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. 

Office Space, Too Much Help, and TBRs

 

While I have a dedicated space with a standing desk and a walking treadmill, this is shared space. Turns out that during a pandemic, the entire house is shared space. As a result, I move around. A lot. Where I wrote yesterday likely won't work today. This is one of my favorite spots. The other favorite spot is on the lanai in the back. Nothing like getting to be outside while writing. Unless it's a bijillionty degrees and/or a thousand percent humidity. Nobody likes that, least of all my computer equipment. The walking desk arrangement has the benefit of air conditioning. Since I wasn't going to spend the going rate for an electric desk like Jeffe has, I made my desk from a couple of pine boards from Home Depot. I cut them to spec, took a router to the edges and corners, then sanded them down. They're painted with an unholy combination of Dixie Belle paint and Unicorn Spit. I used pink iridescent accent wax to stencil a jellyfish on the main desk, then sealed everything with Dixie Belle Alligator Hide. In this office, I like to keep my craft books close to hand for easy reference and to remind myself that most days I might actually know what I'm doing. Mostly.

 The main problem with the walking treadmill and the homemade desk is that I often have far too much assistance with my writing. (This was taken at the *other* homemade desk that's in the bedroom - it's green and rose gold and black Unicorn Spit. It is not my favorite place to write because its tucked into a corner and has me staring at a wall. It's good for focus, though, I guess. Unless I have 'help.')

Cats like to 'help' with reading, too, so it's possible I haven't managed to keep track of my TBR recently - I really lost track of it while Cuillean was dying and looking back, I realize how protracted a reading break that was. BUT. Did you know Sherry Thomas wrote more Lady Sherlock stories? I didn't. I do now. They're sitting awaiting me on my Kindle. But first, I had to HAD TO read every last Murderbot story I could get my hands on. So I don't guess I can call that TBR anymore. They're now past tense, more's the pity. Most recently, I was able to add Bright Familiar (Jeffe's second book in her Bonds of Magic series) to the TBR. Looking forward to that one very much. In fact, I think I know what's rising to the top of the pile for this weekend. Excellent.

 

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?

What's your go-to form of entertainment? Me...Bookscapism!

Well, this week’s topic couldn’t have come at a better time. We’re all stuck at home and consuming loads of entertainment. My household is in strict isolation due to our immune systems taking a hit from a different virus...EBV. What can I say, kids love to share! 

*mental note* no more sharing of food and drink

Being stuck inside takes a toll on the mind, so we’ve been breaking out every board game we own, having family movie nights with popcorn, and reading. But my all-time-fave form of entertainment?

If you’ve ever been in my house, or follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen my clutter. And by clutter I mean my multiple stacks of books. I can’t hide my book addiction and even though my husband used to make fun of me for my towering bedside pile, he now has a growing mini one! 

There’s also the ever-changing end table stack, this is usually where the library books rotate through.

Though the great watering hole for town library, school library, and home library is the side table in the kitchen. Because of course there should be a stack of books in the kitchen.

And the pretty-book stack, the ones that have recently been read or to-be-read (TBR) that are too pretty to put away.

But it’s the surprise stacks that I enjoy the most. These pop up in unexpected places, don’t stay too long, and sometimes parts of the stack reappear in a brand new configuration somewhere else! Right now there’s one on the stairs. 

Show me your stacks! Do you have a leaning tower somewhere? Or are you imbibing in my second favorite entertainment media…movies? We’re cruising through the Mandalorian, it’s movie-esque, and it’s amazing with gorgeous artwork in the credits!!

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.