Surreal-ization

You know what I realized recently:
I know people who write books.

Even though I don't work in writing or publishing I've come into contact with most of these people because of my job, either directly and indirectly.

That is SO cool! Writing a book is something I always "joke" about doing. I say joke, because I usually reference it casually and with humor, but there is truth there. I would LOVE to write a book. Right now my job requires writing, so my creative and word-smithing part of my brain is getting exercised...but writing press releases about printers and background on reporters is not the same as writing "a guide to gentle living."

In the moments when I have thought "SRSLY. I should write a book." I have researched the process and how it works, only to get discouraged. G-Funk used to do PR for a book publisher and she says it's REALLY tough to get published. Not only do you have to write a WHOLE BOOK, you have to make find an editor to read it AND get it to stand out in their mind above and beyond the THOUSANDS of book proposals they receive in a month. Even if they agree to publish it, the hours of writing and editing and re-writing and editing might only yield a couple thousand bucks. So hopefully you can hold down a day job amidst the writing and editing and re-writing and editing and....

So add my secret dream of writing a book to the knowledge that it is super difficult and authors are pretty impressive in my world.

AND I KNOW SOME! I know people who have written fiction and non-fiction. People who have put together at least a couple hundred pages of interesting, coherent content. How cool is that?!?!

It's pretty surreal actually.

Gathering Dust

I've been partially through several books for a while now. Somehow I just keep finding other things to do besides reading.

But today I FINISHED A BOOK! I was waiting for the bus this morning (which was about 15 minutes late and therefore crowded and slow all the way in to the office) and I opened up the book that was stashed in my bag. And I READ IT!

A few months ago (ok, maybe it was last summer...time goes by so quickly at my age) I was having snacks on the patio at the Red Lion Hotel with Fritha and Conan (and I think Pickle and PattyCake and Traskinator? and maybe some others?) when Conan reminded me of an author I hadnt read in years. We were discussing medical conditions and mitochondrial diseases came up and Conan said "isnt that what the boy in A Wrinkle in Time had?"

I LOVED that book as a kid. In fact, I loved the whole series, particularly the third book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Re-read it several times. Upon sharing that with Conan, he informed me that I am a big nerd and that reading sci-fi/fantasy books like that thoroughly stamped my geek card.

Not that I deny my geekdom. Despite having been told "I don't really get the geek vibe from you" I really am a geek and I embrace it. After discussing Madeleine L'Engle's books with Conan and Fritha, I went searching the trilogy to re-re-read it. Unfortunately those books still live at home with mom and dad. After unsuccessfully searching the intertubes for a downloadable version, I gave up.

At Conan's last weekend, I was sitting on the deck, enjoying a nice 7 & 7 and wishing for a nice book to read. Since he didnt have any US Weeklys lying around, I hit the bookshelf, where I found A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Yay! I picked it up and began reading. And enjoyed it just as much this time as all those times before.

AND I can finally mark a book "100%" in my new reading progress chart! Maybe now I'll get around to finishing the other books that are stacked by my bed, on my kitchen counter, desk and coffee table.