Four books and a party

Sometimes I'm afraid to start reading new books when I'm being "very serious" about the writing. (Insert Bitter Writer face ;-) I worry I'll get distracted and spend more time reading than writing because I really, really, really love to read (really). Or, I worry I'll get so disgusted when I realize all the stuff I'm doing wrong that I'll just quit. Or, I worry I'll despair of ever writing as well as some of the amazing authors I come across. Or ... well, you get the picture.

Then there are those weeks when I start reading not one, but four books at the same time. Throw caution to the wind, I say. This is such a week. It's probably because I'm supposed to be getting ready for a Christmas party at the house Friday evening. Anything to distract myself from cleaning, decorating, or cooking. (And maybe from the kids' grades and the broken down car, too. Heh.)

So, four books.

For fiction I'm reading Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier) and Damsel Under Stress (the third in a cute series by Shanna Swendson). Two more opposite books you couldn't find, and thus, it's relatively easy to keep them straight. When I need help getting into a depressing funk (hahaha, I'm a writer ... as if!), I pull out Cold Mountain. When I need perking up, it's Damsel Under Stress.

Then, there's Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers (Betsy Lerner), and Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities that Keep Readers Captivated (Nancy Kress). I picked these up at Half Price Books a month or so ago, along with about ten other books, then promptly forgot about them until this week. I discovered the shopping bag while trying to dig out (remember, the party?).

The Forest for the Trees? Well, so far it's another one like The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear (Ralph Keyes) was for me. I never (ever) write in books. Unless ... they give me goose bumps and shivers while I'm reading. Then, out comes the pen, and everything that resonates gets underlined. Not that I'll go back and read again necessarily--I've never really been one to read books over and over, although that's changed little by little as I've been learning to write. Okay, come to think of it, I pull out previously read books and study them frequently these days. Anyway. I think the simple act of underlining what makes me say "Aha! Me, too!" just feels good. Let's just say, pretty soon, there won't be much not underlined in Forest for the Trees.

Dynamic Characters is a horse of a different color. I haven't physically written many words this week for my WIP. I'm a little baffled by the way this story needs to end, and so I've just needed to let it ferment. (And of course, there are those party preparations, or at least thinking about them, getting in the way.) The book on characterization, however, is bringing the bubbles to the top. I've read maybe the first two chapters, and some of the simple advice in this book is helping things in my story fall into place.

Every book is a different experience for every reader. I enjoy sharing when I find ones that have a positive impact on me.