Too Many Books!

Is there such a thing?  YES!

I LOVE all my new writer friends, I really do, but y’all are going to kill me.

I have a massive ‘to read’ book list.  I used to keep it in my head, but I had to put it into a physical list when it started to hurt.  Popular books that everybody talks about.  Classics that should be read by everybody, but especially writers.  Books that I know just enough about to be sure it will change the way I think after I read it, let alone how I write.  “How to” grammar and writing style books that I haven’t gotten to.  (I just discovered Bukowski has one…  !!!)  New books get traditionally published to my favorite genres constantly, and e-books exploded in the last five years.

Since I started writing, walking into the big box-type of book store often causes my eyes to water.  It’s NOT allergies!  SO many books!  TOO many books!  I NEED to read them all, but I have stories to tell, too. How can I ever be found in this monstrous pile of books?

(On a personal note, early notes from my first-round of beta readers are promising. It may not be a huge pile of crap after all.  One of my readers, who has been in a bit of a writer’s block, had to stop… to go write something that has been jangling around in her head.  I gloated when she told me, maybe even snickered.  I don’t mind the delay.  My book affected her.  YES!)

Then I started hanging out on-line with other writers.  Y’all have books I want to read.  Sometimes, LOTS of books.  Then you tell me about more books that you love, and your enthusiasm makes me want to love them, too.  I understand how reviews are the life blood for independent and small press writers.  I want to help.  I can’t seem to pass up the $.99 book deal, and have a few (a lot) squirreled away.  I could happily sit around and read all these wonderful books, books, and more books.

Wait.  Wasn’t I writing something?