When is it too much?

I’ve listened to some of my friends when they first get Netflix or Hulu or find a new author.  They binge on a series they’ve found that knocks their socks off.  Sometimes, they watch or read the new show/author back to back until they’re caught up.  I’m not so good at that.  If I read an author’s books one after another, pretty soon I fizzle, no matter how good they are.  And then it’s time for me to mix it up and read other voices, other genres for a while.

It’s made me think about timing.  It’s a tricky thing, at least, for me.  One of my friends had a favorite blog, but the writer put up something new every day, and she finally felt overwhelmed and quit reading it.  We’re all busy.  We have to fit things into the few small empty spaces we have in our days.  When is too much…too much?  I follow a blog every day, but the posts are so short, I read them when I first hit my computer to wake my brain up.  They’re my alarm clock for writing.  Then there are people who post so seldomly that I forget to look for them, to make time for them.  Even when they do post, I’ve lost the flow and don’t always read them.  For me, as a reader, I think a new post once a week works about the best.

Timing even matters for books by my favorite authors.  If they write shorter books (50,000 to 70,000 words), I look forward to something by them a few times a year.  If they write tomes like Elizabeth George or J.K. Rowling, once a year fills my need to hear their voice, read their words.  But if I’m reading a series and it’s two or more years between book five and book six, the tension for the next book evaporates and even when it comes out, I might not rush to buy it.

I’m putting a second free book up on my webpage now, chapter by chapter, and I debated on how to load them–once a week?  Once a day?  I wasn’t sure, but the chapters are short, so I decided to go with once a day.  They won’t take much time to read, and hopefully, they’ll build momentum.  But I’m not sure.  Maybe that’s too much. So far, according to my stats, readers are sticking with them.  We’ll see as I go.  Wish me luck.

Happy reading and writing to all of you!

Webpage:  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

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Twitter:  @judypost