Friday Reads 2.1.24
It’s Friday, and you know what that means. Let’s talk about what we’re reading!
Welcome to February! Pitchers and catchers report in 2 weeks!
It has been an interesting week full of highs (I outlined the new book!) and lows (y’all, I cried at yoga for no apparent reason other than my body is finally moving and unspooling all the stress I’ve been holding in for months), which meant not as much reading as I would have liked. But that’s okay. I’m fixing this.
I mentioned in my Annual Review my recent diagnosis of hypermobile EDS. This is the power of literature: Thank God for Rebecca Yarros and Violet (IYKYK) without whom I might never have been put on this path. This week, in addition to my new yoga and PT appointments, I took my first class on chronic pain. One of the big takeaways, something the universe has been telling me a lot recently, is I need to slow down a bit and try to maintain a better balance between work and life. This is a challenge for me. Stepping away from my desk when the words are flowing is hard. Stepping away when they’re not is harder. I am stubborn. I want things to work, work well, and be right the first time. If I haven’t hit my word goal, damn it, I am going to stay parked here until I do, to the detriment of chores and dinner alike. And like everyone else, I have many moving parts that make up the thing we like to call a career. As much as I’d love only ever to be writing, that’s just not a realistic view of the modern author.
But this is bigger. This is a lifestyle change that absolutely has to happen to protect my body going forward. I’ve added in several hours a week of supervised yoga and PT, and that has sort of shot my schedule to hell. And I know I’ve been spreading myself too thin online because last Friday, frazzled and stressed, I threw up my hands and said I can’t handle this anymore.
So I decided to take a step to fix things. I’ve automated my social media again. I will post here, and it will feed out to the places I like to engage, and with luck, folks who aren’t already a part of our fabulous community will come here to talk. Trying to keep up with so many different conversations on multiple platforms has gotten to be a challenge. It’s impossible to show your face at ten super fun cocktail parties in a single night, you know? One party, one conversation, is not only easier, it allows for deeper interactions. Because easy is what I need right now.
So here I am, hat in hand (Well, cat in hand, I’m typing this one-handed at the moment, but you know what I mean) doubling down on this world. This shift will help tremendously as I take my annual social media sabbatical, too. Lent starts on Valentine’s Day, and this year, I am limiting myself to Substack!
It’s hard for me to take this step back, to not try to be all things to all people. I could just hire someone to pretend to be me in those spaces, but it’s one thing to let someone take over when I’m on sabbatical, it’s another to let them be me. I’ve built real communities over the past twenty years (that’s how long I’ve had a blog, if you can believe it.) From blogs to newsletters to Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, I’ve met friends and fans alike. It's why I love this Substack platform so much. It’s a chance to step back from the endless scroll, be real, be present, and do that among hundreds of other writers who have fled the shallows for the depth of long-form writing. It’s cool, and I really appreciate the community we’ve built here.
Anyway, enough of the smushy stuff. Let’s talk books.
I finished THE HEIRESS by Rachel Hawkins, which I very much enjoyed. It had a reverse REBECCA vibe that I thought was cool. And I liked the 4th wall breaks. Good twists and fun writing.
I stepped right into FIRST LIE WINS by Ashley Elston. I see why it’s a Reese pick, and I’m really enjoying it, too. There’s a theme in the crime fiction world right now, isn’t there? The unreliable reliable narrator is far from having her swan song.
I have fifteen minutes left on THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW on audio. I wish I were reading this book because I can’t WAIT to find out what happens. But the audio has been a great car companion as I drive from appointment to appointment.
I have Katia Lief’s INVISIBLE WOMAN in the queue, and for non-fiction, I’m plugging into THE SUCCESS MYTH by . Figured thematically, it was time to reassess all the things, right?
I’m still deep into Wolf Hall, though I fell behind this week. I’ll hopefully fix that this weekend.
My buddy Jayne and Krentz and I had a lovely chat on her Facebook page about writing, fantasy novel, my Joss Walker books, and life. You’ll enjoy!
On the writing front:
Step Five: 40 Scenes, came out Sunday, and I can’t wait to share the next step, because [spoiler] I outlined my novel. Actually outlined it. I feel like I need ten gold stars. ⭐️
I also ditched my monstrous XXL Lechtturm 1917 for a B5 (tablet-sized) Moleskine Pro. I just couldn’t get a rhythm going for the super large notebook. The second I moved it to the B5, boom, everything started working again. I haven’t let it out of my sight. I find the size of the notebook is almost more important than the paper (though that’s a close second. Moleskine ivory isn’t perfect, but the Pro has 100gsm which is very nice!) I found an inexpensive leather case online, popped that baby into it, and sighed in relief. Now, my iPad, Notebook, and Kindle Scribe are all the same size.
What kind of notebook do you use?
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
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