The other night, my husband asked me if I was going to get started reading the T.Kingfisher books that have been piling up on my side of the bed. He’s read them all, and he wants to talk to me about them, but I have a firm rule about spoilers.
And I realized that my leisure reading has come to a near-standstill. I’m so busy, so being pulled in so many directions that I do not have the attention span for reading. Graphic novels? Sure. I just recently shotgunned the entire Girl Genius series, followed by Buck Godot. Magazines? I have several magazine subscriptions. But my book reading? The books I want to read because I want to read them, as opposed to reading for research or contest reading as a judge? That pile is growing (and I just got the shipping info that another one is on the way!)
This is double-plus ungood for a writer. I mean, if I’m not reading what’s coming out, then I’m not going to be on top of trends, or who’s doing what, or what the current big thing is (which, in the traditional publishing world, means what is the big thing that was being bought two-plus years ago. Indie publishing is more current.) And if I’m not reading, I’m not filling my own creative tanks.
But there is just so much to DO!!!
Pen to Paper is rolling along nicely, but there are a million and one things to get done to make sure that we launch on time in August. There’s coursework to write, and videos to make and interviews to… well… interview. I’m giving a presentation on Pen to Paper at the RWA Summer Retreat in Nashville, so I have to finish that (just some minor polishing left to do, but it still needs to be done.)
The Lady and the Sword launches next week, and I have barely done any promo for that. There are ads running, and I’ve arranged for reviews and such, but not much else.
Work on Heir to the Firstborn continues, and we’ll definitely be at the halfway point in the next chapter. Future plot points are starting to coalesce, and things that were fuzzy when I wrote the outline are now much more solid, to the point that I might spend today writing one scene in particular so I don’t lose it (character X is doing this for some reason that will become clear later. That reason is now clear. Mwah-ha-ha!)