Monthly Archives: July 2014

What do you do when you don’t like a book?

One of the things I really struggle with is this: what do you do when you don’t like a book?

For a long, long time, I pushed through. I kept reading even if I didn’t like it. And then, I thought, SCREW THIS. LIFE IS SHORT. I’M NOT GONNA WASTE IT ON BAD BOOKS. So I stopped reading when I wasn’t enjoying a book.

Flashforward to when I got my first book published and now, every time I feel like I’m not enjoying a book, I get this gut-wrenching feeling like there is someone not enjoying MY BOOK just like I’m not enjoying the book I’m reading. Once again, I feel like I have to PUSH THROUGH.

But.. for what? What am I hoping for? I was just reading a book last week and I was JUST NOT INTO IT. I didn’t connect with the characters, I wasn’t really invested in the mystery, I just… didn’t care what happened next and I found myself taking a deep sigh and GIRDING MYSELF before I fired up my kindle to start reading.

Was this how I wanted to spend my spare time? NO.

So, I removed the book from my device and my goodreads [I don’t like giving books a bad review! OMG, I KNOW HOW IT FEELS AND I CAN’T]. I feel kind of guilty about not finishing, but mostly, I just feel relieved.

And now I’m back to reading a book I like! I’m currently reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s about how quickly we size things up and make decisions. I’m still on a bit of a non-fiction kick at the moment.  I’m much happier now! I look forward to reading again!

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Transitioning sites – Standby…

HI all, I’m transitioning from WordPress.com to wordpress.org – I apologize for any glitches while I make the move! I’m doing it SELF! [as my nephews used to say] and I tend to push buttons until things just work.

 

 

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But I thought building a Platform meant like, you know, pieces of wood?

I’ve been into non-fiction books lately, which is NOT like me but I’m always open to my likes/dislikes changing so I’m just going with it. Of course, one of my biggest interests is writing and my book, so I’ve been reading some books on both.

I’m in the middle of Fast Fiction which I’m hoping will help me get faster at actually WRITING. But the clincher is you have to do all your PLANNING before hand. This has always been a sticky point with me. I don’t like prep work. I don’t like to tape shit up before painting, I want to just get to painting. I don’t like moving shit around so I can get organized well, I like to just start organizing. And similarly, I don’t like to start planning too much when I should be writing.

Because planning is HARD. UGH. it involves THINKING AND PLOTTING and sometimes these things aren’t fun. I can lay down the FUN scenes, it’s the little bits in between the fun scenes!

I’ve also been reading about marketing and how ideas spread. All this keeps pointing toward DEVELOPING A PLATFORM. which. Yeah. It must be capslocked. It’s a capslocked kind of thing.

So it’s all social media this and social media that and networking and pimp your work and *SOBS*. I kind of identify as an introvert! I LIKE being at home! I LIKE not talking to people. I LIKE being by myself. Can’t I just know that the book is good and it will eventually take off? Maybe? Someday? with luck? and maybe some black magic or a ritual sacrifice?

The answer has been a resounding NO.

I mean, I’m on social media. I like tumblr, and Pinterest and I do okay with Facebook [although too much FB makes me angry]. So I’m out there, I’m just… Out there for me. I reblog the stuff I like and pin the stuff I like and blog about stuff that’s on my mind and I don’t really worry about ‘creating an authentic brand,’ or if it all has to do with my books.

I wish I could say ain’t nobody got time for that. But I guess I have to make time?

 

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