post at the weekend .. but other things occurred and are ongoing ..

Life is life - when we know the bloggers around us .. life is easier that's for sure. You're always busy doing things and you've got your schedule ready til Christmas I see!!

Cheers and just enjoy .. Hilary

Arlee Bird said...

I haven't bought any new books for about a year now--maybe more. I've still got tons of book here at home that I still need to read.

Lee
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