On my mind: reading older books

 

My To Be Read pile is on my mind. It’s gotten so big that I get choice paralysis when I’m trying to pick a book to read next. I decided to try to prioritize working in books that were published a multiple of ten years ago.

Why? As a reader, it’s easy to get caught up in the constant new release cycle. Physical bookstores have limited capacity, and they want to move books as fast as possible. The best way for them to do this is to stock new books as they come out (which I’m less likely to have bought already) and bestsellers. I often have difficulty finding a book that’s new-to-me on the shelves that’s more than a few years old at a bookstore that only sells new books. Additionally, marketing algorithms prioritize new books (again, because I’m less likely to have read them) when I’m browsing the web.

So I’m making an effort to find and read older books that I didn’t know about. I’m not much for nostalgia, but I am interested in what novels looked like ten, twenty, thirty years ago. I want to know what’s changed in writing conventions and what I can learn from that.

So far this year, I’ve read The Charmed Sphere (2004) by Catherine Asaro, and Undercity (2014), also by Asaro. They are very different books: different genre, different point-of-view, different issues tackled, and I’m glad I read both of them. Next up is Joan Vinge's World's End, published in 1984.

If anyone wants to join me in this activity but doesn't know where to start, ten-year-old books by authors on this blog include The Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy and Nightmare Ink by Marcella Burnard. 

Alexia's Writing Space

Much like my TBR, my week quickly got out of hand. Thank goodness for Saturdays!  

This week we’re sharing our writing workspaces and current TBR (to be read) lists. The one is easy, the other is nigh impossible. 

I have TBR stacks all over my home. Sometimes I have to hunt for a specific book, but what’s actually in stacks (or on my kindle) is nothing to my ever growing list I keep on Goodreads. But, as a mood reader, I like to keep plenty of options handy. 

As for my writing workspace, this desk is where the majority of my magic happens. When I’m in drafting or editing mode, this sunburst inlay desk is my go-to spot. When I sit here my brain knows what I expect of it. Granted, there are mental days where I’m empty. And that’s okay, but when the words are cooperating, it happens here. 

I have different spots that are better for plotting and researching. My favorite/most productive place is when I am waiting for a vehicle’s oil change or safety recall. There’s something about a room full of people minding their own business while eagerly waiting for their name to be called that works for me! Or maybe it’s the endless coffee and the knowledge that the moment I sit the clock starts ticking down. 

That’s what my workspace looks like. How about yours? Do you have multiple places you like to write? Do you plot and edit in different locations too? 

Jeffe's Writing Space

This week at the SFF Seven, we're sharing our writing workspaces and current TBR list.

Why both of these somewhat disparate things? I have no idea. My TBR isn't physical (mostly). I keep my inventory of unread books on a - you guessed it! - spreadsheet. There are currently 323 books on it. 

I know. 

I've been working my way through it, really I am, but even my determined efforts end up being like fighting the hydra. For example, I've had Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest on my To-Be-Read "pile" since April 19, 2017. (Thank you, Amazon for that purchase date.) I finally started reading it on February 12, 2022. LOVED IT. So, what did I do? Yes, bought the entire six-book Sevenwaters series. I'm now 60% through book six, Flame of Sevenwaters. 

 As for my writing space, I have a dedicated office that is ALL MINE. You can see it above. We got an unexpectedly heavy snow last night, so it's a darkish morning and you can see the snow out the window. I love my big window as I can watch the birds and other visiting wildlife (and they are merry), and I can see all the way down the Galisteo Basin to the Ortiz Mountains and Sandia Peak. My desk is hydraulic, so I can adjust it for sitting, standing, or walking, with my treadmill below. 

I used to have my framed book covers on the walls, but I realized I didn't like looking at stuff that represented past efforts. So, I took them all down and hung art that's inspiring to me. The poster over the window is one I made that says, "What would you write if you weren't afraid?"

And there you have it!

The Writer's Altar & Endless TBR

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is about sharing our writing space and current TBR list.

Writing Spaces...

I write everywhere and anywhere. I write in my office at my desk, on the daybed in my office, on my couch, in my bed, at my kitchen table, on my phone at night when I'm trying to go to sleep, on my phone when I'm soaking in the bath. I even write while cooking. There is no location that isn't a possibility, and most days, I move from place to place.

That said, there are times when I need to recalibrate. I treat my desk as a writing altar in those times. I want the room to be just right, with complete silence save for the flicker of my candles and the tapping of the keys on my keyboard. I like it candlelit, usually with the scent of sandalwood tinting the room. I also smudge the space with white sage or palo santo first and do a little meditative breathing to relax. 

These writing sessions are special and I free write, even if it's a scene in the world of my current WIP. The point of these sessions is to get words out, not to write anything that HAS to stay in my WIP or is pre-planned. I let the characters have the reins or let new characters tell me their story.

It's during these sessions that I feel like a conduit, because I have no idea what will come next as I type. Most days, I know what scene I'm working on when I sit down to work, so some form of pre-mental planning has already occurred. But on these free-writing nights, it's fun to open my mind and see what barrels through onto the page.

Writing by candlelight is awesome. I highly recommend giving it a try.

My Current TBR...

What books are on my TBR? I have so many--too many to list. But I'll share some of the books I hope to read once City of Ruin is finished and off to my publisher. I intend to take a full month--if not two--to just READ. And maybe enjoy the outdoors.

So here's my list! (I read widely. There's a little bit of everything!)

• Finish reading Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
• Finish A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• Malice by John Gwynne
• Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
• Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lyn Tan
• A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
• The Great Witch of Brittany by Louisa Morgan
• A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
• In my Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
• The Atlas Six by Olivia Blake

I think that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my writing and reading life ;)

Where do you write and what's on your TBR?

TBR

TBR (noun): to be read. 

The entity that is the TBR comes in various forms. There’s the TBR list; which some keep in spreadsheets, some use Goodreads, and others *gasp* keep a list in their mind. There’s also the TBR pile. Piles really, because honestly, where there’s one there’s certainly more. You can also toss in the TBR stack, TBR shelf, and TBR cart.

Currently, I have 1,278 books on my Goodreads TBR list, 57 in my physical TBR stacks around the house, 6 waiting in my Kindle’s TBR queue, and 1 in my TBR-carry-along, aka my purse.

Clearly, I have a book hoarding problem. But that’s not the topic of the week, this week it’s all about reading. 

Reading’s an escape, a hobby, a pastime, a chore. It’s a hundred other things that can change by the moment and is also a necessity if you’re an author. Yet, I see many writers posting comments that they don’t read. 

A writer who doesn’t read is like a movie producer who doesn’t watch TV or motion pictures, like a chef who never eats out. A writer who doesn’t read is like a marketer who never studies another’s successful launch, like a product engineer who never uses or tests another company’s items. A writer who doesn’t read will never be as great as they could be.

“If you don’t have time to read, 

you don’t have the time or the tools to write. 

Simple as that.” 

~Stephen King, On Writing

I’m addicted to reading, always have been. And when there's been too much time since cracking open a book I start to crave the escape. Yes, as a writer there are times you have to buckle down, editing cave anyone, and reading takes a backseat.  

Editing Cave (noun): a place where time and space are suspended. 

When one enters, they are unable to leave until such a time when they can produce a finished product. Warning; food and beverages that pass into the editing cave never return.

But after a time of famine you have to refill the well, as we’ve blogged about before, which you can read here, and binge on reading. Reading will stimulate the imagination. Reading will draw you down new paths you didn’t know you needed in your own writing. Reading will give you the mental break you crave after a trip to the editing cave.

I have a book hoarding problem, but I don’t merely collect them. I read them. One or five at a time, I read them, and sometimes re-read and re-read them. 

A romance gives melts my heart and makes me more cuddly. A fantasy leads me to the woods and lets me dream. A sci-fi takes my imagination places I’d never believed I’d find. A thriller makes my heart pound. A mystery makes my mind question and seek answers. And all of these allow me to see people through their eyes, to feel the agony of their lives, to understand what drives them and is important to them. 

Tell me, what have you been reading? Have you recently read something that gave you an ah-ha moment? Or maybe a book that took you away from your daily stress? 

Rejuvenation and Goal-Setting

The pattern of frost-filigreed wisteria vines is so lovely. The winter holidays are such a great season for rest and rejuvenation - and our weather in the high desert of New Mexico has obliged with lots of snow and freezing temperatures. All the better to keep me cozied indoors and focusing on both relaxing and giving my mind the room to mull thoughts for the coming year.

I did something a little different this year. Not on purpose, but because in those last few days before guests arrived for the holidays, I just couldn't keep my attention on work.

Instead of fighting that - I let it go.

I spent those couple of days baking, wrapping gifts - and even tandem watching schlocky Christmas movies with a long-distance friend. The upshot is I went into the actual holidays feeling rested and calm, instead of stressed. I'm going to do this every year.

In fact, front-loading rejuvenation time rather than relying on post-effort recovery time is going to be my compass concept for 2019.

The other thing that's happened is that I relaxed and rested enough that I started to get a little bored - which meant I was excited to take on some business tasks, yay! - and my mind wandered quite a bit, of its own accord, to ideas for the coming year. A big part of that is going to be reducing back log and lists.

Some of those things:

Maintain Inbox Zero

Some people can live with full email inboxes. I just can't. I tend to treat my inbox like a To Do list, which means the emails in there weigh on me as tasks that remain unfinished. Worse, emails that are more important, and thus require more effort, tend to languish in there for months, growing hopelessly stale or often forgotten entirely.

To change this up:

• I already emptied all of my email inboxes and will start the new year with Inbox Zero
• I will treat email with the one-touch principle - each email gets touched once and dealt with
• to do this I will either reply immediately or
• file emails and add any reply tasks to my To Do List instead
• I'll also continue to check email only a couple of times each day, and then only after I get wordcount

Revivify To Do List

Related to the above, I'm going to make my running To Do List, which I keep on an Excel spreadsheet, more relevant and active. I have that same syndrome where some tasks tend to linger on it for MUCH too long, sliding from one day to the next, until they build up so much inertia from Dread & Procrastination that they feel like insurmountable obstacles.

To change this up:

• I will minimize tasks that float for a long time by
• distributing tasks instead of clumping (i.e., if I have a list of things to do for SFWA, I'll put them over several days or weeks instead of all on one day, then moving them as I don't finish them.
• And if I do move a task, I'll break it up into smaller tasks, then distribute over several days
• I'll give larger, longterm tasks a category (I already have these, like Finances, Business, Errands, etc.) and subtasks until complete
• Everything gets this treatment, rather than having very large tasks on my list that float with no progress

Reduce TBR List

Back in 2015, I made a spreadsheet (of course I did!) of all the books in my possession that I hadn't yet read. It lists the format (digital or paper), date acquired, reason to read, etc. I add to it as I acquire new books. All the books that I had at the time I made the spreadsheet got a date of October 27-29, 2015, which were the dates I entered them. When I made the list, I had something like 280 books on it. Today I have 316 and 233 of those are from October of 2015. (To be fair, those represent YEARS, possibly DECADES of unread residency in my life.) This list can feel like a crushing unfinished task, however, so I'm resolved to deal with this backlog.

To change this up:

• I will read one of these 233 books for every newer book I read, alternating them.
• I'm reducing my 25% commitment (reading at least the first 25% of every book) to 10%. If I'm not wanting to continue by then, off it goes.
• In fact, I'm going to get ruthless about this decision-making. If the book isn't making me glow with delight and LONG to keep going, then it goes. 

I've got a few other goal sets on my list - on a spreadsheet, OF COURSE! - but they feel more personal. What about you all - anything you're looking to change up this year?

A Book Problem

Uhm. Hi.
My name is Marcella. And I have a book problem. Maybe more than one book problem. I mean. Look. It was one thing being a book addict when buying books mostly meant going into a bookstore, right? After walking out with more books than three people could carry and vowing to never set foot into a bookstore again without someone - ya know - responsible along, I could control the addiction.

But then E-readers, amIright? It's like the Universe conspired to hand book addicts a new improved way to sneak binge their substance. Even if e-reading isn't the quite the same tactile experience as the much harder to conceal dead tree versions. So there's that.

Add into it that I can't tell you how big my TBR pile is anymore. It - uhm - escaped me. No, I have a good excuse! Hush. You know about the living on the boat thing - and that while that happened all of my books went into storage. Yeah. They're still there. In boxes. The boxes are actually in my bedroom now, but I can't take the books out and pile them up in teetering TBR towers cause we're in temporary housing, right? So I sneak out one at a time, read it and then tuck it back in. All while adding new books to my digital TBR pile, AND when my B-day and the holidays roll around, clearing out my book wishlist with dead tree formats, well. I have no idea how big the TBR pile is. I don't even track the books I read on GoodReads any more. I found it was changing how I invested in a book knowing I had to write up something about it.

Yeah. Still a book addict. There's one cracked open beside me while I type. Craft book, but a book nevertheless.

My goal for the coming year (our lease on this place is up in November and we'll be looking for a longer term lease option in less of a cliff-dwelling type arrangement) is to actually unpack and sort my physical TBRs.

Dunno that there's any help for the digital ones. Kindle seems resistant to file organization. At least on my dinosaur of a Kindle.

But yeah. That's my story. I have a book problem.

PS: Happy Friday the 13th! Remember to superstition safely! Also, fewer than 100 days until Halloween, y'all. Break out the spooky.

TBR Piles: Not Yet A Hoarder

How long is my TBR list?

Um...

~opens door to den~

~hears growling~

~closes door~

~slinks away~

5 shelves stacked double-deep and iced. There's a stack atop the paper cutter. One beside the printer, and one on the printer. Two cubbies partially full. Probably twenty on my kindle. For the most part, I have my TBR contained to one room. So, yeah, I, um, I have some books I need to read. I haven't kicked into hoarder mode yet, so I keep adding to the pile. Somebody has to keep the dragon happy, right?

The TBR -How Do You Deal?

Our topic at SFF Seven this week is How long is your TBR list? The answer for me is easy to give:

299

The "TBR" is the To-Be-Read list. I know exactly how many books are on mine because in the fall of 2015, I started a spreadsheet to keep track of it. A brilliantly conceived effort, my spreadsheet tracks format (paper, ebook or audible), date acquired, WHY I thought I wanted to read it, and even assigns a  priority.

Like many brilliantly conceived plans, it works moderately well.

It does help me to know if I already own a book - one of the primary purposes of the list, as I'd found I had books in both paper and digital format - and I use it to keep track of high priority reads. I use it A LOT to recall how something ended up in my possession and why I wanted to read it - except for the occasional book that I forget to log in. This is particular bad when I buy books on my phone in the bar during conversations that I don't remember weeks later.

The other way the list doesn't work is that it never goes down. I'd had this grand idea that I wouldn't acquire ANY new books until I read the ones I already have.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Instead, I started out with 298 books on the list when I first cataloged them all. Today it's at 299. The list hangs around 300 most of the time, fluctuating up and down. It's not because I'm not reading. I've read 80 books so far this year - I keep track of that, too, moving them off the TBR onto the read spreadsheet once I start them - and last year I read 107.

Clearly I read pretty much at the rate I acquire. Likely I should clear out a bunch of these books that have languished in the pile since October of 2015. Do you all do that - eventually give up on books that never escape the TBR pile?

Also, I've started a podcast! First Cup of Coffee. Just me, sharing my first cup of coffee of the day along with various thoughts on writing and life. They're short and informal. Here's the first one.