What I'm Reading

Had to take a couple of days away from writing to catch up on reading.  I needed to refill the well, so to speak, and replenish my inner dictionary. 

In a weak moment I picked up one of my favorites, This Is All I Ask by Lynn Kurland and fell in love (again) with one of the supporting characters, Colin of Berkhamshire.  So naturally I had to read Colin's story, From This Moment On, which transported me back to medieval times when men were men who carried swords and protected the weak, regardless of their sex.

I read a snippet of Barbara O'Neal's How To Bake a Perfect Life through the library's DearReader service and knew it was one I wanted to finish.  This is truly women's fiction at it's best.  The characters are real, their conflicts are heart-breaking and the resolution is as uplifting as you would ever want a book to be.

I hope you try all three.

Happy reading.

Procrastination

Over the weekend I read an interesting post by Victoria Strauss over at the Writer Beware blog (http://accrispin.blogspot.com) where she speaks to the problem of Internet procrastination.

I have to admit that there is a LOT of distraction to be found online. My solution is to do online “research” on my Netbook and remove Internet access from the computer on which I do the majority of my writing. That particular computer is in my study, and believe me, there are ample other distractions in that room—and the Internet can’t hold a candle to a single one of them.

First, of course, there are the books. Last year I weeded them down to only the keepers, and there are still several hundred of them. I struggle not to pick up an old favorite when the writing is not going well, or as quickly as I’d like. Lynn Kurland’s This Is All I Ask is a perpetual temptation.

Then, there’s the stereo. I love to listen to music while I write. While working on the cowboy books, it’s soundtracks. Brokeback Mountain and Crazy Heart, especially. And I love Toby Keith. When he sings “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This (Unless You Mean It Like That)” I just have to stop and drool.

The window overlooking the back yard is hard to miss. From my desk I can see the woods and the bird (or should I say, squirrel) feeders. Even with the windows closed I can hear the cardinals singing for their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Finally, heaven help me, I cannot fight the siren song of Spider Solitaire. Just one game, I tell myself. I’ll only play until I win, I insist. Oh, it helps me to play a game or two and let my mind wander (this worked for me exactly twice, and I’m still using it as an excuse).

Yes, Solitaire is the alternate spelling of PROCRASTINATION. I know this because I looked it up on the Internet.

Happy writing.